THREE DAYS OF MAF

The Manchester Animation Festival has been the best experience for me this year! Although I am exhausted from it, I have learnt so much and just like it did lastyear it has reminded me again why I want to be in this industry! It's such a nice to community to feel a part of and it's been to good to hear that everyone has struggled or not known exactly what they want to do, but still found their way.

What did I want to get out of the festival?

My aim was to get the team project publicity, we had our Mini Pitch Bibles ready and an festival strategy to play out. Which was to give out the pitch bibles to industry people who were actually interested. Mostly this would be 2D fanatics; Brown Bag, The Line, Flow etc. I also made sure we would attend Northwestivus as a group, first just as a confidence boost but also to show we are proper working team, who care about our project.

My personal aim was to learn more about the production management side of animation, but also to understand what people look for in a producer, what qualities do I need? I just wanted to soak up as much information on this as possible.

Did I achieve these goals?

YES!

Northwestivus was a success we spoke to Max Taylor the Director from The Line. Kilogramme's Jon Turner, Bluezoo were impressed with our work. Another company I was interested in talking to was Ritzy as they were realy into our project and gave some good advice about being a producer of a team. I would say the best advice from me came from The Line and Ritzy, to understand your pipeline and what you team can do individually, communication is a big factor and they both recommended shadowing a production team and being a runner as it will give me a bigger insight into the process. Max Taylor (The Line) was very down to earth and James (character designer for our project) was happy to talk to him as The Line is somewhere he would definitely want to work. So it was good to see the team networking! I definitely want to get in touch with Ritzy and The Line in the future to go into their studios and see how they work.

As a group we also gave away nearly all of our Pitch Bibles, most people were interested in seeing the work once it was finished and enjoyed the overall concept. Mike Inman the Supervising Art Director, was eager for us to send him the animation once its completed.

When it came to my work on a personal level the Animated Answers: Production Pipelines was where I found most of my answers. I have decided to put this into a separate blog called Production Pipelines as I took a lot from this talk.

Animation Companies I was interested in from Talks.

• Simon Partington- Flix Facilities (In Birmingham! Work with the BBC childrens department).

• Andrew from Flipbook studio

• Flow -Design and animation studio 2016

AA: What makes the perfect animator?

Neil Boyle- who framed roger rabbit? Space jam, trained by Richard Williams, animator, freelance. Fantastic Beasts (2D). The Last Bell (look it up).

Barry Purves- 40 years stopmotion, writer, director, puppets, stuff you can hold. Children TV Films.

Paul Johnson- Brown Bag, storyboards, assistant animator, director at brown bag.

What are the best qualities of a typical animator?

Barry- decent equipment (good puppet) be able to control the equipment, technical expertise. Make it mean something. A beautiful gesture is nothing, without its context. Sense of performance, of storytelling. "We have to do something for a reason". Have to be a storyteller! Why? Inner workings of our characters."There is no right or wrong way to animate, but there are tricks to make it work." Draw from 180,draw as a flow. Find any way of suggesting. Be alert,get it right (key shot). Watch Ballet dancing - key poses. How do characters move... we need to know this. Movement language that is true to the character.

Timing, finding these other ways to express the emotion. Do not be literal, has no place in our work.

No training. Shakespeare would chose a word for a reason. Make sure the colour, sound, movement, editing is telling the same story. All contributes, everything is there for a reason. Consider everyone element. A storyboard is there for information. Bible, see the

emotion, why props are necessary. I thought Barry had so much useful information throughout the whole talk and I think I got a good amount down throughout my notes.

Paul- Understand your 12 basic principles of animation. Make your poses appealing. Drawn yourself. Its great to be able to draw. Nickoloden (rigged characters) 6 secs a day. Plan in your head next day. Record in mirror. Keep away from cliches. Prepare yourself for the 6 seconds. You've got to be realy passionate to do it. Work at it. Be obsessed with your

work. Digital enables you to experiment. PLANNING thumbnail yourself and analyse that movement.

Time your shots - Slugging. Show your storyboards.

Neil- Adaptability. Would be able to animate in any style they were given- Richard Williams studios. Open to different styles. All graft. All work. Block out drawings, planning is key, getting that structure, you have to have that structure in place. Think about your timing. You cannot make a drawing without knowing where it comes in timing.

Look at how things work, don't get obsessed with reality. Open your eyes. Pick things apart. Why was that scene effective. Analytical head on. Learn how gags work. Watch films. Read film theory books. Watch Buster Keaton. Watch a lot of actors. Theatre.

"Think of the language you are going to use. Is it theatrical.

Welcome the audience into your world." (Barry Purves 2018)

Hitchcocks. Every colour is chosen for a reason. The birds, behind a shadow cage, her role in the film. Metaphors. Find the language that tells your stories. Cubrik, Tarrantino. For the audience. Don't exclude them, include them. Does that pose read from that angle.

Animated Answers: Little or Large

Chaired by, Tom Box (cofounder of Bluezoo), Keena Lines (Brown Bag, animator and illustrator) and Bill Gordon (Brown Bag Director).

This talk me an insight into the workplace. Smaller studios you will be more of a generalist, if you want to understand what everyone does and be given the chance to explore more general work, which is what I would want to do at the start of my career. The bigger companies are better if you want to work one specialism and perfect your craft. Its all about the individual, but they did tell us not to pigeon hole ourselves so early on in our careers.

Key things I took from the talk:

Our industry is all about opportunity (try new things, have multiple tools in the tool kit)

You will community wherever you go, some better than others

Meet as many people as you can, network and don't be afraid

Say Yes!

Gain new skills, learn from your peers and vice versa, never know who's going to be your next boss

DON'T BE A DICK

Learn software, constantly

Don't pigeon hole yourself

Have an ability to give and recieve critical feedback

Dont be too precious about your ideas "He who has the gold, makes the rules", (Richard Williams)

Think about the bigger picture, the reality is we all want to be paid, it's not for us, it's for the client.

Applying for work

The look for skills they cant teach. We can all learn software, but do we have skill, personality, good team player?

Be smart about applying, know whom you are applying to, get their name right! Don't piss off or annoy the company. Know when to stop. Do personal projects, make your portfolio different from the rest. If you do apply more than once to a company, show progression in your portfolio, show that you have listened.

Say what your interested in, where do you aim to be?

Also contact in the correct and professional way. Don't message through a personal instagram. Some things have to have formality to them.

Student Films

The student films this year at first really made me worry about my groups project as they all looked so professional but once I watched more closer I realised they had mostly just worked smart. Certain angles and camera work, to cut off hard points of animation. I noticed how professionally sound was used throughout the student films that were picked. The sound really carried the story, especially in the minimalist animations. The most important message I took from the screenings was, story! Strong story, makes a strong animation. We are working on our storyboards this week, perfect timing after MAF, we have a lot to think about but if we can have a good storyboard we will have a strong and well thought out animation.

I have met so many interesting people at the festival this year. Now that graduation is creeping closer and closer it gave me a lot more confidence in my future. Now I need to look into getting the experience in the workplace so I'm ready to jump into the industry after university.