Manchester Animation Festival 2015

Manchester Animation Festival:

17th,18th, 19th November 2015

Introduction

This was a three day festival that took place at HOME, an event centre based in Manchester. This festival showcase a number of different films from blockbusters to animator's own shorts. This also allowed professionals mingle with aspiring artists and animators. I only attended the first two days as I was busy on the final day volunteering for another event on the same day and at the same place; HOME. Within this post I will be discussing about the events I attended but there were many more taking place that I was unfortunately not able to attend.

(Image of HOME, Manchester)

[http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/pictures/606x422fitpad[0]/1/5/8/1438158_HOME62-WEB-Paul-Karalius.jpg]

1st Day: Tuesday 17th November

Events:

Short films Panorama

This was the first event I attended on the first day of the festival and it was a showcase of a series of shorts that studios and animators had created that weren't part of the competition that were taking place but would still be shown. I enjoyed these films as they were diverse, original and clever. They all had their own style and taste which made it a very unique and special viewing. This made it even more entertaining to watch these shorts because they were also shown on a cinema screen which made it a very atmospheric and professional. From this screening I feel that I have gained confidence and was inspired by other people's work at how amazing animation can be.

Master class: Tomm Moore

This was a talk by Tom Moore who is the director for the film: Song of the Sea. I displayed and presented the work that was involved in creating the film Song of the Sea. This was a very interesting talk for both the content and the charismatic nature of Tom Moore. He made the talk very appealing and interesting and the work that he was showing was amazing which included stills from the film; concept art; storyboards and more. I found this very helpful for a director to talk about his film and how it is made because it is very different from watching a video of one at home because of the atmosphere and location. From this talk I felt that I have taken away some knowledge of the work process and a peek into what it might be like to work within that studio and generally the industry.

(Picture of Tom Moore)

[http://www.ecufilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/tomm-moore-6.jpg]

Graduation films 2

this was the final event I attended on the first day of the festival. This was a screening of a series of short films that have been entered into the competition for the festival. This screening was similar to the panorama screening because the only difference is that the panorama screenings are not part of the competition. Despite this I still found the films both extremely creative and inspiring. There were a range of stop motion 2d and 3d animations which were all unique in both style and narrative.

2nd Day: Wednesday 18th November

Events:

Master class: Will Becher

This was the first event I attended on the second day. This was a master class by Will Becher who was an animator on the Shaun the Sheep Movie. Specifically there was a part of the film he animated that he mentioned during the talk where it was a corner shot.

(A still from 'Shaun the Sheep The Movie)

[http://www.kaplanvskaplan.com/s/cc_images/teaserbox_944855487.jpg?t=1439242251]

I found this talk very interesting because it enlightened me on the world of stop motion and the amount of work and dedication required to be a part of that industry. The presentation also showed the work process included time lapses of set creation and animation which would last days, weeks and even months. Will Becher also brought a number of puppets to the talk which allowed the audience to look closer at the actual puppets used in the film including Shaun the Sheep himself. From this talk I felt that I will appreciate stop motion films even more because this talk showed the surface of the work required to make a film like 'Shaun the Sheep Movie'.

(Image of Will Becher)

[http://www.manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/WillANIM01HR-630x336.jpg]

 Shaun the Sheep film

This was simply a screening of the Shaun the Sheep movie. After attending the Will Becher master class I felt I had to watch the movie again to truly appreciate it.  This is because I had already seen the Shaun the Sheep movie and I did not particularly enjoy it because I preferred the original Wallace and Gromit shorts. However seeing the film in a cinema setting and being presented the surface of the process made me look at the movie closer which made the film even better. I do still have fond memories of the originals however this does not mean there is any less work involved with newer productions.

(Image of a poster for the 'Shaun the Sheep Movie')

[http://www.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/shaun-the-sheep-movie-poster-2.jpg]

Song of the Sea film

This was simply a screening of the 'Song of the Sea' film. After attending the talk with the director; Tomm Moore, I was particularly excited to see this film. I had never heard about the film before and was amazed by the visuals and art work from the presentation. I really enjoyed the film because of the cinema setting and the talk before made me look at the film deeper and appreciate the work that had gone into it.

(Image of a poster for 'Song of the Sea')

[http://resizing.flixster.com/o7UORRBBmsR-PpOPUYFa0RfPt-s=/800x1157/dkpu1ddg7pbsk.cloudfront.net/movie/11/18/15/11181512_ori.jpg]

Conclusion

This has been both an amazing and educational experience. This is because I have been inspired and enlightened by the talk and other people's work. I would definitely want to attend future events like this one. This has made me appreciate animated films even more and inspired me to work even harder on my own work.