Shortlisted in film contest!

My animated graduation film, Pigment of Imagination (2009), has been shortlisted to the final 10 of an online film contest; and as long as no issues arise over the coming days, then I should have some VERY exciting news to announce soon!

But in the meantime: Yay!

The Astronomer's Sun - a new stopmotion film

Jessica Cope & Simon Cartwright - two friends I met at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) - have recently completed their new short animated film, The Astronomer's Sun; and if you're in the UK there is every chance that you can watch it at a cinema near you over the coming weeks as part of the British Animation Awards 'Public Choice' screenings.

Jess & Si both graduated from ECA in 2008 after producing their graduation films: The Owl House and Splendid Isolation respectively.
The Owl House was screened at the Flip Festival in Wolverhampton at the beginning of November 2008, was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award in March 2009, and went on to get screened in the McLaren Animation Awards programme at the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival.

A short time later Jess & Si won a commission from 4Mations Digital Shorts to create one of 13 "ambitious, original and thought-provoking animated short films from new and emerging animators" with backing from the UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund, Channel 4, and Screen Yorkshire.
The resulting film is The Astronomer's Sun - a 6 minute stopmotion film in the wonderful trademark style of Jessica Cope, about "a young man who visits an abandoned observatory to confront memories of his past and follow his father on a journey into the unknown".
Stills, production photos, and further information about the film can be found on its production blog at: http://theastronomerssun.blogspot.com


Their film is showing in Programme 3 of the British Animation Awards, where the audience will get to vote for the best piece of animation in various categories. And after the votes from all 27 screenings across the UK are counted, the most popular piece from each category will be declared the winner at the British Animation Awards ceremony later this year.
Interestingly, each winner receives as their trophy an original piece of sheep-inspired artwork* created by notable artists from the animation industry: Previous contributing artists include, amongst many others, Nick Park and Tim Burton!
You can see all the previous trophies in the Awards Gallery of the British Animation Awards website here.
*("Sheep-inspired trophies" are due to the fact that the initials of British Animation Awards is "BAA" - which is commonly known as the sound of a sheep's bleating).

Amongst the other nominated animations are:
The 2009 OSCAR-nominated This Way Up (Smith & Faulkes, Nexus),
Simon's Cat - 'TV Dinners' (Simon Tofield, Tandem Films),
Codswollop (The Brothers McLeod),
Fields of Vision (Rob Zywietz),
The Black Dog's Progress (Stephen Irwin, Animate Projects),
Coldplay's Strawberry Swings music video (Shynola, RSA Films),
several Cadbury's Creme Egg adverts (Chris Cairns, Partizan),
and the CompareTheMarket.com Jingle advert [AKA: the original "Compare The Meerkat" advert] (Darren Walsh, Passion Pictures).

To see a full list of all the animations that are showing in each of the three British Animation Awards programmes over the coming weeks, please visit: http://www.britishanimationawards.com/public_choice2010.htm

The Astronomer's Sun will be screened as part of Programme 3, which is screening at the Filmhouse cinema, Edinburgh on Wednesday 24th February. Tickets for this screening will be available to buy online from the Filmhouse website here.

The other 26 national screenings will take place at the following locations:
Belfast, Bournemouth, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Dundee, Exeter, Falmouth, Farnham, Glasgow, Harrow, Lincolnshire, London, Liverpool, Maidstone, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Norwich, Ormskirk, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Staffordshire, Totnes, and Wolverhampton.
To read the full list of Dates & Venues for each programme screening, please visit: http://www.britishanimationawards.com/Venues_playdates.htm

If you're interested in this, please try to attend one of the screenings, and then help out Jess & Si by voting for The Astronomer's Sun.


Images copyright of: The Astronomer's Sun, 2010.
Images used with permission from Jessica Cope.

UPDATE - 9 October 2010:

The Astronomer's Sun was broadcast by Channel 4 for the first time on Thursday 7 October, and for the next month it can be viewed on Channel 4's 4OD (4 On Demand) internet screening service by clicking here.

Fool Moon (animated graduation film, 2008)

Here's Aaron Johnston's fun short animated graduation film Fool Moon, which I worked on as Colouring Assistant during my 3rd Year at ECA in 2007/2008.

It's a comedy about a football-mad boy and his pet monkey searching for a ball-shaped object to use as a football on their native desert island, but after various mishaps they set their sights on capturing the moon.



This is one of the six animated graduation films that I was credited for working on during 2008, and is the first to make a full appearance on the Internet.

Testimonial from John Hales - Director of 'Macbeth' (Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft - November 2009)

Back in October I was commissioned to produce 4 animation sequences to be screened as part of John Hales' modern-dress theatre production of Macbeth, starring Abi Titmuss, at the Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft.

The production - complete with my animation - toured Norwich for numerous dates throughout November, and now that it is all over, I've recently received this testimonial from John Hales [who both directed the production and played the part of Macbeth]:

Dear Andy,

Hello there. So, the dust has finally settled after Christmas and Macbeth enough for me to write to say thank you SO much (caps intended) for your amazing work animating the fourth apparition.

It was always an ambitious production and we’d already pulled off a bit of a coup with Abi Titmuss as Lady Macbeth and some of the filming, but you and the other animators you sourced for us to bring the visions to life were just first class.

I’ve Directed for film and TV as well as theatre over the past 18 years and I was painfully aware of the mountain I was asking you all to climb in terms of schedule and the detail of the work and you not only met the challenge head on, but exceeded all my hopes and expectations of how powerful the visions could be in the hands of talented, committed and original animators like yourself and your colleagues.
It was a real pleasure to work with you on a creative level too – you have real flair but are also aware of telling the story effectively, a perfect blend which became apparent at our regular updates and each new instalment of the work. Add that all this was achieved without us even meeting once in person. I think it speaks volumes for the clarity with which you approach a project, really connecting with the brief and then working with me and the ideas to make them even better. And, on top of that, you even delivered the work early!

Cast, audience and reviewers alike were unanimous in the praise for your work Andy. I’d recommend you without a moment’s hesitation - I really hope the future brings you the success you deserve.

Thanks for everything,

With the very best wishes

John Hales
Director
Seagull Rep
www.theseagull.co.uk

Below is my 54-second animation sequence, portraying the Fourth Vision from Act 4, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, as screened during the theatre production:


To discover more about all my work for the production please visit this earlier blog post.