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Happy New Year! January 12, 2010

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BAFTA Win!

The end of 2009 was a very exciting one for AnimNation. The online interactive CBeebies game Big & Small won a 2009 Children’s BAFTA! I worked alongside Plug-in Media, Kindle & CBeebies to create the 3D Papervision assets for the game – creating all of the 3D environments to go into the game – including Big & Small’s living room, bedroom, bathroom & the newly released garden & mysterious woods.

Inside the house - the lounge

A New Website

A new year & a new website! AnimNation now have a new 2010 website & a new animation show reel. Check it out here – http://www.animnation.co.uk

Work in Progress

I am currently developing a selection of children’s tv series ideas. In 2010 I am hoping to develop these further & create pilot episodes for two of the ideas. More information on that come.

Christmas Big Screen Bonanza

On 15th December, BANG! & FlashBrighton groups got together for our Christmas Big Screen Bonanza. Decked out in very bad Christmas jumpers & reindeer antlers, Seb Lee-Delisle, RichMitch, Jo Summers and myself hosted the evening – which saw animated short films selected by RichMitch, a guest speaker slot by the wonderful Garth+Ginny, a special screening of Cyriak’s latest animated short film (and a secret film that hasn’t been released yet!) as well as a load of mince pies & festive cheer.

Here are some photographs from the night -

September/October Update November 1, 2009

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Another mass update of AnimNation news since the summer…and it has been an exciting few months!

Firstly, the CBeebies Big & Small online interactive game that I created the 3D environments for has been nominated for a Children’s Interactive BAFTA!

AnimNation have also moved into a shiney new studio in the heart of Brighton’s North Laines – more space, better facilities – the company is now more equipped to take on bigger projects.

Last weekend, the White Night festival took over Brighton for one night. I was one of the main organisers for the Brighton Animators animated projections event. I helped to put together a night of futuristic projected animations onto the very distinct Brighton Unitarian Church. 42 purpose made animations were chosen to be projected onto the church. The whole event received wonderful feedback from the audience & press. I created two animations for the event – a B-movie inspired opening animation to introduce the evening & a 3D animation of a Robot hiding out in the church from the police. More information about the event can be found here.

Over the past few months AnimNation have created work for Nokia and Punch & Judy prof. Glyn Edwards, as well as developing three new children’s television series – more information on that to come!

And the run up to Christmas looks equally as exciting – with a whole host of exciting animation projects, working with big name clients.

Here’s to a new era at AnimNation!

Back from Paris & Gobelins! July 20, 2009

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I’m now back in UK after studying at the amazing Gobelins Character Animation Summer School…what an amazing course! I would recommend this course to anyone wishing to develop their character animation skills!
I was very privileged to learn from the likes of -

Shelley Page (Head of International Outreach for DreamWorks Animation)
Fred Nargorny (professor of animation at Gobelins)
Alexandre Heboyan (ex-Gobelins student, co-director on Migration Bigoudenn, Dreamworks animator & now co-director on the French feature film, Mune, le gardien de la lune, for the studio Method Films.)
Robert Bennett (the amazing Corporeal Acting teacher)
Kyle Balda (who has worked for the likes of ILM & Pixar – as directing animator on Toy Story 2)
Daniel Cacouault (an incredible artist & production designer for films)

So the quality of the teaching was second to none!

I will be putting together a series of blog posts that cover some of the animation principles that I learnt whilst studying at Gobelins. So keep an eye on this blog to find out more.

Off to Gobelins June 11, 2009

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A couple of weeks ago I received the amazing news that I have been accepted onto the Gobelins Character Animation Summer School in Paris!

summer_bandeau

For those of you who are unaware of Gobelins l’ecole de l’image – it is an incredible arts college in the middle of Paris that has been churning out award-winning animation students for the past 30 years. Their 2007 students short film “Oktapodi” was nominated for a 2009 Academy Award!
For the past four years Gobelins have been running a Summer School for animation graduates and professionals. The course is an intensive insight into the world of professional character animation & professional studio pipelines through a host of highly skilled industry instructors from the likes of Pixar, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Disney, Weta Digital, and Dreamworks.
So you can understand why I’m so excited to be attending the Summer School!

And I have just heard that Screen South have agreed to support me on this course.

I’m heading out to Paris on June 29th to start the course & hope to keep an up-to-date blog on how the course is going whilst I am out there (hopefully with videos of the animation work I have been doing during the workshops).

I can’t wait!

Big & Small nominated for a FITC award! March 31, 2009

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Recently I have been working on the 3D Papervision assets for the CBeebies Big & Small online interactive game alongside Plug-in Media and Kindle Entertainment.

We’ve just heard the amazing news that the Big & Small game has been nominated for a Flash In The Can (FITC) Award in their 3D Flash category!

You can vote for the game at the FITC People’s Choice Award under the 3D Flash category.

Vote For Big & Small

March BANG event – A Night on the Red Carpet February 11, 2009

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I’ve been organising the March meet up for the Brighton Animators Networking Group. Here are a few details about it -

Award fever is in the air! So we’ve pulled out all the stops (and the red carpet) with the next BANG event on Monday 9th March.

Expect an A-List evening packed full of entertainment, glitz & glamour (without the tears and tantrums) as we screen some of this year’s BAFTA and Oscar nominated animated short films (and few of the old favourites for good measure).

Our guest speaker is none other than the acclaimed director Alan Smith; half of the famous animation directing team Smith & Foulkes – who’s animated short film “This Way Up” has been nominated at this years Oscars! His credits include many well-known projects such as the BBC animated comedy series Monkey Dust, the film credit sequence for Thunderbirds, and an animated film within Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events. He has also created commercial work for Coca Cola, Volkswagen, Robinsons (their recent TV advert with the little characters playing in puddles), Honda (the beautiful “Hate Something, Change Something” TV advert) and Orange. Alan is going to show us how his projects have evolved from their original concept drawings, storyboards and animatics, through to the final animated piece.

Find out more about “This Way Up” HERE

thiswayup

When?

Monday 9th March ‘09 – doors open at 7pm, screenings start promptly at 7:30 until 10:30pm. So please make sure you arrive on time.

Where?

Lighthouse Digital Screening Lounge, 28 Kensington Street, Brighton BN1 4AJ (behind Wagamama).

How much?

£5 per person payable on the door to cover the venue hire costs.

Registration?

HERE

I hope to see you there!

Sarah

Papervision & Maya training in Brighton – March 2nd-4th January 27, 2009

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On 4th March, I will be running a masterclass in Maya 3D modelling specific to creating Papervision 3D assets (which enables you to create 3D websites). Recently, I have been working on a number of Papervision 3D projects for clients such as CBBC/CBeebies and MLB (Major League Baseball) – as a result, I have become quite familiar with creating 3D assets for Papervision-made websites.

My Maya workshop is aimed at developers without any 3D modelling experience or 3D artists who want to know exactly how to get their models to look good in Papervision3D.

The morning will cover the basics of 3D modelling in Maya, covering primitives, materials cameras and lighting.

After lunch we’ll learn more Papervision specific techniques :

* Making low poly models look good
* Exporting for Papervision
* Baking textures
* Making your models accessible to actionscript
* Animating Collada files

On 2nd & 3rd March, Seb Lee-Delisle from Plugin Media will be doing workshops on how to create Papervision 3D sites from a developers point of view, and my Maya workshop will be following on from this.

Both workshops are being held at Lighthouse in Brighton, UK.

More information about the workshops & registration can be found HERE.

Big & Small goes live on CBeebies website January 27, 2009

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I have been working on the 3D Papervision assets for the new Big & Small Cbeebies game recently with Plug-in Media – which went live on the CBeebies website recently.

Play the game

Outside the house

Outside the house

Inside the house - the lounge

Inside the house - the lounge

Playing the Band Game

Playing the Band Game

Playing the Hand Painting Game

Playing the Hand Painting Game

Big & Small is a new CBeebies TV show created by Kindle Entertainment. The preschool series is about two friends who couldn’t be more different is voiced by Lenny Henry and Imelda Staunton.

Cinecity events coming up November 17, 2008

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Lighthouse and Cinecity are hosting a couple of great animation events this month -

Barry Purves – Artist in Motion
Sunday 23rd November 2008

Acclaimed British animation director and writer Barry Purves is giving a talk at Lighthouse from 3pm.

Cineville – An Animated Euro-Vision
Monday 24th November 2008

Industry experts and filmmakers from the UK and abroad will discuss the challenges and benefits of animation co-production, taking a look at how British writers, producers and directors are working with international partners, the reasons why and the results of these collaborations.

Paper Bagski – Full of Eastern (European) Promise
Tuesday 25th November 2008

Eastern European animation screenings from 6:30pm at The Brunswick in Hove.

Find out more here

Update – November November 11, 2008

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I have to apologise – I last updated this blog in May! But things have been very busy recently & there have been lots of changes!

Firstly – my little piece of good news…I have been shortlisted for DiMA award. I’m down to one of 3 shortlisted finalists for Freelancer of the Year.

badge_grey_100x100

The DiMA awards are being held on 27th November.

Secondly – AnimNation are now affiliated with Brown & Sticky Productions – a company set up to develop children’s television content. Talented children’s script writer, Jayne Kirkham and I have been working on a new kid’s TV series, Adrian’s Wall. Which we were fortunate enough to present at the recent Cartoon Forum conference, where we had to pitch the show idea and a 45-second animated trailer to potential broadcasters and investors. The project also took us off to Cannes to Mipcom Junior.

adrian

I’ve been busy working on a number of projects since May. One of which was a successful advertising campaign for Westminster Kingsway College – creating a 30-second 3D animated television advertisement that was recently aired on Trouble TV and creating 3D imagery and animations for print, online and mobile campaigns to promote their latest enrolment drive.

“The project commissioned to AnimNation was an integral part of our marketing strategy. They listened and responded to our exact needs and created something that we are extremely proud to have as part of the Westminster Kingsway College brand. The finished product surpassed all of our expectations and we look forward to working with AnimNation again in the future.” – Westminster Kingsway College

westk


I have also been working with web community Netmums on creating assets for a new section of their website – more information about that to come.

And creating 2D and 3D animated graphics for an educational CD for geophysical and geoscience exploration company, IAGC.

I’ve also been creating a number of 3D assets for Plug-in Media:

Using the revolutionary new piece of Flash based software, Papervision (which enables 3D models to be viewed in Flash – the user can interactively move around the model in realtime), we created a 3D baseball player for the Major League Baseball’s Game Day section of their site. The aim was to create an interactive way of viewing baseball game data.

gameday

Plug-in Media also required a 3D storybook for their latest Museum of London game – Tales of London.

talesoflondon1

And most recently I have been creating 3D papervision assets for a new CBeebies show with Plug-in Media. More information about that to come.

So it has been a busy few months! And with more exciting projects on the horizon, I’m hoping that 2009 will be another exciting year for AnimNation!

Thanks for reading

Sarah