Honing the Craft at Animated Exeter Festival

It's Animated Exeter time once again! This is probably my favourite time of year in Exeter and I'm certain there are few other animation festivals quite as comprehensive and accessible as this one. Animation is one of my great loves. I started off with the Disney classics of my youth and a mild obsession with Tom and Jerry. Although I still love the soft, hand-drawn cartoon fairy tales, my tastes have changed drastically over the years. I spend a good portion of my time on youtube watching animated shorts - from the more widely known and studied to the lesser known student creations. I'm a huge fan of the dark brooding creations of Tim Burton and the slightly more frightening Brothers Quay. I've also been lucky enough to discover on youtube the immense talent of M dot Strange. His feature length feast - We Are the Strange had me mesmerized from beginning to end. As far as I know he's a one-man-show and a bit of an animation savant (his doll models are just plain freaky). He travels all over the world speaking at conventions and is well known in the animation underground. I hope to meet him one of these days.

The photo above is one of my creations from a family animation I made with my daughter, Mother and two cousins last year called The Everlasting Rose. We made the film with equipment/studio loans from Exeter Phoenix after participating in a Fabric Animation workshop at Animated Exeter and believing we could do it on our own!!! Since making that film, I've spent countless hours trying to hone my meager stop motion skills by reading as many books on the subject as I can get my hands and eyes on; participating in the wonderful workshops of the Animated Exeter Festivals; and watching, watching and watching animation after animation. It really is an obsession, but as far as obsessions go, it's one I'm not willing to give up!

This year, I signed up for two courses, both of which were last weekend. The first was a Writing for Animation masterclass with Alan Gilby (award winning writer of Frankenstein's Cat and Pinky and Perky). It was worth every penny - and then some! It was an incredibly intense session packed full of Alan's wisdom, advice and the in's and out's of the business. Alan has a comedy theatre background and starts off his sessions with the most revered of all drama games. While most of the other writers were sweating in their pants, I felt very much at home! It was hard work the whole way through and I could feel my mind buzzing with the flurry of mental workouts he pushed us through. It was superb, absolutely superb! My only regret is that I didn't stay to have a drink and a chat with Alan afterwards, but alas I didn't allow for it in my daily schedule and was left running for the parking lot at the end of the session- crap! He had a small crowd gathering around him at the bar - smarter folks who obviously sensed their luck at having an opportunity to share a drink and pick the brain of one of the industry's creative geniuses. Oh well, maybe next time? Probably not.

The next course was the following day - Life Drawing for Animation with Sara Easby. Again, this was a workout but of a different kind. I thought my arms were going to drop off at the end of the session. Sara teaches life drawing at Aardman - the mecca of the stop motion animation world, so I jumped at the chance to take part and quickly emptied my wallet of my remaining £10.00 - at that price, it was a steal! It was a life drawing class in every sense - easels, charcoal, and a dancing model. I love to draw, but I found the rigid use of the techniques a bit daunting for my wobbly arm and rapid eye movements. I'm so used to drawing on a flat surface, I fear I've created a lot of very bad habits. It was a terrific experience though and I took alot of useful information away with me. I can't say I enjoyed it as much as Alan's workshop, but that would be like comparing apples and oranges. I was inspired enough after Alan's class to write out film ideas for two hours that evening, but I didn't go home and draw after the second one. My arm hurt too much! Still, not sure I'd ever have the chance anywhere else other than England to participate in classes like these, with people working in such esteemed institutions. Boy, do I hate to miss an opportunity!