Dear Friends:
In October 2005 Nik and I were invited to present a program of the history
of animation through music. The festival turned out to be such a wonderful
experience that I wrote an article about it for our ASIFA newsletter. I
want to share it with our animation community.
If you are not on our e-mail list because you are interested in animation
then just delete this message now. To the rest of you -- hope that you
enjoy it.
Nancy
-----
On October 14 and 15 2005, Nik and I had the rewarding experience of appearing at the Co-operative Young Film Makers Film Festival at the National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television in Bradford, England. The Festival is one of the few non-competitive young people's film festivals in the world (the films are juried), and is a celebration of filmmaking which allows young people from 6 to 21 to see their works beautifully projected on the big screen and to explore creativity through workshops presented by industry professionals during the two day event.
Many of the films and animations were the collective work of film clubs and school groups from throughout the UK, but individual directors were also well represented. Four young Spanish students attended the festival representing a joint UK-Catalonia project, and although not present, a film by a 19 year old from Evanston, Illinois was screened. The Festival helps to fund travel for students who could not otherwise attend.
Subjects included a documentary by an 18 year old young woman exploring the desire of young Muslim women in Britain to wear the Hijab headscarf, a horror/thriller created by a group of 10 to 12 year olds and an UK/Catalonian co-produced animation of two space ships hurtling through space in a desperate race to reach a new planet.
When not in the screening room, the young audience, along with their teachers and parents could choose to go to a selection of hands-on workshops, ranging from computer animation and storyboarding to Claymation. Master classes ranged from the very popular "Stuntman", where Roy Alon, who has worked on major film and TV productions since 1976, (from INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM to TROY), recounted anecdotes from his epic career, to a demonstration of the fundamentals of 3D animation - how to create a 3D character from start to finish, by Mark Williams of Aardman Animation.
Learning how to make a film on a shoestring budget is a necessity for young film makers. Director of Photography Peter Tyler whose credits include ALIEN, 4 WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, BATMAN and the new DR. WHO, specializes in miniature effects and took students behind the scenes of the industry to teach them budget short cuts.
My favorite event was "Film Makers Surgeries", where festival participants could get one-on-one feedback from professionals. Filmmakers who submitted a film which didn't get selected for the festival, or who had a work in progress could bring in their work for some instant advice from a number of professional animators, who took turns in the consultants' chair. Many of the young filmmakers said that this was the most valuable part of the weekend to them.
Our session at the festival was called TOONS AND TUNES, which we presented on both Saturday and Sunday. TOONS AND TUNES presents a historical perspective of animated works having music driven soundtracks, from the 1934 film Joie de Vive, by the UK’s Hoppin and Gross, to Walt Disney’s orchestral instrument tour de force TOOT, WHISTLE, PLUCK, AND BOOM, ending with Nina Paley's FETCH, with Nik playing clarinet live along with his original score on the film. There were several young composers in the audience and after each of the 7 animations that we screened the audience asked numerous questions that led to discussions of how a film maker can work with their composer, the importance of using music that the filmmaker has the rights to, and music copyright laws.
It was an exciting and stimulating experience to spend two days with so many talented young film enthusiasts. Throughout the entire festival, all of the workshop participants were encouraged to informally spend time in the lobby and in the museum restaurant so that students could come up to talk to us all informally, and who knows, perhaps we met a future Ang Lee or Bill Plympton.
The Festival is sponsored by The Co-operative Group, which operates a range of businesses in Britain, from food stores to the Co-op Bank, all of which are owned and operated by the consumer members. Bryony, Cadi, and Linnhe Catlow of 3 BEAR ANIMATIONS were central to the organization of this year’s festival, and were our hosts for the event. Their company, 3 BEAR ANIMATIONS, is an award winning studio which produces internationally acclaimed TV commercial and short films.
Thirteen of the works in the festival were funded by First Light, an organization made possible through the British National Lottery. First Light has given grants to over 9,000 young filmmakers from five to eighteen years old for the creation of over 600 short films.
Festival weekend was definitely not all work and no play. The festival provided rooms for all of the special guests at the historic Midland Hotel, a grand railroad hotel dating from 1841, and hosted a lovely Indian food banquet for the Festival Committee and the professional guests on Saturday evening. After a sumptuous dinner, we retired to the hotel lobby where a large group of us socialized and drank until the wee hours of the morning -- the hotel maintains a private bar for guests that remains open as late as anyone wishes to partake -- and it was great to reconnect with old friend like Mark Williams and Bryony, Cadi, and Linnhe, and make new a new friend in Victor Opeyokun, animator and artist who led the storyboarding workshop.
If the festival and socializing were not enough, the wonderful National Museum of Photography, Film and Television was available for us to visit: 7 floors of fantastic exhibits, three screening rooms and an IMAX theatre. The extensive animation exhibit covers half of an entire floor, and the history of animation is presented in dioramas and displays detailing animation from drawings, cels, and Claymation to special effects. There are original sets and models from MORPH, WALLACE AND GROMMET, Ray Harryhausen's TALOS, and tributes to Jan Svankmayer, Yuri Norstein, Chuck Jones and many other great names from the animation world as well as a film library of over 120 animated films dating from 1898 to today.
Nik and I felt very honored to be invited to participate in a festival which gives young film makers encouragement and a chance to be taken serriously by their peers and professionals in the film industry. We look forward to meeting many of
these talented young people at future animation and film festivals around the world.
Festival Website: www.film-makers.co-op.co.uk
