Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Pixillion - InnovateUK Animation Script.
Aardman Animations - Shaun the Sheep.
In May I had a meeting with the Producer of Shaun the Sheep, John Woolley, about the possibility of submitting some story ideas for Series 5. And a week or so later I sent in 8 new ideas. More on this soon.
Monday, 16 July 2012
A Quick Round Up - Dec 2011 to July 2012
JULY 2012 - Developed, wrote and co-directed two 3 minute Internet Commercials for Pixillion Digital in Bristol. Both ads were for Bath-based company 'On Direct' - one for their 'Cloud Direct' site, the other for their 'Backup Direct' site.
The ads featured Bristol actor Jason Bailey as 'The Man in a White Suit' (think Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty) - the God / Willy Wonka-like controller living and working inside the totally white and heavenly world of the On Direct 'Cloud'.
MAY to JUNE - Continued to work closely with Director Rupert Miles on the Vietnam based feature script 'Girl on a Motorcycle'. As of writing this, the board is now almost down to 40 or so index cards - and is being written into Final Draft. Treatments for the other projects on the slate are on hold. The plan is to complete a good first draft of GOAM by Christmas.
MAY 2012 - Hired by Aardman Commercials to add 2D animation effects to another 'Change for Life' commercial. This one had an Olympic theme.
APRIL 2012 - Visited Hereford College of Art to deliver a Story / Scriptwriting Lecture to Illustration BA Students - and to workshop their short film idea. A fun day as always.
MARCH 2012 - Started serious and concentrated work on the 'Girl on a Motorcycle' feature script with Director friend Rupert Miles. Before this the two of us collected all our ideas together, and compiled a slate of 10 Film and TV drama ideas.
We should have done this years ago! Lots of fun and very exciting.
JAN 2012 - Wrote a 2 minute internet commercial script for Pixillion Digital. This was my first project for their Bath- based client 'On Direct'. The film promotes the company's Cloud Services and features on the main On Direct site.
JAN 2012 - Hired by Aardman Commercials to add 2D animation effects to a new 'Change for Life' commercial. This one had an alcohol consumption theme.
DEC 2011 to JAN 2012 - Returned to the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham (my 4th year!) to deliver Story / Scriptwriting Lectures, and set 2 short film-making modules, to 1st and 2nd year Graphic Design BA Students.
The ads featured Bristol actor Jason Bailey as 'The Man in a White Suit' (think Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty) - the God / Willy Wonka-like controller living and working inside the totally white and heavenly world of the On Direct 'Cloud'.
MAY to JUNE - Continued to work closely with Director Rupert Miles on the Vietnam based feature script 'Girl on a Motorcycle'. As of writing this, the board is now almost down to 40 or so index cards - and is being written into Final Draft. Treatments for the other projects on the slate are on hold. The plan is to complete a good first draft of GOAM by Christmas.
MAY 2012 - Hired by Aardman Commercials to add 2D animation effects to another 'Change for Life' commercial. This one had an Olympic theme.
APRIL 2012 - Visited Hereford College of Art to deliver a Story / Scriptwriting Lecture to Illustration BA Students - and to workshop their short film idea. A fun day as always.
MARCH 2012 - Started serious and concentrated work on the 'Girl on a Motorcycle' feature script with Director friend Rupert Miles. Before this the two of us collected all our ideas together, and compiled a slate of 10 Film and TV drama ideas.
We should have done this years ago! Lots of fun and very exciting.
JAN 2012 - Wrote a 2 minute internet commercial script for Pixillion Digital. This was my first project for their Bath- based client 'On Direct'. The film promotes the company's Cloud Services and features on the main On Direct site.
JAN 2012 - Hired by Aardman Commercials to add 2D animation effects to a new 'Change for Life' commercial. This one had an alcohol consumption theme.
DEC 2011 to JAN 2012 - Returned to the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham (my 4th year!) to deliver Story / Scriptwriting Lectures, and set 2 short film-making modules, to 1st and 2nd year Graphic Design BA Students.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Ravensbourne College - October 2011
Returned to Ravensbourne College on the Greenwich Peninsula for my 4th year as a Sessional Lecturer for the Animation BA course. As before I was there to hear and comment on final year student film pitches (from a Story / Script point of view), to help pick the films that would be made, and to workshop the teams over the next coming months.
The films to be made are:
1: THE Y FACTOR - X Factor spoof animated to real Monty Python recording.
2: SPELLBOUND - Two rival magicians battle for supremacy.
3: THE SMOKING ELEPHANT - An elephant tries to hide his smoking habit in a non-smoking jungle.
4: MOTION COMIC - A robot detective hunts a criminal over and through the panels and pages of a comic book.
5: THE CAT AND THE RAT - The story of how the rat became the first sign of the Chinese zodiac.
6: CHRIS FRY - Ravensbourne Graduation title sequence and stings.
7: OWEN JACKSON - 10 second idents for each letter of the alphabet.
8: FOOLS GOLD - A gold prospector pays for his impatience by loosing what he most wanted to find.
9: MINOTAUR - Greek myth where the Minotaur is distracted and tamed by a ball of wool.
10: THE OBESSIONIST - Biography of a Father and his obsessive personality.
11: SYNESTHESIA (?) - Documentary about the condition where people can 'see' music as colours etc.
12: SCISSORS - Dark fairy tale about a mother's warning to her son about sucking his thumb.
13: MAN AND FLY - A man learns to live with his recurring Giant Fly nightmare.
14: MAN VS HIS DEVIL HAIR - A vain man's daily battle with his wild and uncontrollable hair.
More on all these ideas soon.
Edinburgh College of Art - Oct 2011
In Sept I contacted Jared Taylor, the new course leader of the Animation BA at Edinburgh College of Art, and was invited up to the college (over 2 days) to hear final year student film pitches, and to deliver my 'Story' Lecture.
I flew from Bristol in the early hours and returned later the same day. They were two 'very long' days, but well worth the trip. As I had the pleasure of working with a very interesting group of Animation students, and hearing their short film ideas.
The 12 films being made are:
1: Roza Brozek
'John Smitty' - A tale about a spitting boy and his vengeful shadow.
2: Katie Charter
'Hannah and the Moon' - A little girl who tries to find the missing moon (with animated text).
3: Anna Ginsburg
'Bombay Bicycle Club' music video based on short story by Italo Calvino. And a Guardian documentary about depression.
'The Dyslexia Machine' - A mad scientist experiments on a students mind to find a cure for Dyslexia.
'Hannah and the Moon' - A little girl who tries to find the missing moon (with animated text).
3: Anna Ginsburg
'Bombay Bicycle Club' music video based on short story by Italo Calvino. And a Guardian documentary about depression.
4: Ainslie Henderson
'Tom Moody' (The Twa Tams) - A musician and his child-like alter-ego overcome stage-fright.
'Tom Moody' (The Twa Tams) - A musician and his child-like alter-ego overcome stage-fright.
5: Ellie Howson
'Fairy Tale' - About a girl / young woman who ignores her Father's warning about entering an Enchanted Forest.
'Fairy Tale' - About a girl / young woman who ignores her Father's warning about entering an Enchanted Forest.
6: Yuan Kai
An IPad app for autistic kids, A promo video, and three 2D short films about the end of the world.
An IPad app for autistic kids, A promo video, and three 2D short films about the end of the world.
7: Alexander Kelly
Animated 'Creature Comforts' style Vox Pop - The subject matter and theme still to be decided.
Animated 'Creature Comforts' style Vox Pop - The subject matter and theme still to be decided.
8: Claire Lamond
'All That Glisters' Short story by Anne Donovan - About a young girl who finds her own way to celebrate her Father's life.
'All That Glisters' Short story by Anne Donovan - About a young girl who finds her own way to celebrate her Father's life.
9: Rebecca Manson
Ambient intelligent environment - An Art Instillation - About art being affected by the presence of a viewer, even after the viewer has left the room.
Ambient intelligent environment - An Art Instillation - About art being affected by the presence of a viewer, even after the viewer has left the room.
10: Vitalij Sicinava
'The Tea Party' - A depressed Russian Stork tries to impress his fiancee.
'The Tea Party' - A depressed Russian Stork tries to impress his fiancee.
11: Abigail Welch
'The Banana Sessions' music video - A ship full of Musical Bananas foil a Pirate's plan for their gold.
'The Banana Sessions' music video - A ship full of Musical Bananas foil a Pirate's plan for their gold.
12: George Wheeler
'The Dyslexia Machine' - A mad scientist experiments on a students mind to find a cure for Dyslexia.
Clive Juster & Associates and 'Mr Benn' - Sept 2011
During the summer I re-contacted and visited Clive Juster in Axminster, Devon.
I worked for Clive (then the co-owner of King Rollo Films - based in Honiton, Devon) for 12 years, and was involved in the production of many 2D pre-school animation series.
We discussed the possibility of working together again - maybe with a project involving David Mckee's 'Mr Benn', 'King Rollo' or one of the other properties Clive represents.
Toucanhead Digital Comics & Pixillion Digital - Summer 2011
During the summer I've been developing the idea of a new area for me and Toucanhead - that of Digital Comics.
This avenue would give me much greater control over the whole creation and distribution of a project, the possibility of reaching a wider audience, and hopefully a means of generating some direct income from around the world.
I've been talking to Remco Merbis of Pixillion Digital - a Bristol based Digital Production Agency - about collaborating on such a venture, and developing a joint project.
More on this soon.
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