Guest Lecture by Tim Searle

Tim Searle is the Head of Animation at Beano Studios - London. He has worked on/directed animations such as the 'Title sequence to Have I Got News for You', 'Danger Mouse', 'Mr Bean the animated series' and more recently 'Dennis the Menace' and his most recent animation with puppets is the 'Title sequence to the series Man Down', just to name a few.

A key quote that Searle shared with us was by John Halas - "‘Animation is the most contemporary

form of human expression combining the elements of motion, story-telling, sound and space".

Additionally in the Spring of 1989, Searle set up his own animation business, called 'Triffic Films', a name he chose as he "wanted a name that bank managers found hard to say". I discovered this newspaper article, written when Searle had just started 'Triffic Films':

Searles top tip was to 'sharpen up storyboard skills' as it is a key skill that is always needed for any animation. He finished his talk with a quote from T.S. Eliot - "If I had longer, I'd have written a shorter letter". Searle used this quote in reference to creating an animation showreel because it has to show off  your work to potential employers. In particular it has to show your best work in the shortest time possible as employers don't have time or interest in watching long showreels.

I found this talk very useful as it gave an insight into what animation is like in industry.

Narrative Film Screening 2

The short film we watched today was the first episode of the Road Runner and the Wile E. Coyote entitled 'Fast and Furry-ous'. This animation is great in showing that dialogue is not necessarily needed for amazing animations. As well as this we were taught that it is good to think of the environment as the third character because the characters and the environments they are in are just as important as each other. Finally it is key to note that characters have to stick to the rules of the world they are in, for example 'All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters - The Southwest American Desert'.

Additionally we watched a 2D film called 'Belleville Rendezvous', in which a cyclist was kidnapped from the Tour de France, by a Paris Mob Boss. He forced the cyclists to cycle on bikes that were connected to a machine with cardboard cyclists riding up a mountain. The mob bosses would then bet on who they thought would win the race. What the Mob Boss did not count on was that the cyclists Mother would find him and come to the rescue. 

Overall the music in this animation is quite catchy and the film uses vintage colours throughout, switching from sepia to then brighter colours:

Further Foley for the Animated Scene

Here are further sounds that I recorded for the WALL-E animated scene:

Visual Narrative 3D

Today we were shown how to use Maya to block out story scenes. This is key to showing layout concepts which will need to be done in the Pitch Bible.

In this first scene we had to practice using the modelling tools on Maya to create a rough shape of a Chicken:

The next task was to make a witches cauldron. Here are some screenshots of my work, shown from different angles:

Experimenting with Foley for an animated scene:

Here are the sounds recorded for the animated scene from WALL-E:

Narrative Film Screening 1

Today I watched the short film 'Bobs Birthday'. It is a 2D animation looking at the life of a Dentist called Bob who questions his lifestyle and whether or not he should have an affair with the dental nurse. He doesn't but then his wife throws him a surprise party, inviting friends around. Bob arrives home and talks badly about each guest, not knowing they are there, waiting to jump up. The animation ends where all of the guests are left in the house and Bob and his wife go out for a meal.

The scenes are very good in showing what the characters are focusing on meaning we can insinuate what they are thinking. This just goes to show that words are not necessarily needed to communicate with the audience within an animation.

Additionally today, we watched an animation called 'Mary and Max'. This is a stop-motion animation which focuses on the relationship between an 8 year old girl called Mary who lives in Australia and her Pen Pal Max who is a 44 year old man with Asperger's syndrome living in New York. This film tells an emotional tale, as Mary and Max both seek friendship which they find in each other. The colour scheme throughout this film is key to showing the mood of the characters. It starts off with very dull, brown colours as shown below:

However as the story continues, more colour is brought into each of the characters lives:

Mary and Max never have the chance to meet and experience a few bumps in their relationship along the way, but when Mary finally goes to meet Max, she is too late. She finds Max dead on his couch staring up at the ceiling. When she looks up though, she finds that Max truly valued their friendship as he spent his dying moments staring at the years worth of letters Mary had sent him, which he had stuck onto his ceiling.

Research into Paper Cut out Animations

1)  Stop Motion Animation - A haunted house by the 'Bowling Green State University Graphic Design Division':

2) Stop Motion Animation - The Brothers Grimm story 'Little Red Cap' represented through paper cut animation by Hazel O'Brien:

3) 3D Animation for the National Geographic raising awareness of wildlife conservation. It is entitled 'The Miniature World of Animated Paper Wild Life' by Directors Dávid Ringeisen & László Ruska: