Works In Progress

With my university projects fully underway, I'll be posting a lot during the next few weeks.

The pitch for the CITV commission is scheduled for 21st October and CITV's Creative Director will be in attendance. I'm very excited for this one and now have my characters and story finalised, so more on that some time next week!

I also now have a starting point and character for my major project film. I'll post some initial drawings of these soon.

In other news, the fantastic DepicT! competition has announced its shortlist for 2011. It was great to be a part of DepicT! and Encounters Festival last year, and I'll be watching the competition with much interest! The shortlist can be viewed by clicking here.

Encounters 2010

So we're back from the Encounters International Film Festival 2010. The event - held at the Watershed Media Center in Bristol - was a fantastic weekend of film, animation and networking.

Myself and the other students behind 'TAP' set off for Bristol early Saturday morning and made our way to the venue. We were all made to feel very welcome and given a schedule of events. It wasn't long before the DepicT! shortlist was screened to a large audience. All the films seemed to be well received and a short Q&A session was held afterwards. It was great to talk to the other film makers who had been shortlisted, who included professional animators and students.

After the screening, we were invited to the DepicT! Happy Hour... and with free Orchard Pig cider on offer, I was very happy! After a few drinks and chatting with those who had enjoyed our film, we were interviewed on camera about our film. It was a great feeling to be chatting with like minded people about our work.

A personal highlight of the weekend was meeting Nick Park of Aardman Animation. Having loved his work since I was a child, this was a great and surreal experience! He kindly chatted with us and had a photo with us.

Although we didn't win any of the DepicT! prizes, we were very happy with being shortlisted and given the opportunity of attending a well known and exciting festival.

Thank you to everyone at Encounters and Depict!

Innovative Animation.

Here are some more of the animation me and and group have made for our Innovative Animation module at Wolverhampton University.




An unsuspecting student gets more than he bargained for when tucking into a packet of Doritos! Created using pixelation method.




An elderly man sits in his home on a cold winter's night. Made using card backgrounds, objects/character on layered glass.




Footage of a man drinking tea worked on top of using Corel Paint 11.


Encounters Film Festival is this weekend, so a full review of that will be on the way soon after! Keep on commenting on our entry in the Depict! showcase at www.depict.org/2010/tap/

"TAP" short-listed in major film festival.

"TAP" SHORT-LISTED FOR HONOURS IN MAJOR UK FILM FESTIVAL

A film by Andrew Edwards, Patrick Fowler and Thomas Massey from the University of Wolverhampton has been selected into the competitive screenings of the Encounters International Film Festival – one of the world’s best-known and best-respected celebrations of animation and films under 30 minutes duration.

To achieve a place on the final shortlist for the festival, Andrew, Patrick and Thomas’s entry “TAP” had to impress a panel of judges who saw a total 1,600 entries from 63 countries. The film now goes into the next round of judging, that takes place during Brief/Animated Encounters 2010, a five-day festival of screenings, talks, workshops, master-classes and celebrity visits happening in Bristol, UK, from 16-21 November, and which offers prizes worth a total £12,000.

Liz Harkman, the festival’s managing director, says: “This year due to the relaunch of our Brief and Animated Encounters competitive strands and our three new awards, we’ve seen a huge increase in not only the volume but also quality of the films submitted. Over 200 films have been selected from 1600 entries from a staggering 63 countries. From now, only our international jury can decide which film-makers will win the major prizes but no matter what they decide, the work of every finalist will be seen by film buyers and talent spotters from many parts of the world, and enjoy all the benefits such a showcase brings.”

Animator Andrew Edwards, on behalf of the group, says: “This a fantastic opportunity for the three of us as animation students and we’re very excited that our film has been chosen. Thank you to everyone at DepicT! and Encounters!”

For more details about the Encounters 2010 programme, the festival’s judges and supporters, the prizes on offer and how to book a place or receive the results, please see:
http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/

To see "TAP" and other short films short-listed, please visit: http://www.depict.org/