Monday, October 23, 2006

The dogs bollocks


I dont know if its clear but here is an image of my tile with a picture of Thomas Parr's dog trying to cool down in the summer.

Production photos

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Rabbit
In the afternoon, Run Wrake and Dick Arnall sat side by side to talk about Rabbit in the context of Run's other work. It served as a bit of a retrospective and an insight into the run up to making Rabbit, an animate! film that has been doing really well at festivals around the world. It was great to see where it came from and hear Run talk about what it was, it certainly brought it together for me. For some reason I didn't enjoy it as much as everyone else at the beginning, I think I thought it was a bit smooth compared to his other work, but actually it's beautifully crafted in every way and it's been getting better every time I watch it. Run Wrake was modest and frank: when Dick asked him about retaining the use of the words under the stickers he said "there was no great idea behind it, I just thought it looked nice".
The film definately deserves all those prizes.
Priit Parn
On arrival I sprinted straight to the cinema to see the second programme of Priit Parn's work. Hotel E is extraordinary every time, I'm surprised that it was made as late as 1992 though I dont mean that as a slight, I hope I shall still be watching it regularly until 2092, it's completely compulsive to watch, all those languid pastel people in the room next door to the scratchy people, linked by flies and the odd escapee. I also enjoyed his film Triangle from 1982. I will admit to being a little dismayed by a macho discussion that took place afterwards, in which P.P. and Igor Kovalyov talked about the animators in their studios, it seemed a bit despotic. Being of the one-man-band school of animation, part of my enjoyment of a film is imagining the animator scribbling cheerfully away in the dark, the bubble was popped when I heard Priit Parn say that not one frame of his films are drawn by him.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Onion Rings
Tommorrow I'm off to Norwich to visit the fantastic International Animation Festival run by Adam Pugh. My newest film called Little Skipper was shown during the week. I'm hoping to relive my Zagreb experience by having Calimari twice in one day. Though I suspect it will be more like onion rings on the train there and the train home.

NIAF's publicity is designed by Marius Watz, lovely.

The shape of the old man

The film is beginning to feel like a film not just ten scenes and a hundred shots. I've done enough animation for Mark Jenkins, the brilliant editor in Fife, to have a first swipe at it. At first it lifted my spirits by making some parts look tremendous even with my voice as a guide track but it also highlights some pretty hefty dead patches, and the tale piddles along and lacks dramatic tension at the moment. What I would like now is a week in my bathroom studio to get my head around it, but all I have is a bit of Mondays. I think Kathrein would like us to finish by Christmas, wouldn't that be great?

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Ms Mary Anning


In the evenings I have enjoyed mono-printing portraits of Mrs Anning, she'll be a part of the Whitstable open house trail in the middle of October, thanks to my friend Vicky. Mrs Anning was an amateur fossil hunter from Lyme Regis, she found the first fossilized plesiosaur and Ichthyosaurus, so a serious amateur.
My Russian centaur.




Have you ever seen a sexier animation prize?