Bucks Animation & VFX Demo Reel 2014

We present our latest demo reel showcasing our students' best work from this past academic year. Among the students whose work is featured here include Monika Dzikowicz, Anton Alfimenko, James Hatton, Jack Strood, Georgia Nicholls, Tosin Oluyadi, David Wheeler and Stacey Houston. Music is by Bucks graduate Kris Allen. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to this latest selection of work done here at Bucks. We're proud of what all our students have achieved, and we look forward to seeing even more ambitious and challenging work in the future.

Gateway - our shiny new media hub

One thing that really stands out in this compilation is the sheer variety of work being done here at Bucks. 3D animation, 2D hand-drawn animation, stop-motion, Visual Effects, Motion Graphics, RealFlow - our students are exploring their talents and developing their own personal style in the medium of their choice.

Sound designer at work at Bucks

One of the best things about studying at Bucks is the sheer range of media resources available - guaranteeing a wide variety of work and collaboration between different disciplines. This is something that we strongly encourage. After all, your time at university should be about exploring your own creative choices, making mistakes, finding your voice, and getting better and better at what you do.

In the end, we want all our students to be creative artists. Employable, yes, skilled, yes, but above all - artists.

To see our 2013 demo reel, click here.  To see more examples of our students' work, check out the first exercise done by our new students here. Also, take a look at the animation of Jack Strood, as well as our latest commercial project for Rocketseed, our short film done for a global aid agency, and take a look at the excellent work of some of our recent graduates, such as designer Monika Dzikowicz, architectural visualisation specialist Krsytof Michalski, Alex Whitfield and the 3D artwork of Mike Swan. Also check out the work of Andy Thomas here.

Bucks Graduate Jack Strood talks about his new job at Firebird Films

Jack Strood recently graduated from the Animation Games and Interactive media course at Bucks, and right away found work at the Swindon based animation studio Firebird Films, where he is working on a number of new projects. We asked Jack to tell us about his job, and how he managed to start his career in animation so soon after leaving Bucks.

Jack's graduation film "A Spring in her Step"

Bucks: You are working at Firebird films; what are you working on? 

Jack: From the beginning of June, I started back at Firebird Films in Swindon. The first week consisted of a move to a bigger office space with a separate studio area. This was much better as we can be neat and tidy in one space and have the other space with the lights setup for product shots and animations.

One ongoing project that we recently finished and debuted at RadFest last weekend was '#TrainsPlanesAutos'. This project was a short trials bike sports film featuring Matty Turner that incorporated a slight bit of rotoscoping to coincide with the narrative.





So, in the last few weeks we were drawing the last pieces of animation, drawing the credits and editing together the 'Making of' documentary as well.
 
Last week we also worked on an animation test for a pitch we're making for Ford Motor Insurance. We used replacement animation of paper cut-outs of myself walking to a model Ford car. We also made our one foot signage out of lego bricks, that was pretty fun too!



Tester Pot Ford from firebird films Ltd. on Vimeo.


Bucks: How difficult was it for you to find work after graduating?

I was extremely lucky to know Ross Mackenzie (The Company Director) through the network of film makers through college, and he's been more than generous by asking me to come back and help on a few projects. In the position of getting clients, we are very aware that we have to produce a small test for free to attach to our pitch. Getting clients to agree to our crazy ideas is the struggle. I know a bunch of people who apply for every job hoping for an interview or even a call, but it's keeping the momentum going is the tricky part.

Jack Strood

Bucks: What sort of work do you hope to do in the future? 

To fill the working day with producing stop motion aired TV adverts or short films would be wishful thinking. Video editing comes with the territory, so enhancing skills in After Effects, Premier Pro CC and Dragonframe is a definite must. The next goal of ours is to film a stop motion promo ident for Firebird which is an ongoing challenge.

High Wycombe awaits our new students

Bucks: What advice would you offer to our new students starting in September who hope to find work in the animation business?

Follow what you love doing; the tutors at Bucks will see that and encourage your potential. If you can, ring as many studios as you can asking for work experience or even a five minute tour around their working space. It will put you in better form if they know what kind of person you are, if and when you ask them for more work.  Keep one eye on the current trends too, it might come in handy one day.


To see the impressive work done by our students and recent graduates here at Bucks, check out SuperFergy in 3D by Anton Alfy, see the work of Jens Kopke,  Ben Gray's Moonbeam, and the architectural visualisations of Sabah Masood and Anton Alfimenko. Also take a look at the work of Andy Thomas here, see our latest commercial project for Rocketseed, our short film done for a global aid agency, and take a look at the excellent work of designer Monika Dzikowicz, architectural visualisation specialist Krsytof Michalski, Alex Whitfield and the 3D artwork of Mike Swan. And don't forget to see the simulation work of our students done in RealFlow. To see our 2013 student demo reel, click here.

Rebecca Rochon of the Bucks Learning Development Unit congratulates our students

Rebecca Rochon of the Learning Development Unit (LDU) has formally congratulated our students for their excellent work on a short animated film for use at Bucks. The film, How to write a Lit Review, was completed earlier this year, and aims to help students who are struggling with the process of researching an academic report.

Rebecca wrote: "I wanted to express my thanks on behalf of the LDU for the work you put into the animation How to do a Lit Review.  I have it banked as a teaching resource, it will be built into the LDU organisation on BlackBoard for students, and LearnHigher will be incorporating it into their website for the new academic year."

The film was not a paid project, but each of the students involved received an amazon voucher, and a certificate of appreciation recognising ‘outstanding contribution to the Learning and Teaching Directorate’, signed by the Director of Learning and Teaching at Bucks.

For more about the film (and to watch it), see our blog post here. 

---Alex

To see the impressive work done by our students and recent graduates here at Bucks, check out SuperFergy in 3D by Anton Alfy, see the work of Jens Kopke,  Ben Gray's Moonbeam, and the architectural visualisations of Sabah Masood and Anton Alfimenko. Also take a look at the work of Andy Thomas here, see our latest commercial project for Rocketseed, our short film done for a global aid agency, and take a look at the excellent work of designer Monika Dzikowicz, architectural visualisation specialist Krsytof Michalski, Alex Whitfield and the 3D artwork of Mike Swan. And don't forget to see the simulation work of our students done in RealFlow. To see our student demo reel, click here.

Student Showcase: Jack Strood introduces "A Spring in her Step"

Jack Strood, one of our final year animation student at Bucks, presents "A Spring in her Step", a short animated film about a girl who wins a dance competition only to find that her celebration is short-lived, as she is faced with a demanding life challenge. The film combines stop-motion techniques with 2D animation, to create a unique blend of different styles. We asked Jack to tell us about the film and how he put it all together.







Bucks: What is your film about? 

Jack: "A Spring in her Step" is a stop motion short film: When a girl wins a dance competition, her celebration is short-lived - with the arrival of another demanding life challenge. 

Bucks: What inspired you to make it? 

I chose stop motion animation as a style, as I did not gel well with computer animation. In my dissertation, I described the main styles of animation - and 3-D CGI was just one of them. The one animation that inspired me through the course of the project was the classic TV series Paddington Bear. This series of short animations that came out in the 1980s echoed my own personal interests really well. 

My own academic background is more of an art, sculpture, media and film setting, so Paddington Bear’s style of drawn background with real puppet animation stood out as a supreme highlight to me. To see characters and sets created with known materials that anybody can relate with, that move and tell a story; it’s the closest thing to magic that I know. I feel that the audience may have ‘CGI fatigue’ nowadays, so watching real-life, psychical objects animate, (hopefully) will resonate more with the audience. They know, almost instinctively, how much work and time it took to sculpt each part.

Set from "A Spring in her step"

Bucks: What were the biggest challenges you faced along the way? 

Jack: The lowest point of this year-long project was when I came close to a breakdown at the end of my second Negotiated Project at Bucks. My problems began when I could not get Laura (the girl character) to form correctly, and her clothes began to unstitch in front of my eyes - all after five hours of hard work. Nothing was going right; I did not have any proper animation tests, and only a half-attempt at a set. Worse, I was severely behind schedule. I travelled home and worked on a monumental catch-up session that lasted a solid fortnight. I started a blog on blogger (http://jackstrood.blogspot.co.uk/) to post everyday for motivation, morale and time management - and I haven’t looked back since. 

I found myself saying ‘What should this look like?’, ‘How is this going to stand up?’ and my personal favourite ‘Why the HELL have I chosen stop motion?!’ The main decisions were ones were that I felt like I had to re-visit a certain area again, as the result previously didn’t quite cut the mustard. 

I had to re-visit the animatic three times to get the timing right and all of the shots correct, as this was a visual representation of the script - and the backbone of any animation. Another case in point is that I had to re-visit Laura’s whole character design from the ground up. Her face and head had to be re-worked, as it looked too plain and didn’t fit, but I soon realised that you could get more out of a wire-lined fabric dress than a heavy knitted one. Finally I had to re-build the camera slider rig as the older wooden one did not have enough stability.

Bucks: What advice would you give to any student at Bucks making a short film? 

Jack: Don’t avoid the obvious, indulge your obsessions and love what you’re doing. The tutors at Bucks are outstandingly supportive and even if they reply with harsh criticism, it means that they know you can take it - and that they believe there is great potential in you as a student and film-maker. 

There was a phrase that I used for self moral support throughout the course of this project: “When everything feels like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.” I found this very supportive, as on every painful step of the project, I had to overcome my initial frustration barrier of plainly not knowing anything about the sub-topic I jumped into. 


Bucks:  What projects can we look forward to in future? 

Jack: An on-going personal project is self-betterment. When I leave university, I will be faced with the task of finding an appropriate job in animation. This will be my next project, as I will dedicate all of my time building up my portfolio, contacting studios and taking any unpaid work experience places out there just to build up contacts. Then, and only then, will there be a solid animation project on the cards, I wouldn’t like to lose momentum with my career.

 (Editor's Note: For more impressive work done by our students and recent graduates here at Bucks, check out SuperFergy in 3D by Anton Alfy, see the work of Jens Kopke,  Ben Gray's Moonbeam, and the architectural visualisations of Sabah Masood and Anton Alfimenko. Also take a look at the work of Andy Thomas here, see our latest commercial project for Rocketseed, our short film done for a global aid agency, and take a look at the excellent work of designer Monika Dzikowicz, architectural visualisation specialist Krsytof Michalski, Alex Whitfield and the 3D artwork of Mike Swan. And don't forget to see the simulation work of our students done in RealFlow. To see our student demo reel, click here.)

 

Student showcase - the animation of Jack Strood

Animation by Jack Strood for GPSL

Jack Strood is one of our talented animation students here at Bucks. During this past summer he worked on a series of animated videos for Global Publishing Solutions, a company that commissioned some short films as part of a marketing campaign to get its message out to prospective clients.

Lots of companies find it hard to explain exactly to clients what it is that they do - especially in the technology sector - and animation can be the perfect medium to make complex ideas seem clear and easy to understand. We asked Jack (who did the animation) and Alex Hudd (who did the audio work) to talk about the project and how they got involved.

The project was executed by Firebird Films, a company founded by Ross Mackenzie. Ross and Jack did the animation together, choosing a hand-drawn style, using stop-motion techniques and narration to tell the story in a simple but clear way. You can see one of the films below:


GPSL ANIMATION. 1 of 4 (stop-motion on the Sony FS700) from firebird films Ltd. on Vimeo.


Bucks: How did you come to work for Global Publishing Solutions?

Jack:  Global Publishing Solutions (GPSL) was a client of one of my company partners. They recommend me to GPSL.

  
Alex: Ross Mackenzie of Firebird Films contracted me to do the sound design on the GPSL films.

Bucks: Who came up with the idea for the videos?

Jack:  The client wanted to do a mockumentary but I talked them out of it, as I wanted to try animation instead. I had seen some other great animation which really inspired me, and I wanted to have a go myself. 

Alex: Ross I think oversaw the visual design of the films. It was left pretty much up to me to sort out the sound design of them.

Bucks: How did you figure out the style of the films?

Jack: After watching series of animations done for the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Art (RSA), I really loved their work and I wanted to adapt their style and also put my own twist on it.

Alex: I wanted to match the sound design to the slightly quirky - but endearing - visual style. And I think we achieved this, in the end.


Bucks: How did you make the films - from a technical point of view?

Jack: The whole idea was really simple. We only used one table, white board markers and some cardboard that we managed to put together. The animation was shot on a Sony FS700 and the lighting we used was simply two defused 800 watt red head bulbs. Oh, and we had a radio.

Alex: I look at the end edit (or work in progress) and decide what needs to be sound-designed. It's important to remember that you don't need to sound-design every little movement or thing that happens. Sometimes the old adage, "less is more" applies! It's all about looking at the whole picture and deciding what would happen at a particular moment in order to bring emotion and a sense of pace to the visuals.

Quite often, sounds will occur in my head just by watching the film, which I then attempt to recreate in the studio using whatever materials I need. Failing that I just use my own mouth to mimic the sounds I need. Once the sounds are recorded I might then need to edit them to fit the picture or re-time it slightly - I try to record the sounds in real time with the picture as this saves time editing; but it's not always possible. I then go through a mix process to level and position the sounds as appropriate in the stereo (or 5.1) space. The final mix is then 'married' with the master picture to make the comp to deliver to the client for review.

Bucks: What is your next project?

Jack: We have just finished 8 animations for Carillion PLC. This project is a bit like the work we did for GPSL but we used lots of different materials instead of just pens.

Alex: We are just finishing off a series of sound designs for a building company called Carillion. My next project is sound design for some Dolby Atmos demos, however there are several more projects in progress that I cannot talk about due to client confidentiality agreements. 


Bucks: What advice would you give to students at Bucks looking to take on freelance work?

Jack: One of the most important part of this was the sound design. Alex Hudd designed all the sound on this project and has worked on films like Hot Fuzz. He is 50% of this project as without sound & voice-over there would be no films.

Alex:  Whatever you do, make sure you communicate well with the people you are working with and try not to give false promises on delivery times - it usually takes longer than you think! Never take anything for granted - I'm always learning something new about sound (and the industry!) every day and that for me is the way it should be. Which is why I'm still working in this sector, I guess. Finally, take a pride in your work and make sure you get paid in the end - if you want to make it your career!

I wasn’t an animator before and I had no experience animating. I had shot a lot of films but nothing like this. But I always wanted to give it a good go. Working with Jack on the drawing and animating side has really helped. Two eyes are better than one and we have worked a really good routine working together. Anything is possible if you give it a good try. Just make sure the film is well planned out. And what ever amount of time you think you will need to get it done -  double it.

---Alex

(Editor's Note: For more excellent work done by our students here at Bucks, check out our latest commercial project for Rocketseed, our short film done for a global aid agency, and take a look at the excellent work of some of our recent graduates, such as designer Monika Dzikowicz, architectural visualisation specialist Krsytof Michalski, Alex Whitfield and the 3D artwork of Mike Swan.)