Aardman Animation Competition - Success against the odds

National Accident Helpline has teamed up with Aardman Animation to run an animation competition called 'Success against the odds'. Aspiring animators are invited to create a short animation on this theme, for a chance to win a tour of the Aardman studios, a 'Make a Morph' workshop, an original Morph artwork signed by Peter Lord, plus paid travel expenses and accommodation. The winner and shortlisted entrants will also get personalised feedback on their animation from Aardman.

The Brief to animators is as follows:

• To create a short animation on the theme of 'success against the odds' 
• Entrants can use any discipline of animation you choose (2D drawn, 3D CGI, traditional stop motion animation etc.)
• Animations should be 10 seconds or under in length
• Entries should be submitted by 18 May 2014 at 10.00pm

Anyone interested in entering should request an entry pack by entering their email address on this page: http://www.national-accident-helpline.co.uk/success-against-the-odds

The prize:

• A personal tour of the Aardman Animations studios in Bristol for you and a friend including ‘Make a Morph’ workshop (approx. 2 hours in total)
• Framed original Morph sketch signed by Peter Lord (Aardman co-founder and creator of Morph)
• Accommodation the night before or after the tour (TBC), and travel to and from Bristol

More information and entry pack available here: http://www.national-accident-helpline.co.uk/success-against-the-odds

As ever, here at Bucks we strongly encourage our students to enter competitions such as this. You might win, or get shortlisted, and the experience of entering and competing is hugely useful in itself. nothing teaches you the skills of film-making like the focus of entering your project into a competitive race.

---Alex

What Do Animators Need to Get a Job?

In 2011 I was teaching an animation class at Escape Studios in London, and we managed to get Aardman Animation in Bristol to agree to help keep an eye on us, and make sure we were delivered top-level work. They even sent one of their best animators, the very talented Matthew Rees, to come up to London and check out our students' tests.


Of course, all the students asked the same question - what sort of reel do you need to get into Aardman Animation? My answer was - a very, very good one. There is nothing more important to a working animator than his or her demo reel. It is your calling card, your talent showcase, your passport to employment.

My own rule is simple. Whatever goes on your reel - it must be completely free of mistakes. This is an absolute rule. If you submit to a studio a demo reel that has any mistakes in it, the studio will assume one of two things:

1. You saw the mistake, but couldn't fix it, or
2. You didn't see the mistake.

Either way, the studio is by now moving on to the next candidate. After all, they have a pile of demo reels to get through, they are usually spoiled for choice.

So, what was Matt's answer to the students' question? He didn't quite put it the same way I did, but he made pretty much the same point (and in fewer words) when he said "you are only as good as the worst thing on your reel".

---Alex

Character Tools Reel

Man! Just watching this reel as an animator makes me drool a little. The animator tools for these characters are amazing. Martin Orlowski is a Lead Character TD over at Aardman Animation. The characters are from their film The Pirates.

Have a look at his reel click on the image or here. He also has a page about the tools where he breaks down each of them...pretty amazing stuff!

Enjoy!
JP