Who Needs Sleep...

Hello! It's been a hectic last few weeks, coursework deadlines flying everywhere. I finished my 5-week art direction course two weeks ago, I'm glad it's done now so I can concentrate on my coursework, but I miss it because it was very interesting and fun. I built my own model set for "Barton Fink”, and even decorated the teeny tiny bathroom! 

I went out to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert with a couple of friends last Monday. It was very camp and very funny, a really enjoyable night, hopefully I'll be able to see Shrek the Musical in the New Year. Maybe even Matilda the musical as well. I'm a fan of Tim Minchin and he's written the songs for it, so that alone has to be worth the admission price.

I have 4 deadlines all within 3 days of each other so haven't even made it to the cinema for the last month, but as soon as the deadlines are passed I will be making my way to "Puss in Boots" and any others that take my fancy. I have been taking a break from coursework to watch Strictly Come Dancing and The X factor, it was a good dress night the other night on strictly, as I particularly enjoy the outfits. My favourite was Alex but she was sadly voted out at the weekend so I will now be supporting my boyfriend’s favourite – Jason. The X factor final has come and gone, and to be honest I missed the final. Even the Semi final was disappointing, but watched that in a house with my friends and their children, which made it more fun. 

Last Sunday I went out for a meal in "The Cricketers" in Clavering. It's actually owned by Jamie Oliver's parents and the food was amazing. We went there for my boyfriend's mum's birthday. I had butternut squash soup for starter and Mushroom and Truffle Risotto for main course. It was so filling but felt that I had to finish it as it was so nice. I would definitely recommend it!

Christmas is coming sooner than expected; I am so unprepared, the preparations being put back by deadlines! Next week I'll be going to the new Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, to catch up and definitely go into the LEGO store. 

It is my sister’s twenty fifth so we are off out for dinner; at least I can relax and enjoy it as the coursework rush is over, double celebration. Hopefully I will be able to go and see “Puss in Boots” before my next blog as I do love a movie review!

Stage and Screen

With classes plus tours, miniature set building, project changing, project pitching, open days and dinners this has been one crazy packed week. Life is not looking to slow down either with four coursework deadlines in four weeks, not to mention Christmas coming up. The days are just disappearing, but I suppose time flies when you’re having fun.

Katy Perry on fireworks night was excellent. The show was huge and it was great fun to watch. She went on to win the EMA for Best Live Act the following night. I was particularly impressed with how many times she changed costume in ‘Hot and Cold’, it had to have been about ten. The last change being the most impressive as her dress changed as two buckets of glitter were thrown over her. Although if your sensitive about your younger child learning language, then perhaps avoid this show.

I have not been to the cinema since my last blog as I have been really busy. But there are a few films I am particularly looking forward to. The soonest one is Puss in Boots which comes out in December, as a lover of the Shrek series (and Old Spice adverts) this looks to be a really enjoyable film. After that my next pick is Pirates: A Band of Misfits, the next stop-motion offering from Aardman, the trailers make it look really funny and the animation is beautiful as ever. Last of all, anyone who loves CG animation will be dying to see Brave, it a long wait until August but Pixar’s first fairytale is definitely one to get excited about!

Real Steel (...is easier to create in VFX than fur?)

I am still very much enjoying but also constantly trying to keep up with my third year at university. My final year project and most of my modules (and my short course at Central St Martin’s) are all turning out to be things I can really get my teeth into. I am really excited that by the end of the year and our Graduation Show that I will have myself at least one short film and hopefully a whole show reel under my belt. The highlight of next week looks to be an additional session with a senior compositor from the industry coming in to show us his show reel and advise us how to get into London’s post production industry, the second largest in the world.

My recent movie viewing consisted of Real Steel, not immediately my cup of tea, I don’t like fighting. However despite missing the impressive robot boxing matches because I was staring into my lap I found the film pretty enjoyable. My favourite Robot design was Metro from the ‘zoo’. Little boys may be hardly able to conceal their pleasure, and big boys will probably like it too. It has been said that the child actor is not irritating and I would concur. Although in my opinion if you really love your robot you are not going to send it to it’s almost certain death.

I am looking forward to this weekend although my work will start piling up I am going up to Derbyshire for the weekend to see Katy Perry in concert. A suitable activity for fireworks night I think! I may even be able to revisit Twycross zoo, it’s a lovely place but last time I went I didn’t get to see their adorable baby snow leopards. My love for cute furry animals is shameless.

Canterbury Anifest 2011

Well things have really hit the ground running and I have loads of work to do already! But in a good way, in that its work I am interested in and eager to get done and that’s the benefit of third year, there’s more work but it’s also more fun work to do. Having lots on my plate has meant I have not made it to the cinema in the last fortnight or just watched a film. My main viewing in moments away from university work are the DVD box sets of Friends (which to some people’s amazement I have never seen), The X Factor, Spooks and a bit of Strictly, so all guilty pleasure viewing to really give the old brain some time off.

Despite no movie viewing I have had a great weekend adventure to the Canterbury Animation Festival. I went last year and really enjoyed it so it was a must do this time around! And it was worth it because it was even better. There was a talk from Jim Parkyn, a senior model maker at Aardman Animations (who we all love for Wallace and Gromit) the talk was about the brilliant Creature Comforts. On the feedback form I asked for a talk on their new feature Pirates for next year, it looks great. There was also a talk from a character animator who worked on the dragon in Gringotts in Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows Part 2, which was excellent. There was also a screening of Coraline, and then a production talk where they showed all the different bits they had to animate for just one frame of one of the elaborate shots. Not only that, one of the animators from the film actually did some animation of a coralline puppet on stage!

After all of that excitement on Saturday, on Sunday we did a model making workshop with Jim Parkyn and also saw the screening of the British Short Animation finalists for the competition part of the festival. There were some gorgeous short films, the winner was Drawing Inspiration, which is a really feel good little film which is apparently available on YouTube so take a look.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier...Animator?

I love the start of term. There is lots of promise of the interesting new level you are embarking on and how great you are going to be at keeping up with all your work. I already have a ton of work to do but am trying to revel in it as I am sure it will only get heavier. I know that I am going to try and enjoy this year as much as possible because I really like being at university and unless I decide to do a masters, this is the last year that I will be.

My big decision at the moment is what I will do for my final year project. My issue being that I don’t know. I feel much like a jack of all trades and a master of none on my course. My area is Animation and VFX I have got that far. However it is not as simple as just being an Animator, there is such a spectrum of specialised areas in the industry. Do I want to do character animation, rigging, modelling texturing, compositing and the list goes on. So it’s almost not a question of what do I want to do my project in but what do I want to be?

I think anyone could guess from the title which film I have seen. In a departure from the 3D wave everyone seems to be very excited about Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It is a great film, one of those that looks good in the trailer, and it is good when you watch it. The design and the pacing are amazing, and Gary Oldman is excellent (to think that I only ever used to refer to him as ‘Sirius’). The only disappointment was that it was a little too easy to guess who the mole was and I prefer that kind of storyline to outwit me.

Preparation for third year!

The main part of Clearing is over now and we are progressing onto the time of online registration when people are going to become fresher’s! Because I changed my course I got to be a fresher twice, that was lucky for me because the second time I has fresher’s flu all week. Now I am looking at embarking on the scariest bit of any degree, the last year; this being the year that gives you your classification and where you have to make all the moves to propel yourself into the world of work.

To prepare for my third year I have been reading the books from my reading list and deciding what graduate schemes, company programmes and postgraduate courses I am interested in applying for so I don’t miss any deadlines. I am particularly enjoying ‘Ideas for the Animated Short’ which is an easier read than ‘The Art and Science of Digital Compositing’ although both very interesting.

The film of this blog is Fright Night. Not one that I initially might have gone for, however I was very kindly given a free ticket by my friend as part of the Sky movies previews at Cineworld O2. I normally run in the opposite direction to horror films because of my overactive imagination that has left me sleeping with the light on for lesser things. However Fright Night isn’t really a horror film, it’s funny, and it’s funniest when David Tennant is on screen. Colin Farrell looks like he is enjoying his role, he has a way of looking like he is having a ball when he is a funny baddy, somewhat like when he was Bull’s-eye in Daredevil. The guy who plays the main character I have seen in ‘Fierce People’ and ‘Charlie Bartlett’ and although the first of those films was five years ago he looks almost exactly the same. Really good film that keeps you on the edge of your seat and also gives you a laugh at the same time.

Cars 2 and Captain America

Working in clearing over the summer is good, but it’s the evening and weekend activities that I look forward to the most. This week I saw two movies and I saw the show currently on at the Coliseum called ‘Napoletango’, which is a show you come out of wondering whether you thought it was good or just downright strange. However Bruce Forsyth and Antonio Carlucci (TV chef some people have never heard of and some people think is really famous) were there to see it.
So for the movie section, the viewing this week was Captain America. Possibly not one I would have been interested in if I did not know the people I do. It was a good, well put together, comprehensive film. I enjoyed it; it had many of my favourite British actors in it, a tiny bit from Richard Armitage (Robin Hood/Spooks/Vicar of Dibley) and Natalie Dormer (The Tudors). As well as Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia) as Howard Stark and Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter (The Duchess)in more main roles. It is always nice when you see people who you have watched on British Television and the National Theatre stage progress to the big screen. Less British, but no less excellent small parts came from Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones. Stanley Tucci is one of those people is always in supporting roles but also nearly always makes a movie.

Anyway, actually about the film! It is another super hero origin movie but it’s not a cliché, it is set in the 1940s and the Captain’s super powers are due to medical science. It is also part of a “set”, the Marvel Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America films title characters will all be in The Avengers next year. I have seen all of these films and have to say I don’t think much of Hulk, Iron Man is all right, Captain America is good and solid but my favourite is probably Thor. Its humour and the impressiveness of the worlds of Asgaard and Jodenheim are what tip it on top for me.

I also saw Cars 2, as a digital animation student this was an interesting one for me. It was undoubtedly gorgeous with a lot impressive effects in terms of explosions and the scene with Finn McMissile. Being a Pixar film you would expect nothing less than the best animation around. In terms of story it’s about Mater not Lightning McQueen, however I felt the same about it as I did about Cars. It’s really good but other Pixar films are great. Look out for the adverts on the London race track that say ‘Lassetyre’ after director and overall genius John Lasseter. Absolutely go and see it, but as soon as it finishes run away because the song over the credits is awful.