Kiwi's Dream Wins "Best Animation" at Flicks

Kiwi's Dream Wins Best Animation at Flicks

Many congratulations to the makers of "Kiwi's Dream", which has won its fourth festival award: "Best Animation" at the Flicks Film Festival.

Directed by Paloma Zhu and produced by Daniel Rowe, "Kiwi's Dream" is a short story about an origami kiwi who dreams of flight. It was completed as part of the third year animation Module PR6001.

Charlie and Yip Best Trailer at Fantastic Fest

I'm pleased to announce that my short film "Charlie and Yip" has won another festival award - Best Trailer at the Fantastic Indie Film Festival of Los Angeles.

Charlie and Yip is a short film about a kid who takes his pet to school for Show and Tell, which turns out to be a bad idea.

The short is really a teaser/trailer for my indie feature film project "My Haunted House", which is still in development. 

Amedeo Beretta Webinar on MoCap Animation

 
Escape Studios animation tutor Amedeo Beretta joined us on Tuesday for a brand new webinar on Motion Capture animation.  Amedeo's webinar explored the motion capture workflow, showing animators how to control animation when dealing with MoCap data in Autodesk Maya.  Of all our animation tutors at Escape Studios, Amedeo has the most experience of handling motion capture data, taking the process from start to finish so that our students have usable, editable data that can be refined and tweaked during the animation process.  

VFX Festival is Back in March 2021

Escape Studios’ Ninth Annual VFX Festival is back in March; this year as an online event. 

The theme of the festival in 2021 is "Limitless Creativity" and, as always, the festival features talks, presentations, and career advice aimed at students, emerging talent, and industry professionals. 

Industry Feedback with Max Howard

Max Howard

Veteran animation Producer Max Howard will join us on Thursday morning at Escape Studios, giving online feedback to our second year animation students on their short film projects.

Max is an experienced film producer and studio executive who has run animation divisions at Disney, DreamWorks and Warner Bros Feature Animation.

Industry feedback is at the heart of what we do at Escape Studios; it helps our students to connect with the commercial world, and represents one of the Five Pillars of the Escape Method. Our second year animation students are currently working on their short film projects, part of Module PR5001, where students tackle short films in small groups. 

"Kiwi's Dream" Wins "Best No Budget Film"

Kiwi's Dream wins Best No Budget Film at DSFF

Many congratulations to the makers of "Kiwi's Dream", which has won its third festival award, "Best No Budget Film" at the Dreamer's Short Film Festival. 

Directed by Paloma Zhu and produced by Daniel Rowe, "Kiwi's Dream" is a short story about an origami kiwi who dreams of flight.  

Lucy Harris Studio Assistant at Escape Studios

Lucy Harris

Many congratulations to our fourth year animation student Lucy Harris,  who has become a studio assistant at Escape Studios, while studying for her MArt.

Lucy has worked a number of award-winning short films during her time at Escape Studios, including "March of the Potguins", which won a "Five Star Award" at the British Amateur Film Festival in 2020. 

In 2020 Lucy directed the short sci-fi fantasy "Over Under", which won "Best Animation" at the Flicks Festival in London and "Most Fabulous Animation" at the Animafantasia Film Festival. 

Ash Ellis Matchmove Artist at Worldwide FX

Ash Ellis

Many congratulations to Escapee Ash Ellis, who is working as a Matchmove Artist at London VFX house Worldwide FX.

Ash studied animation and VFX at Escape Studios, and then became a Studio Assistant, helping to teach a new generation of digital artists at Escape Studios.  Ash was a also a regular tutor in the animation classroom, teaching animation "taster days" for prospective students, and also teaching "lighting for animators" for our 2nd year animation undergraduates.

After leaving Escape Studios, Ash initially became a technical animator at London-based VFX house MPC.

Maciej Osuch Junior Animator at Blue Zoo

Maciej Osuch

Many congratulations to Escapee Maciej Osuch  who has recently started work as a junior animator at Blue Zoo, one of the UK's leading animation studios.

Maciej took our degree in 3D animation at Escape Studios, where he put together a strong animation demo reel, and built a LinkedIn profile with embedded links to his demo reel and website. 

Maciej joins Escapees Daniel Lötter, Tim Jones and Jamie Floodgate at Blue Zoo, all of whom studied animation at Escape Studios.

Webinar with Story Artist Sergio Paez

Sergio Paez

On Friday 5th February Escape Studios hosted a webinar with Los Angeles based story artist Sergio Paez, interviewed by Iliana Franklin, who teaches our Master's Degree in Storyboarding and Pre-Visualisation at Escape Studios. 

Sergio Paez is a storyboard artist and director, with over 20 years of experience of storyboarding for feature films, TV, and games.  Sergio was most recently episodic director on Star Wars Resistance at Lucas Arts and has previously storyboarded on many episodes of the Star Wars franchise including The Clone Wars and Rebels, often working out of Skywalker Ranch. 

In this webinar, Sergio shares his "Five Pillars of Storytelling" - the secrets to success as a storyboard artist and film-maker. 

Concept Art is Back on 9 June 2021

Escapee Student Concept Art

Concept Art is back! Our popular evening class returns on 9 June 2021, taught by industry veteran Cenay Oekmen.

Concept Art is a part-time evening class, taught one night a week, running for ten weeks.

Concept Art introduces students to the techniques and skills that go up to make a well-rounded concept artist, including 3D & 2D software.

Animation Booms Under Lockdown

Lloyd of the Flies

A weekend article in the Daily Telegraph confirms the continuing good news for the animation industry; even under Lockdown, the animation industry continues to thrive and expand. 

Aardman Animation, the creators of "Wallace and Gromit", have expanded into digital animation with a new series "Lloyd of the Flies", a 52-episode comedy about a housefly.

Unlike live action shoots, which were shut down due to Covid-19, the animation industry is expanding, as programmers increasingly replace live-action content with animation. 

Aidan Lonergan Junior Rigger at Factory 42

Aidan Lonergan

Many congratulations to animation Escapee Aidan Lonergan for starting a new position as Junior Rigger at Factory 42, an immersive and television content production studio based at Somerset House on the Strand.

Factory 42 specialises in virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality, creating "unique multi-sensory experiences for broadcasters, brands, destinations and artists."

Aidan studied animation at Escape Studios, broadening his animation skillset to include producing, modelling and rigging.  Aidan got the job at Factory 42 based on his excellent demo reel, and then a follow-up interview.

Why Animators Must View Shots in Continuity

Jerich0 - excellent shot continuity

Animators working on short film projects can easily get tunnel vision - just focusing on their own shot. The cure for this is always to cut your scene into the main edit, and then view the shot in continuity.  This way, you get a feel for how the shot plays in relation to the other shots in the film.

Animators are commonly assigned to work on single shots on a project, which means there will be another shot, animated by another animator, on either side of theirs.

These shots must play together in continuity, meaning that there must be a smooth flow from one to another. The character's pose at the end of Shot 1 should be the same pose in Shot 2, or else the shots won't "hook up".

Animation Webinar with Michael Morgan

We've uploaded a new Character Animation Webinar to our YouTube Channel; this time with veteran animator Michael Morgan, who has worked on multiple animation blockbusters such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Beauty and the Beast, and Black Panther, and teaches our 20 week animation evening class at Escape Studios.  In this 60 minute webinar Michael explains what the latest trends are in the animation industry, why animators are very much in demand, and where the new opportunities lie (clue, PreVis Animation is big and growing!) for those with the right skills. 

Kiwi's Dream Wins Best Director at Prague Fest

"Kiwi's Dream" Best Director at Prague Fest

Many congratulations to the makers of "Kiwi's Dream", which has won its second festival award - "Best Director" at the Prague Film Festival. 

Directed by Paloma Zhu and produced by Daniel Rowe, "Kiwi's Dream" is a short story about an origami kiwi who dreams of flight. It was completed as part of the third year animation Module PR6001.

Adam & Eve Mk II Wins "Best Cinematography"

"Best Cinematography" at Halicarnassus Film Fest

Many congratulations to Sebastian Kuder, director of "Adam & Eve Mk II", which has won Best Cinematography at the Halicarnassus Film Festival.

This is the twelfth festival award for Adam & Eve Mk II,  a sci-fi re-telling of the Genesis story, which recently won "Best SciFi Short" at the Mid West Horror Film Festival, and was Runner-Up in the category of "Best College Short" at the Brooklyn Sci-Fi Film Festival.  Sebastian Kuder graduated from Escape Studios in the summer of 2019 and is currently working as a PreVis Artist at The Third Floor in London. 

  

Palindromo "Best Anim", "Best Sci-Fi" at Flicks

"Best Animation" & "Best Sci-Fi" at Flicks

Many congratulations to Paolo Amadini, director of  "Palindromo", which has won "Best Animation" and "Best Sci-Fi" at the Flicks Film Festival in London. 

These are the second and third festival awards for "Palindromo", which recently won an "Honourable Mention" at the Prague International Film Festival. 

"Palindromo" is the latest animated short created at Escape Studios, written and directed by Paolo Amadini, and overseen by Supervising Tutor Amedeo Beretta. 

PR5001 Studio Module - Get Ready to Pitch!

Time to Pitch!

On Monday 15th February from 9.30am to 12.30pm we will be hearing  pitches from our students for PR5001 Studio Project Module.

This pitch presentation is where our students first present their idea for a short film, documentary or teaser/trailer. What sort of story do you want to tell? Who are the characters, and why do we care about them? What is the hook? Why do we the audience want to see this film? 

Your eight minute pitch is your chance to capture your audience's attention, intrigue them, and make them want more.

"Kiwi's Dream" Wins "Hon Mention" at LIMFF

Kiwi's Dream Hon. Mention Best VFX at LIMFF

Many congratulations to the makers of "Kiwi's Dream", which has won its first festival award - an "Honourable Mention" for "Best VFX" at the London International Monthly Film Festival (LIMFF). 

Directed by Paloma Zhu and produced by Daniel Rowe, "Kiwi's Dream" is a short story about an origami kiwi who dreams of flight. It was completed as part of the third year animation Module PR6001.

Alex Budulan Unreal Engine TD at DNEG

Alex Budulan

Many congratulations to Escapee Alex Budulan who has become an Unreal Engine Technical Director (TD) at DNEG, one of the UK's leading visual effects houses.

Unreal Engine is a growing part of the animation and VFX industry, one where new technology is driving opportunities for employment and growth.

Real time rendering is an area where the technology has shifted in the past few years, with animation and VFX houses abandoning traditional ray-tracers in favour of real time rendering.

"Unreal Fortnight" Free Training 15-26 March

Escape Studios is proud to announce "Unreal Fortnight", a new training opportunity for real-time rendering in Unreal Engine from 15-26 March.    

Escape Studios is partnering with Epic Games and ScreenSkills to create "Unreal Fortnight", a series of short training courses in Unreal Engine,  to help retrain UK film production in the latest rendering  technology. The course is free for freelancers and furloughed workers; there is a small fee for sole traders and micro-SMEs.

Daniel Lotter Animator at Blue Zoo

Daniel Lotter

Many congratulations to Escapee Daniel Lötter who has recently started work as a junior animator at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation studios.

Daniel took our degree in 3D animation at Escape Studios, where he put together a strong animation demo reel, and built a LinkedIn profile with embedded links to his demo reel and website. 

Daniel joins Escapees Tim Jones and Jamie Floodgate at Blue Zoo, both of whom studied animation at Escape Studios.

Work Fitness Week 8-12 February

Work Fitness Week Starts on 8 February.  All our currently enrolled students can scan the QR code to the left to register for industry workshops and career fair events. 

The events aim to provide our students with links to employers via talks, an industry day and 121 practice interview/CV sessions. 

Meet the "BoxBots"

Meet "BoxBots", the latest short film produced by our students at Escape Studios. 

Directed by Jordan Coles and Ross Green, and produced by Priya Shah, "BoxBots" is a short animated comedy about a boxing match between two plastic figurines, who must fight for the "World Plasticweight Championship".

"BoxBots" was completed as part of the third year animation Module PR6001, a Studio Project worth 60 Credits.

In this module our animation students and VFX students combine forces to produce a short visual effects film, learning how to produce animation within the VFX pipeline.  "BoxBots" (which you can find at Instagram here) is currently being entered into film festivals. 

Jack Thompson Junior Rigger at Aardman

Jack Thompson

Many congratulations to Escapee Jack Thompson, who has recently begun a new position with Aardman Animation as a Junior Rigger.

Aardman Animation, based in Bristol, is one of the UK's leading animation companies, responsible for many animated hits including the "Wallace and Gromit" series of shorts.

Jack Thompson studied the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios, and made significant contributions to a number of successful animated projects, including two award-winning short films: "Joe" and "Over Under".

"Seeker" Wins "Best Trailer" at Vesuvius Fest

"Seeker" wins "Best Trailer" at the Vesuvius Fest

Many congratulations to Escapee Rassoul Edji, whose short film "Seeker" has won "Best Trailer" at the Vesuvius Film Festival. 

This is the seventh festival win (plus four nominations) for "Seeker", a short sci-fi film directed by Rassoul Edji, about a giant robot running amok in suburban England.