Escapee "Stands in for Queen" with Paddington

Heidi Prescot

We're delighted to congratulate Escapee Heidi Prescot who "stood in for the Queen" while Framestore shot live action reference for the animated "Paddington Bear" skit that formed part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations last weekend. 

Heidi completed her Master's Degree in the Art of Visual Effects at Escape Studios, graduating with a Distinction.

Heidi is working as a runner at Framestore, a traditional entry-level position in the animation industry, which often leads to more established industry roles such as a junior VFX artist. 

Live Action Reference

Heidi Prescot  worked on Moon Rockz

Animators use live action reference in order to make believable acting choices in their work. In the case of a dialogue between two characters (in this case, Queen Elizabeth and a digital Paddington Bear), the animators need a "stand-in" to make sure that all the acting beats are believable, and the eyelines are correct. 

Is Paddington actually looking directly at the Queen? Is the communication between them believable?  To see more about how animators use live action reference to create believable animation, see this blog post. 

Paddington Bear

You can see Framestore's Paddington Bear sketch below:

Heidi Prescott 

While at Escape Studios, Heidi contributed her skills as Lead Texture Artist to the short film "Moon Rockz" which has won multiple festival awards. You can see Heidi's work at Artstation here, and you can watch her demo reel below. 

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our BA/MArt in 3D Animation, follow this link. For the next 12 week animation course, click here.