"Superhero Pets" - a Creativity Exercise

via GIPHY

Welcome to Super Hero Pets! This is a fun exercise designed to help imagine an original TV or web series.  Your goal is to learn the basic building blocks of story, story-telling and character, by imagining a short film based on your first pet, or cuddly toy.  Start by imagining the characters, who they are, and what they do. Then design your four main characters.  

Taku Kishimoto and The Art of Writing for Anime

Taku Kishimoto and the Art of Writing for Anime

Last week in Tokyo our animation students were introduced to The Art of Writing for Anime by writer Taku Kishimoto.

What is the job of a writer for anime and manga? Japanese screenwriters write original stories, working with the director and producer to come up with new material for TV and movies.  

Anime stories have a certain structure; successful writers for anime learn to follow this structure, but at the same time they must find originality and invention within this framework.

Why Animators Always Start With a Story

Storytelling animation by Sunny Asadi

Animators are story tellers; animation should always have an idea behind it, one that tells a story.

Junior animators focus on learning technique - and technique is important. But it is also important to think carefully about the story behind your shot.

Who is your character, and why are they doing what they are doing?  What is the scene about? What do they want, and what do they fear?  These things are important because if your shots forms part of an interesting story, it will be much more interesting to watch.

Why Writers Need Screen Credit

Don't forget to credit the writer 

The screen credit most commonly neglected by our student filmmakers is that of writer. Why should this be? Probably because, as animators and visual effects artists, our students tend to think visually, not in terms of language or story.  

But, however your film is imagined, it always starts with a story.  And whoever conceived that story should be credited as the writer.  

The writer credit is one of the key roles on a film, just as important as the director and producer. Why? Because in the end, it's all about telling a story.  

How to Write a Great Retrospective

How do you write a great retrospective?  At the end of most of our undergraduate modules at Escape Studios our students are expected to write a retrospective, totalling approximately 2,400 words. Students must explain how they approached the practical work in the module, what they learned, and how they might perform a similar task better the next time around.  The idea is to reflect on their performance, analyse what went wrong, celebrate what went right, and draw conclusions from the process. Above are our top ten tips for writing a great retrospective.

Escapee Evgenia Golubeva Writer at Disney

Evgenia Golubeva

Many congratulations to Escapee Evgenia Golubeva, an award-winning animator and director who is currently working as a writer at Walt Disney Animation in London.

Evgenia studied with us on our animation short course, and has since forged a career as a writer and independent film-maker, entering her animated films in festivals around the world and winning international prizes for her work.

Evgenia starting working in January 2019 as a writer at Blue Zoo Animation, bringing her talent as an animator and storyteller to the commercial world of TV cartoons, before making the leap to Disney.

Ten Rules to Write a Retrospective

 At the end of most of our undergraduate modules at Escape Studios our students are expected to write a retrospective, approximately 2,400 words.

Students must explain how they approached the practical work in the module, what they learned, and how they might perform a similar task better the next time around. 

The idea is to reflect on their performance, analyse what went wrong, celebrate what went right, and draw conclusions from the process. Below are our top ten tips for writing a great retrospective.

Evgenia Golubeva Writer at Blue Zoo

Evgenia Golubeva

Many congratulations to Escapee Evgenia Golubeva, who has recently been hired as writer at Blue Zoo Animation, one of the UK's leading producers of animated content.

Evgenia studied with us on our animation short course, and has since forged a career as an independent film-maker, entering her animated films in festivals around the world and winning international prizes for her work.

We're delighted to wish her every success at Blue Zoo, where she will bring her talent as an animator and storyteller to the commercial world of TV cartoons.

Visual Storytelling with Buster Keaton

This week at Escape Studios our second year animators are completing a pantomime shot; creating a fun, entertaining piece of animation without words or dialogue. It's harder than it sounds. Without dialogue, you have to use camera, body language and facial expressions alone to communicate your story.  Of course, the masters of silent comedy faced the same problem, which is why animators can learn so much from the silent comedy stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.  In the eight minute video above you can see why Keaton was a master of the visual gag.  Why should animators study this stuff? Because animators are actors, and we have to make our acting work on a visual level.  If your scene doesn't work with the sound turned off - it isn't working.

Five Steps To Write a Great Story

Titles: Love Me Love Me Love Me by Richard Williams

Animation students at Escape Studios learn the art of story telling as well as the craft of animation. Animation is about film-making, and every short film starts with a story.

So how do animators write a great story? You can't make a great film without one, but one of the most common mistakes made by rookie film-makers is to start making the film before the story is figured out.