Best of British Animation Awards Vol 7 (2008)
www.britishanimationawards.com
A selection of the best of British Animation Awards nominees and award-winners in the categories for short and student films, animated commercials, TV graphics, new technologies, sound and music, many of which have also won numerous international festival prizes. Plus extras. A unique overview of recent British animation, featuring a range of different techniques and diversity of styles。
British Animation Awards (1-2)
British Animation Awards (3-4)
British Animation Awards (5-6)
The British Animation Awards (BAA) covers all aspects of the UK animation scene, from student work to commercials, children's entertainment, short and experimental art films, music videos, new technologies, script-writing and craftsmanship. BAA is held every two years; next edition is 2010.
1. The Old, Old, Very Old Man
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Elizabeth Hobbs, 2007, 6:38
In 1635, the 152 year old Thomas Parr was taken on a journey to meet King Charles I in London. A celebration of his longevity had fatal consequences.
Spellbound Animations with Moeglich Films
www.spellboundanimation.co.uk |
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2. Fun Facts 1
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Steve Smith, 2007, 2:40
Idents for Russian educational TV channel Bibigon.
Snowflakes; Forest Fires; Mole Tunnels; Pencil; Mosquitoes; Sneeze; Knight’s Helmet; Electric Eel
Produced by Trunk Animation for Red Bee Media/Bibigon
www.trunk.me.uk |
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3. Adjustment
Ian Mackinnon, 2006, 6:30
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It's been said that absence makes the heart grow finder, and in this short film director Ian Mackinnon offers up fascinating visual proof of that age-old adage. A diarist searches for flickers of hope in a drama of technical and emotional obsession.
Royal College of Art / www.rca.com
Please click here to watch it. |
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4. Milk Teeth
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Tibor Banoczki, 2007, 11:00
An unsettling tale about a young boy who follows his sister into a field as she sneaks out to see her boyfriend.
National Film & Television School
www.nftsfilm-tv.ac.uk
Please click here to watch it. |
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5. Protect the Human: Measles
6. Badgered Sharon Coleman
Sharon Coleman, 2005, 7:00
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A grumpy badger just wants the world to let him sleep. No intrusion of the modern world can keep him from this goal. But superior (fire) powers will make his rest distressing. Animated short movie directed by Sharon Colman and animated by herself, with Ant Blades and Richard Jones. |
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The music is by Peter Gosling. Badgered features the voice talent of Rupert Degas, and gained a nomination to the 2006 Academy Awards as Best Animated Short Film.
National Film & Television School
Please click here to watch it.
7. Life Size Zoetrope
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Mark Simon Hewis, 2007, 6:30
A film about the cycle of life on one giant wheel. The Life Size Zoetrope is the celebratory life story of one man told via a one-take live action shot of a giant zoetrope containing the film. |
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We are taken through the cyclical journey the man has taken as it is presented to us through animated loops on pages and body parts of 36 riders on the wheel. Mixtures of emotions fill the film, from the celebration of creativity to its eventual loneliness, regret and repetition.
Mark Simon Hewis / www.animateonline.org
Please click here to watch it.
8. t.o.m.
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Tom Brown & Daniel Gray, 2006, 2:57
A young boy’s journey.
University of Wales Newport
Please click here to watch it. |
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9.Yours Truly
Osbert Parker, 2007, 8:00
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The ultimate kiss-off letter sets off a twisting plot in a noir world where animation an live action collide. Former glories are ripped from archive footage and reassembled in a surreal city of last century's detritus to tell the story of Frank and Charlie. |
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In love with each other? In love with themselves? They see only one way out. But what will they sacrifice in order to save what they love the most in a world of forgotten people and abandoned morality, as characters break through yesterday's emulsion, forcing the two worlds to collide.
Please click here to watch it.
10. Cat Man Do
11.Tidy Monster
Tim Marchant, 2007, 5:00
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The descent into the insane mind of an unseen character. ‘Tidy Monster’ is Tim’s second venture into film making. The screenplay was written over Christmas 2006, and the 5 month production period ended in July 2007. |
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Tim directed a team consisting of a voice actor (Ben Williams) who narrates the film, collaborated again with Tom Player for audio, and called upon a playwrite (Pete Marchant) for the film’s dialogue. ‘Tidy Monster’ received the University of Hertfordshire’s highest ‘Film Day’ award presented by The Mill. It has also been included on 3Dtotal.com ‘Shorts Drawer 2007’ DVD.
It's unusual to see CGI movies with such a minimal set as this one: one usually expect detailed textures, complex characters, impossible camera movements...But Tidy Monster will make Dogville looks like The Matrix. The camera, standing still, shows a few objects inside a room: a chair, a lamp, a heater. While the narrator tells his story, we can feel his mind cracking and breaking into pieces. And we see the reality, thru his eyes, facing the same fate. The beautiful short movie has been realized by Tim Marchant at the University of Hertfordshire.
Produced at the University of Hertfordshire
Tim Marchant
Please click here to watch it.
12.Olay: Lines
Suzanne Deakin, 2007, 1:00
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Through the unique use of hand-drawn animation, we watch the single-line character trying to escape his demise as he hurriedly swims, climbs, and overcomes obstacles that hinder his escape from the ever reducing mark that he's made from until the end, literally catches up with him, bringing us to Olay, the end of lines.
Produced by Slinky Pictures of Saatchi, New York / www.slinkypics.com |
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Please click here to watch it.
13. Winterthur: A Town Called Tomorrow
Sylvain Chomet, 2006, 1:30
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2D Animated commercial for Insurance company Winterhur, where the inhabitants of a town called tomorrow learn to accept their uninvited guest.
Produced by th1ng for Lowe Switzerland
www.th1ng.com
Please click here to watch it. |
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14. C'Mons: Red Viral
Dom & Nick, 2007, 4:09
Produced by Factory Films for Vauxhall/Opel via Framestore CFC |
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15. Dreams and Desires: Family Ties
Joanna Quinn, 2006, 10:00
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On acquiring a new Digi Videocam, Beryl becomes obsessed with the filmmaking process using it to articulate her desires and dreams as video diary. As “cineaste par excellence” she agrees to video the wedding of her friend Mandy, seizing the opportunity to imitate her filmmaking idols with disastrous & hilarious results.
Joanna Quinn has created the first reality series in animation with Dreams and Desires, Family Ties. A typical British family is followed on a wedding day with a hand-held camera. Naturally, everything goes horribly wrong, and it's extremely funny, as the woman making the recordings keeps commenting on what happens. These comments become funnier and more ridiculous while having more and more drinks. As we should, we even follow the characters on the wc. |
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Produced by Beryl Productions International Ltd.
S4C / www.berylproductions.co.uk
Please click here to watch it.
16. Fun Facts 2
Steve Smith, 2007, 2:20
More facts: the Moon, Ostrich Brain; Kangaroo Rat; Adult-hood bones; Meteor Dust; Speed of Sunlight; Elephants
17.The Imperfectionist
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Asa Lucander & Victoria Kitchingman, 2006, 2:50
A quirky look at an illustrator’s relationships via his sketch-book in which a coded message reveals a phone number.
Produced by Blackwatch Productions
Please click here to watch it. |
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18. Tongue of the Hidden
David Anderson, 2007, 5:30
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Based on artist Jila Peacock’s illustrations of the work of Persian poet Hafez, whose language of human love and metaphors of intoxication expressed his desire for devine and fascination with the universal mysteries. |
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'Tongue of the Hidden' is a film directed by David Anderson based on a handprinted Artist's book by Jila Peacock that contains ten love poems from the collected works, or Divan of Hafez, the fourteenth-century Persian metaphysical poet from Shiraz, whose work is accepted as expressing some of the central ideas of Sufism, the spiritual aspect of Islam. The whole Persian text of each poem has been designed in the shape of an animal mentioned by Hafez in the text, and set alongside a modern English translation by the artist herself. A conventional transcription in Persian script, appears at the end of the book.
The poet Hafez, also known as the ‘Teller of Secrets’, used the language of human love and the metaphors of wine and drunkenness to describe his desire for the Divine and intoxication with the mysteries of the Universe. The media usually presents a narrow view of Iran. The film gives some insight into the depth and sophistication of Iranian [Persian] culture. The landscapes and characters in the film are entirely constructed of Persian calligraphy.
David Anderson / www.animateonline.org
Please click here to watch it.
19. Chemical Brothers: Salmon Dance
20. The Pearce Sisters
Luis Cook, 2007, 9:00
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An amusingly bleak hearted tale of two weather lashed old spinsters of love, loneliness, guts, nudity, violence, smoking and cups of tea.. lol and edna pearce live on a remote and austere strip of coast. they scrape out a miserable existence from the sea. |
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Aardman Animations / www.aardman.com
Please click here to watch it.
Bonus features:
1. Royal Bank of Scotland commercials
- Shoes (Gary Anderson, 1987)
- Portcullis (David Anderson, 1988)
- Business Animal (David Anderson, 1988)
2. Orbital: Oi (Paul Donnellon, 2002, 5:00)
Extracts:
1. Shaun the Sheep: Still Life
Richard Goleszowski, 2007
Clip courtesy of and Aardman Animations
2. Peter & the Wolf
Suzie Templeton, 2006, 00:30
Break-thru Films Limited
The film and a making-of documentary is available on DVD, for details see: www.breakthrufilms.co.uk
3. Pocoyo
David Cantolla and Guillermo Garcia
Clip courtesy of , and Granada International
BAA'S UNIQUE AWARDS
The awards themselves are unique artworks created specially for the occasion by a range of leading international and UK animation artists. The award-winners receive something they will really cherish: a drawing (or painting, collage, sculpture...) by an inspirational fellow artist/animator. We're proud and honoured at the previous participation of such artist/animators as Frederic Back, Tim Burton, Gabor Csupo, Chuck Jones, Igor Koayalyov, Caroline Leaf, Michel Ocelot, Jan Pinkava, Wendy Tilby, and in the UK, Nick Park, Michael Dudok de Wit, Daniel Greaves, Joanna Quinn, Mark Baker, Peter Lord, Richard Williams. The "baas" are exhibited for a month at the Animation Art Gallery in central London.
And since "baa" is the sound that sheep make (at least in the English language!) the official "baa artist" spec asks that the "baa" should have one or more sheep in it, with the option for a visual reference to the UK and/or animation.
The 'baas" feature in the centerfold of the official BAA night programme, are projected on screen at the Awards night as the winner goes up to receive the original. They have also been exhibited at the Animation Art Gallery in central London, and often feature in media coverage.
Previous events:
In the winter of 2008, the British Council in Beijing proudly presented the best of the British Animation Awards Vol 7 as part of the Aniwow!2008 Animation Festival and the UK Day in Changchun.
1. City Design School, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Time: 7:00-9:00PM Tuesday 23 December 2008
Venue: 3F Big Auditorium Hall, City Design School, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Address: No.1 Yu Min Street, Hou Shayu, Shunyi District, Beijing
2. Jinlin College of the Arts (UK Day in Changchun)
Time: 13:30-15:30, 20 November 2008
Venue: Multifunction Room, Cartoon Art College
Address: No.3663 Jianshe Street, Changchun, China
Tel: 0431 85614001, 85614000
3. Jinlin College of the Arts (UK Day in Changchun)
Time: 9:00-12:00, 21 November 2008
Venue: 4E18 Multifunction Room, Animation College
Address: No.168 Boshi Road, Guigu Street, Gaoxin District, Changchun, China
Tel: 0431 85614001, 85614000
4. Communication University of China (as part of the Aniwow!2008 Animation Festival)
Time: 8:30 - 12:30AM, Friday, 24 October 2008
Venue: 400-people Auditorium Hall, Communication University of China
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