BAF Festival Trip: 14th-16th Nov

Last week, I and my classmates visited the BAF Festival held in Bradford at the National Media Museum. It was a short 3 days packed with talks and screenings of animations, film and games.

It was a very informative 3 days that I experienced, it helped show me the different animations that students and professionals produce in the industry. The sessions I most looked forward to was watching Paranorman in 3D, Mark Shapiro's talk and Chuck Jones Centenary talk.

Talks:

Vanessa Boyce from Double Negative http://www.dneg.com/

This company's work consists of creating parts of Gotham City in the recent Batman films, worked on the buildings and other visual effects in Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

I enjoyed their talk because it gave me an insight into the type of work they do for films and other projects. It also developed an interest in that field of work they do and has boosted my curiosity in trying out some basic visual effects.

Gotham City- Monorail scene

Double Negative used techniques such as large-scale miniatures, matte painting and very detailed digital environment work. A phrase Vanessa Boyce said at the talk was 'reference, reference, reference', that word was repeated 3 times and this is a simple skill that is mimed by many tutors when it comes to briefs, is that to create pieces of work you need to have gathered as much information as possible fulfil your purpose. She stated the artists took multiple photos of high skyscrapers and other buildings and places around cities to be able to capture a realistic idea when it came to creating sections of Gotham City and also visually present Gotham City as it is described in comics.

''Double Negative created some 300 visual effects shots for the film, making it the lead vendor.'' quoted from the website.

Chuck Jones Centenary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSbdvzbOzY- The Dot And The Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

After watching this animation, I found extremely comedic, entertaining and informative. The audience this animation is aimed at would be universal because the humour is a type that everyone can relate to whether young, middle-aged or elderly.

The storyline is simple which makes it easy to follow, the visuals are colourful and vibrant. The use of block colours and sharp shapes such as triangles helps to emphasise the mathematical side of this story yet being pleasant to watch. Usually, the audience is used to seeing characters replicate human characteristics and appearance, in this animation the use of a line, dot and squiggle having human traits is more fascinating and has been done well. The sound and narrative timing helps to emphasise the character's emotions which is key to presenting certain punchlines. 

Overall, I enjoyed the 3 days because it helped to motivate me and also surround me with like-minded individuals striving to get in the industry.