MD6001 and MD6003 Week 26 - London Animation Club talk with Skwigly
Martin Pickles (rear centre) introduces Skwigly
On 14th April 2015, Skwigly came to the London Animation club. The team consisted of Aaron Wood from Slurpy Studios, Ben Mitchell and Steve Henderson. They also came to the club last September and Skwigly is an important online resource.
Here are the key points I learnt from the talk:
Aaron Wood (left) Steve Henderson (centre). and Ben Mitchell (right)
The team showed a 20-minute video documentary called Lightbox and there was a quiz later, although I did not participate because I left early.
Animation presenters are often underrepresented.
Steve went to Loughborough university.
Several Skwigly writers attended the club on 14th April.
Ben ensures tasks for Skwigly are scheduled in a certain way.
Aaron used to do web design. He's a marketing director for Slurpy Studios and came to my university in December 2014 to give a talk about pitching animation ideas.
Websites the team recommended included the following:
www.animation-festivals.com
www.glenkeane.com
http://www.cartoonbrew.com
Skwigly is a memorable name for an online animation magazine that can be read here: http://www.skwigly.co.uk
They mentioned a countdown called 100 Best Animation Shorts
Skwigly made a tutorial on self-promotion
Ben's main territory is to keep the content for Skwigly consistent.
Lightbox is a documentary from Skwigly about animation production techniques, such as making puppets out of foam and wire as well as how several short films were made (e.g. The film about three sisters who want a bike was made in ToonBoom).
There is also behind the scenes footage of Shaun the Sheep: The Movie.
Mouth shapes in Shaun the Sheep: the Movie are made from plastic rather than plasticine since plastic is less messy. They slot underneath character's faces and act as their jaws.
Disney's Feast is a short film shown before Big Hero 6. It appears to use a hybrid of 2D and 3D animation.
What are Skwigly up to now and what are their future plans?
They will be doing some screenings under the name of This Is Not a Carton, which will be shown throughout Northwest England. It starts on 24th April.
Live Q and A with Ainsley Henderson. Screenings will be shown to younger audiences.
In the summer there will be a rounders game between fellow animator Joanna Quinn and Skwigly.
Live chats from Skwigly take place every Monday at 7pm.
Ben interviewed Ren and Stimpy in their cartoon form.
I had the following question for Aaron - "Are there any summer internship positions at Slurpy?"
He asked me to speak to him at the end but I did not get around to discussing it because I left the club earlier than most other people did due to having to go to university the following morning. I did contact him by e-mail asking him the same question but he responded saying the studios did not have any space for people wanting to do work experience or internships this summer. I also brought home two Skwigly badges and a flyer about them.
