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FA7033 - Electronic Press Kit for BA Film

  • April Slocombe
  • May 6, 2016
  • 7 min read

Long Press Release

Fig. 1: Production still of pub shot to illustrate Slocombe’s social anxiety.

[endif]--Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome (2015) is an animated public information film made to raise awareness of Asperger syndrome. It was written, storyboarded, narrated, animated, produced and directed by April Slocombe, a young woman on the autistic spectrum. Throughout the film audiences learn that Slocombe was diagnosed with autism at the very young age of four (although from the age of fourteen she and her mother began to believe she had Asperger syndrome based upon its traits Slocombe read about in a magazine) and she discusses the negative aspects of it such as anxiety in social situations (see Fig. 1) as well as the positive aspects such as her “interest and talent in looming,” a craft that involves creating items from small, colourful rubber bands on a plastic loom with a special hook much like a crochet hook such as bracelets. Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome has been screened at the BA show at the London Metropolitan University Central House Campus (where Slocombe is currently studying for her Master’s degree in animation) and the BFI. It is also available to view online on YouTube and Vimeo (see links on page 3). The film was produced in collaboration with The National Autistic Society and uses a combination of digital cutout animation and rotoscoping, which involves tracing over live-action footage to produce animation. In addition to being traced over live-action footage, rotoscoping can also be produced by tracing over existing works of animation, for example the animation in the Phony King of England sequence in Robin Hood (Reitherman, 1973) was traced over that from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Hand et al, 1937), The Jungle Book (Reitherman, 1967) and The Aristocats (Reitherman, 1970).

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Fig. 2: Production still for the final shot of Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome

Fig. 3: Production still of Post Office shot that Slocombe created using a combination of magazine cutouts and original photography.

[endif]--The aforementioned animation techniques are contemporary in terms of the technology used to create them as well as the technique of ‘looming,’ which was an immensely popular craft trend during the pre-production stage of the film. One contemporary artist that has influenced Slocombe for the cutout animation segments of her work was the German artist Hannah Höch (1889 – 1978) who produced works of collage made from “popular magazines, illustrated journals and fashion publications” (Whitechapel Gallery, 2016). Slocombe cut out pictures from magazines and newspapers; scanned them into her laptop; and edited them to create characters such as herself and people she encounters throughout the film as well as background designs. She also combined these cutouts with original photography and animated the cutout characters (see Fig. 3). Other contemporary sources of inspiration Slocombe used included the Charlie and Lola (2005 – 2009) animated series based upon the books by Lauren Child for the cutout animation; Snack and Drink (Sabiston, 1999), a short rotoscoped documentary about the then-teenage Ryan Power who has autism and visits his local 7-Eleven convenience store to purchase the snack and drink in the title whilst sharing his interests with his companion; and A Scanner Darkly (Linklater, 2006), a feature-length rotoscoped film based upon the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick for the rotoscoped sequences. To produce these rotoscoped sequences, Slocombe filmed herself dressed up in a way her mother found hilarious smiling and then frowning (although this video was eventually reversed for a final shot of the film to show her frowning and then smiling to summarise the overall positivity of the film, see Fig. 2) and her mother filmed her making a rubber band bracelet; imported them into her laptop and traced over the footage frame by frame. Slocombe used digital cutout animation and rotoscoping in her work because she felt they were her strongest and best techniques.

Short Press Release

Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome (2015) is an animated public information film made to raise awareness of Asperger syndrome. It was written, storyboarded, narrated, animated, produced and directed by April Slocombe, a young woman on the autistic spectrum. Throughout the film we learn that Slocombe was diagnosed with autism at the very young age of four and she discusses the negative aspects of it such as anxiety in social situations as well as the positive aspects such as her “interest and talent in looming,” a craft that involves creating items from small, colourful rubber bands on a plastic loom with a special hook much like a crochet hook such as bracelets. Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome has been screened at the BA show at the London Metropolitan University Central House Campus and the BFI in 2015. It is also available to view online on YouTube and Vimeo. Slocombe also hopes to screen this film at events organized by The National Autistic Society such as AutismCon as well as film and animation festivals worldwide. The film was produced in collaboration with The National Autistic Society and uses a combination of digital cutout animation and rotoscoping, which involves tracing over live-action footage to produce animation.

Itemised Description of Work

Title: Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome

Medium used: Hybrid of digital cutout animation and rotoscoping

Duration: 1 minute 38 seconds

Number of films: One

Number of stills to accompany press release: Three

Link to Blog Post On Work

YouTube Upload of Film

Research for Electronic Press Kit

As part of my preparation for my press kit to promote my BA animation Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome, I was asked to conduct some research. Here is the research I looked at and what I learnt from it:

How to Make a Press Kit (Including a Free Press Kit Template) from Bloopanimation.com (see Fig. 5)

Fig. 5: Screenshot of Bloop Animation's press kit page

This is a very useful guide on how to create a press kit. It explains what a press kit and its content. The example of the press kit is for an animated short named Lift Up (c. 2014) by Morr Meroz What I particularly learnt from this article is how to put together the press kit and that there are various ways to make one although I will adhere to assessment guidelines that I downloaded from BlackBoard learn.

How to Make a Press Kit from ifex.org (see Fig. 6)

FIg. 6: Screenshot of ibex.org's press kit page

This guide is similar to that on Bloop Animation although I have learnt different points such as the layout of the press kit and different components such as business cards. I have also learnt that there are at least two different kinds of press kit such as a generic one that “provides general information” about the film; and an issue-specific press kit that contains more complex content. Although this has similar information to that on Bloop Animation, I did not find it as useful because it refers to making a press kit for a business rather than a work of animation.

7 Essentials for a Press Kit from Raindance.org (see Fig. 7)

Fig. 7: Screenshot of Radiance's press kit page including a photograph of a Star Wars press kit.

This article features seven essential tips for creating a press kit. While the first six tips solely focus on creating a physical press kit such as creating a folder, writing long, medium and short versions of the synopsis (although I only need to write long and short press releases for my press kit) and including publicity stills (Grove, 2015), the final tip is the most relevant for electronic press kits. Grove explains that an electronic press kit (EPK) includes both videos and photographs (2015) although I am uncertain about including video footage in my press kit because the assignment criteria only states the use of still images. Grove also advises filmmakers to save EPKs that include video in NTSC format “for use in USA, Canada and Japan (2015)” but since I live in the UK I would save anything that contains video in PAL format. While I find the tips about creating an EPK the most useful, I also find some of the tips for creating a physical press kit the most useful, especially those about creating synopses for the film and including production stills.

Appropriate Events for My Work

The first particular event I can think of where my film may be relevant is AutismCon (see Fig. 8), an annual convention where people with autism both participate in activities and attend the event. In next year’s AutismCon I could screen both my BA animation and my MA animation as well as give a talk on living with Asperger syndrome. The most recent AutismCon took place at Friends Meeting House in Euston on 5th March 2016 and around 700 people attended (The National Autistic Society, 2016). Several activities and talks took place included live musicians, a presentation on autism and employment and an ‘open mic’ session.

Fig. 8: Screenshot of AutismCon page

One potential animation festival where I could submit my BA animation to is the London International Animation Festival (see Fig. 9). I am considering this festival because I feel it is the most local one to me and they are currently accepting entries up until 31st July 2016 (LIAF, 2016).

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Fig. 9: Screenshot of LIAF Homepage.

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Bibliography

Film and Television

  • The Aristocats (1970). Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. United States: Buena Vista Distribution Company.

  • Lloyd, C. (Producer). (2005 – 2009). Charlie and Lola [Animated television series]. United Kingdom: BBC.

  • Robin Hood (1973). Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. United States: Buena Vista Distribution Company.

  • A Scanner Darkly (2006). Directed by Richard Linklater. United States: Warner Independent Pictures.

  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. United States: Buena Vista Distribution Company.

Online Sources

List of Images

  • Fig. 1: Production still of pub shot from Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome.

  • Fig. 2: Production still for the final shot of Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome.

  • Fig 3: Production still of Post Office shot from Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome.

  • Fig. 4: Flyer to promote Looming Marvellous: Living with Asperger Syndrome.

  • Fig. 5: Screenshot of Bloop’s page on how to make a press kit [Online]. Available at: https://www.bloopanimation.com/how-to-make-a-press-kit/ (Accessed 6th May 2016).

  • Fig. 6: Screenshot of ifex’s guide on making a press kit [Online]. Available at: https://www.ifex.org/campaign_toolkit/howto_make_presskit/ Accessed: 18th April 2016.

  • Fig. 7: Screenshot of Raindance’s 7 press kit essentials page [Online]. Available at: http://www.raindance.org/7-essentials-for-a-press-kit/ (Accessed 18th April 2016).

  • Fig. 8: Screenshot of AutismCon 2016 page [Online]. Available at: http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/raise-money/special-events/autismcon.aspx (Accessed 18th April 2016).

  • Fig. 9: Screenshot of the London International Animation Festival’s website homepage [Online]. Available at: http://www.liaf.org.uk (Accessed 6th May 2016).

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