With my grad film finally finished, I can start looking at submitting the film to festivals and sending it out as part of my showreel. It’s a true culmination of everything I have learnt over the last two years.
I’m really happy with how the film turned out. Of course there is always room for improvement, especially with the editing and puppet-making side of things but it’s something I’m excited to send out to the world.
The last two years seem to have flown by. Whilst I’ve learned a huge amount while studying here, I feel like there is so much more for me to learn about the industry and how I can be the best animator I can. Knowing that I’m aiming to direct my own films I’m hoping to continue my education and apply for the MA Direction for Animation at NFTS. After attending an open day that focuses on volunteering opportunities I’m planning to volunteer to help out on the films currently in production. It will be a great oppurntuy to work as part of a team and on a stop motion set with a crew. Currently I’ve only been working solo, so it will be incredibly beneficial to get an experience of working with a small crew.
It will also be a great way to build up my skills in directing as well as gaining an incite into the course and what would be require if I did have a successful application. There are so many talented alumni and students at the school that I am certain I will gain so much from any experience I have associated with the institution. Gaining a place on the course itself would be incredible- there’s a lot of emphasis on being experimental and explorative in film making. Something I haven’t fully had the time to explore over the last two years as I’ve been focusing on getting to grips with the basic animation skills and software. I’ve been craving more time to try out different methods and mediums as I’ve gained more confidence in the basic principles of animation. To have a place where I can push those boundaries more in a place that will have more facliaties at hand will only further progress my journey into filmmaking.
Tuition will be something that will be a little tricky to navigate, so I’m researching what scholarships and bursaries are available as well as work opportunities help fund my way there.
While doing research last year on animators from home countries I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Cyprus has it’s own animation festival! It’s not a place really know for an animation scene so I was honestly not expecting to find much, so was really excited to look into it.
My grandparents came over from Cyprus in the 1950’s and brought my mum and her two siblings up in Camberwell. I only knew my grandfather/papous up until the age of 14 but never got to meet my grandmother/ yiaya who died very young. I’ve always wanted to know more about their experiences building a life in London and how difficult it must have been watching their home become torn by war from afar. (The Northern part of Cyprus has been under occupation since 1974 including the town of Famagusta which is where my grandparents were from.)
Only my mum can speak Greek in our household- Dad is English and despite some gruelling years at greek-school the language never quite stuck with my brother and I. I wish it had, but it’s very tricky to learn a language that is not around you all the time, which sometimes makes me feel neglectful of that side of my heritage.
I’d really like to try and make a film about my grandparents through memories from my mum and uncle and someone like the Animafest in Cyprus would be a perfect place to submit it. The festival started out being hosted in a printmaking studio, which is another medium I’m passionate about. I plan to explore screen printed animation going forward and this would be a perfect place to showcase that while making something that explores a different side of my heritage.
For this film, I had to make two puppets- which in hindsight was slightly more of a challenge than I had anticipated as it was the first time making a quadruped and even a puppet with working legs (before I had made just a torso and a mermaid) so probably should have anticipated the issues I ended up having.
I started the making process for the main puppet very early on in the pre-production as I knew I would struggle to work on a scale smaller than I was used to. Despite trying to get ahead with the building, I still ended up falling behind my intended schedule as I had to keep making adjustments to both puppets as I went along. I think the issue stemmed from general inexperience but also as I tried using K&S more in the builds which is not something I had done before. After weeks of trying to get the scale of the models right (arms and legs often were too long or too short), I ended up reverting back to making the armature mostly out of wire.
I ended up using a Domestica course by Adeena Grubb for reference, whose puppets were the first inspiration for my characters. Along with her course, I used a mixture of techniques we learnt from Jim Parkyn to get the final puppets. I’m planning on working on more puppet designs and models over the next few months to improve and experiment a bit more with different techniques.
Wanda (the human puppet) was still throwing up issues as I wanted her to be a nude fabric puppet, and as I was already running behind schedule I had to consider how to make her skin. In my previous project, I had worked with a costume designer who had been eager to get experience designing for stop motion puppets so I got in contact with her to see if she would be interested in making the character’s skin, or failing that a dress I could put on the puppet that would hide any rough seams that would inevitably occur if I made the skin. Much to my relief, she was up for doing both, and Wanda turned out looking so good that I didn’t end up using the dress.
I’ve been really focused on stop-motion this term, which I’ve enjoyed immensely, but I’ve really missed drawing.
There’s a huge lack of 2D work on my showreel which is something I plan to rectify over the next few months- trying to build up a portfolio of work and revising some of the excises from the beginning of the course now that I’m more comfortable with software and animation in general.
Over Christmas, I did some in-between work for my mentor which I really enjoyed and hope to be able to do more of that going forward. I will look into applying for internships and the like, but will have to get my 2D showreel up to a better standard before doing so.
Stills for my latest animated film ‘Lilith’ a stop-motion film about a fallen woman.
The LIAF project was my first time directing and while it did throw up a lot of challenges, it is definitely something I will be pursuing in the industry.
For me, storytelling has always been what drives my work- I like having a hand in all elements from the writing, designing and creative concepts as well as actually making the work (through puppets, animation ect). I like to have a real hands-on approach to what I do and have a visional way of thinking that I think is integral to directing animation.
Directing did come with a lot of challenges, I did struggle with some team members despite providing as much support possible to them- I think the real issue was that they were not actually interested in the project which made it very difficult to create a real collaborative environment. I do think if I had a team that shared some interest or passion in the project I would have been able to create a more successful film and focus more on the direction side. In the end I put together the majority of the elements of the film on my own but towards the end was able to enlist help in colleagues who actually wanted to be a part of the process.
I’d love to direct again with an eager team- I have a lot of experience in management and I believe I am good at being able to get the best out of people which is an intergeral part of making a film.
Because of the challenges I was able to really push myself into being as organised as possible in order to get every element of the film done. From finding a composer, making the set, designing the characters and putting together the press kit and social media content. I would not want to take all of that on again solo, but I now know what I am capable of achieving. This was the first time I’ve ever animated or directed so that fact that I managed to get a finished film together has given me a lot of confidence for whatever projects lay ahead.
A group of 5 of us entered this year’s 24-Hour Animation Contest which saw 300 teams of students from all over the world produce a 30-second film in 24 hours with the theme ‘1OO Years in The Future’ .
The completion provided a encapsulised experience of working within a team to create an animated film. We all took on individual roles, working remotely over the 24-hour period sharing out the rough animation, inbetweening, colouring and clean-up. In an actual studio, there would be more time for this process, but it was a great way to experience working with a team with a rapid turnaround time.
Working in a team is something I have always enjoyed, and it was great to also be able to learn from other animators while working and to just collaborate in general. It’s something I really look forward to experiencing when working on bigger projects.
And even better was that our film came 8th out of 300 student entries so can certainly be considered a successful short film.
Stills from the short film ‘The Ritual’ I directed for LIAF’s Into The Dark program screening in winter. Looking forward to sharing footage soon, but will be updating with some behind the scenes photos and concept art soon
After throwing away a couple versions of this that just looked too stiff, I tried a more loose approach for this animation. I wanted something that was gestural looking and a little abstract. I plan to pursue this style further but using ink and water colours on paper.
