How to Finance an Animated Film or TV Series

How to find finance?

Our animation students at BNU aren't just technicians, they are creative artists developing their own ideas. Many will be pitching original content for games, films and TV series.  

Of course, the business of content creation involves finance, and one of the most common questions we get asked at BNU is how to secure project finance for an animated film or TV series. 

Film finance is never easy, but it can be done, if you follow the right steps. 

Cartoon Movie March 2022 Open For Pitches

Cartoon Movie, the pitch-fest for animated films, is now taking applications.  The Deadline to submit a feature film project to Cartoon Movie is 17 November 2021. 

Cartoon Movie takes place in Bordeaux from 8-10 March 2022, and is now open for applications.

What Does an Animation Editor Do, Exactly?

Movieola

The editor is one of the most important and creative roles on any production. On an animated film the editor is no less important than in live action - he or she is involved in every process of planning and production, from the earliest stages, including cutting and editing the storyboard animatic.

Making an animated film is a collaborative effort and is almost always completed with a team of people; the editor is one of the key creative roles on any production.

We encourage all our students at Bucks to try their hand at film editing, it's an important job and one of the most interesting seats to occupy on any production.

Lion King - Film Review

On Monday night the Empire Leicester Square hosted a preview of The Lion King for BAFTA members. I went along fully prepared to dislike the new film - how could anyone top the original? And why bother with a re-make of such a great movie, other than to please the Disney shareholders?

Of course, I am very biased, having worked on the original film back in 1993, so I was doing my best not to enjoy it, and to persuade myself that the original film would still be the One True King.

But MPC, the London VFX house that did all the animation, have raised the bar for animal and creature animation to such a level that it's impossible not to be impressed by the sheer skill of the digital artistry.

The Lion King is a triumph not just of technology but of great storytelling, as the film-makers kept most of the original film but wove in new elements to keep the story fresh.

BAFTA Piccadilly hosts film-making masterclasses on July 11th - for just £6

On Saturday 11 July,  the BAFTA HQ in London at 195 Piccadilly will open its doors to emerging filmmakers for a day of masterclasses and panels with some of the UK’s major film industry organisations. The classes are hosted by industry experts, aimed at helping emerging filmmakers improve their creative and business skills. Best of all, each lecture/masterclass costs just £6 - cheaper than the price of a movie ticket.

Learn The Art of Film at www.lavideofilmmaker.com

We live in an age in which it is possible to learn almost anything online. All you really need is the determination to concentrate - free of distractions - and dedicate enough time to learn the subject properly. Film is no exception to this, and one excellent site that we highly recommend is www.lavideofilmmaker.com, a free website with all kinds of excellent resources on how to make movies. Any serious student of film should navigate to it, bookmark it, and drink deep from the well.

Deadline to submit a feature film project to Cartoon Movie: 26 Nov 2014

Cartoon Movie 2014

The Deadline to submit a feature film project to Cartoon Movie is 26 November 2014. Are you looking for co-producers, financing and distributors for your animated feature film project? If so, you should submit it to Cartoon Movie! If your film gets selected, you will be able to pitch it to almost 1,000 animation and industry professionals from forty countries. Present at Cartoon Movie are 200 buyers, including 120 distributors & sales agents.

Film & TV and Audio & Music at Bucks Join the Blogosphere

Gateway Building at Bucks - our modern media hub

One of the best things about studying at Bucks is the opportunity to collaborate across creative media with other departments.  Film & TV and Audio & Music are two of the most successful departments at Bucks, and both have now launched their own blogs, talking about what they are up to and the work that the students are creating. Their students have been producing short films (and even feature films) for years, winning awards, and offering animators a chance to collaborate and make even better films than they would achieve by working alone. To see more about what Film and TV are up to, visit http://www.filmtvbucks.co.uk/. To find out what Audio and Music are doing, visit this page. You can also see both blogs featured in the RSS feed at the top left hand corner of this blog - just click on their latest feed to find out their news.

Bucks Tutor Alex Williams Introduces his Animated Feature Film: My Haunted House

Alex Williams is Co-Course Leader of Animation & Visual Effects at Bucks New University. He is also working on an independent film project, My Haunted House, which is currently in development, aiming for a 2016 release. We asked him to tell us about the project, and what still needs to be done to bring it to the big screen.

Bucks lecturer Alex Williams talks about his work on the Harry Potter films

Bucks lecturer Alex Williams worked on the last three Harry Potter films, while employed at the London VFX house Cinesite, in London's Soho. We asked him to talk about what he did on this very popular films series which help to transform the scale and quality of visual effects work being done here in the UK.

Sound designer Scott Benson Explains How to Mix a Movie in 72 Hours, and How Sound Designers can work with Animators at Bucks

Bucks sound design student Scott Benson just recently finished mixing and editing the sound on a feature film  - all done within 72 hours. We asked him how he managed to pull of what looks like an insurmountable task, and also how our animators can get the best out of collaborating with sound designers to make great films here at Bucks.

Bucks graduate Sonia Gill is a Bollywood star

Sonia Gill

Former student Sonia Gill has become a Bollywood star after being spotted while studying at Bucks. Sonia "juggles films and TV ads in India with her job in the parking department of Oxfordshire County Council". The odd thing is, Sonia did not study performing arts at Bucks. She did a law degree.