Moving On

Like Dick Whittington, I'm off to London

Working at Bucks and launching the new course in Animation and Visual Effects has been one of the highlights of my professional career.  After all, Bucks is a university with excellent facilities in new media and a strong focus on the creative arts.

Sad to say, today is my last day at Bucks, and I am moving to a new job in London with Escape Studios. However, the excellent work done at Bucks by our talented students will continue, and I wish the very best to whoever takes on the running of Animation and VFX course.

Book Recommendation - Animation Methods by David Rodriguez

Animation Methods by David Rodriguez is a very, very good book on learning animation in Maya.  It's a book that focuses primarily on 3D Character Animation, a step-by-step guide for learning Maya, and the Maya animation tools. It also has useful sections on how to get into the industry, how to make a great demo reel, and how to get a job in animation. We think this is a very useful companion book to the animation and VFX course at Bucks.

It is also an unusual book in that it makes extensive use of QR codes - meaning you can use your smartphone to scan the codes and then view a 3D animated clip of the lesson. So, not only can you read the lesson, but you can also see and understand it through a video demonstration. 

CTN hosts Animation Masterclass with Pixar's Michal Makarewicz.

Animation masterclass with Pixar's Michal Makarewicz

This weekend the Creative Talent Network (CTN) hosts an animation masterclass with Pixar's Michal Makarewicz. There are still some spots available - the only catch is you will need to be in Los Angeles. For any of our students in the area, we highly recommend attending this event - and others like it. Time spent seeing the work methods of master animators is never wasted, and will help you to polish and refine your own workflow.

An Awesome Reel from Studio AKA

STUDIO AKA Montage Reel 2015 from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.

Check out the latest work by STUDIO AKA, a multi-BAFTA winning & Oscar-nominated independent animation studio & production company based in London. This is just the sort of small studio we love to see, boutique houses doing creative and interesting work in animation. Most interestingly, Studio AKA do a mixture of 2D and 3D work, showing that the medium isn't really what matters - it's what you do with it that counts. Animation is all about creating an entertaining and believable performance. We train our students to master these skills so that they can use any software to create great animation.

Why Animators Should Go To Siggraph in August

Siggraph 2015

This year Siggraph is taking place in the Los Angeles Convention Center, from 9-13 August. Siggraph is the world's biggest conference on computer graphics. Like FMX in Stuttgart, or the Annecy animation festival, it is the perfect place to find out about the latest technologies, meet other animators, find the big recruiters, and figure out where the industry is heading. It is, in short, a window into the digital future. Obviously, not many of our students will find themselves in LA this summer, but for those luckily few that are, we highly recommend attending Siggraph - and events like it.  There is nothing quite like it to give you a unique insight into the the new technology that is driving the development of the animation industry.

David Thompson Explains How to Produce Movies

David Thompson at BAFTA

BAFTA recently held a series of lectures and masterclasses on film production, welcoming members of the public to hear industry professionals give lectures on all aspects of the business.  One of the best presentations was a talk by David Thompson, formerly head of films and single drama at BBC, and a producer with a clutch of BAFTAs and Golden Globes on his shelf. Most importantly, he has over 100 screen credits, including Billy Elliot and Mandela. Here at Bucks we recommend that all our students attend industry events like this whenever possible. You never know who you will meet, and what you will learn about the way the industry actually works.

10% Discount On Our Online MA in Animation Extended Until End of August

Learn Character and Creature Animation

Our new online MA in Animation is still welcoming applications and, if you hurry, you can still get a 10% discount on the fee - we've extended the deadline until the end of August. We're excited to be launching the world's first degree of this kind, and we're getting applications from all over the world, including the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. Some of the applicants are very talented indeed, many of them professional animators looking to broaden their skills and also gain a qualification suitable for teaching in higher education around the world. So how does the application process work, and what can applicants expect?

"Chappie" Student Art Competition

"Chappie" Film Competition

Sony Pictures is offering students a chance to enter an art competition for a new film "Chappie", being released on Blu-Ray. The contest is open for two weeks, and the winner gets a pack of goodies and film-related prizes.

Charlotte - a New Free Maya Rig!

Digital artist Ahmed Elmatarawi has just released his newest baby - Charlotte - a free Maya rig available for student and non-commercial use around the world. We haven't tested it yet, but the video below takes you through the rig in detail, and we look forward to seeing what our students can do with her. One of the great benefits of working in Maya is its growing user base, bringing us new and better animation rigs for student use all the time. So who and what is Charlotte?

What Do Sales Agents Do, Exactly?

Sola Media - Sales Agents with a focus on animation

Any animator with dreams to bring their own project to the big screen will eventually need to understand the business of making and financing animated films. This includes the question of who, exactly, is going to sell your film for you. Are you going to do it yourself? Or are you going to bring in experts who know the business? Probably, you will do the latter. As part of our series on the business of animation, we take a look at what exactly a sales agent is and what they do.

Blue Zoo Summer Internships

This year Blue Zoo are offering two six week internships in their London studio; one working in their commercials team, ideal for someone with bold ambitions to be an animated commercials director, and another in their TV series department for someone starting out on a mission to become an expert CG character animator! To apply head to https://jobs.blue-zoo.co.uk/

Bucks New Uni's Annecy Survival Guide

Annecy - an ancient medieval town in the French Alps

The International Festival of Animation at Annecy is the world’s biggest animation festival. It can be a slightly overwhelming experience; there are so many things going on at once that it can be hard to feel like you really get to make the most of being there. Alongside the film festival is MIFA – the world’s biggest animation marketplace, a brain-boiling congress of industry types furiously buying and selling. But Annecy is an event that we believe that every animator should go to at least once – if only to get a feeling for the sheer size and diversity of the modern animation industry.

Calling All Bucks Graduates - Apply Now for the Aardman Certificate in Character Animation

Aardman's Certificate in Character Animation

Aardman and the NFTS are offering an intensive three month Certificate in Character Animation, aimed primarily at graduates and taught by industry professionals at Aardman studios in Bristol.  The course is headed up by Loyd Price, Head of Animation at Aardman, with the aim of "bridging the gap between education and industry" and "enabling students to develop the core practical skills needed for them to become competent professional animators and to create believable characters through acting and performance".

What Is The Monthly Character Design Challenge?

Character Design Challenge!

Calling All Character Designers! Why not polish your design skills by entering the monthly Character Design Challenge? It's a bit like the Eleven Second Club, but for character designers. The group already has an astonishing twenty five thousand members - and growing fast.  So what is it all about, and how does it work?

Framestore Reveal Their Animation Secrets to Bucks Students

Here at Bucks we are committed to bringing in regular visiting lecturers from the animation and visual effects industry, to make sure that what we're teaching is totally current and up-to-date.  On Friday 29 May we welcomed Framestore's Marion Strunck to teach our students at Bucks.  Marion is a graduate of the excellent Animation Workshop in Denmark and an expert in character and creature animation. Every animator has their own workflow, and it was fascinating to gain some insights into how a top London VFX house approaches the art of character and creature animation.

The Thief and The Cobbler at Annecy

On stage at Annecy - Le Voleur et Le Cordonnier

Here at Bucks we encourage all our students to visit the international Animation Festival at Annecy at least once.  It's the world's biggest animation festival - everyone who is anyone in animation shows up, and there are more screenings, workshops and events than you could possibly attend in a whole year.  Friday 19 June was the last day of the MIFA marketplace at Annecy, and also a rare chance to see The Thief and The Cobbler (en Francais: “Le voleur et le cordonnier”) original director’s cut – presented by the director himself.  Dad got a standing ovation when he came on stage, and he dedicated the screening to the memory of Ken Harris, one of Chuck Jones’ top animators on the Looney Tunes series and the man responsible for much of the animation of The Thief himself.

Job Alert - Sheridan College Seek Professor of Animation - MA Required!

Sheridan College are hiring!

Sheridan College in Toronto are looking for a professor of animation. The job is a well-paid post at one of the world's most prestigious animation schools. So what's stopping you applying? Most likely, it's because you don't have an MA in your chosen field. To teach in higher education, even in the arts, you need an MA. But where to get one? That's where Bucks comes in.  In September 2015 we launch The World's First Online MA in Animation.  You can study from home part-time - all without ever leaving your desk.

A Love Letter to Almaty - by Anton Alfimenko

Bucks Animation & VFX student Anton Alfimenko has recently finished a film about his home town of Almaty in Kazakhstan.  Anton's work is primarily focused on digital media but he has been taking extra classes here at Bucks in the use of live action cameras - which is something we strongly encourage. Here, Anton uses speeded-up photography to give a sense of the passing of time in his home city. It's a beautiful piece of work, and we congratulate Anton on further developing his own personal skillset and creating a finished, polished piece of work.

Make Your Own RenderFarm With Backburner

Render by Gilles Tran - Wikimedia Commons 

Rendering, as my old tutor at Escape Studios used to say, "is where everything starts to go wrong". Here at Bucks we expect our students to present finished, polished work for their assessed submissions, properly lit, textured and rendered out. But this poses problems - render times can be long and, as deadlines loom, any technical failure can be fatal to a timely submission.  So, in the absence of a high-end render farm, how do students render their work on time? The answer is Backburner - the poor man's render farm.

Introducing The Shaththan Rig

Shaththan Rig

Here at Bucks we're always on the lookout for great creature rigs that are capable of producing a full range of facial expressions so that our students can study creature animation and get an excellent performance. One rig that has been giving us good results is the free Shaththan Rig, created by the very talented Revanth Ravi, and now available - free for student use - at Creative Crash.

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.