Cranium, a lonely-bored-alien, gets attacked whilst on his spaceship by a rouge-assassin-lady-robot, FemmeBot Fatale. He blows up her spaceship. She enters his spaceship, without permission. He reprograms her to take care of him.

I’ve completed work on another animation for Bristol City Council. This time it’s an introduction to the Keep Your Wheels project and an explanation of how participants can get their hands on £100.

Keep Your Wheels aims to encourage safer riding and reduce the number of road collisions involving young riders of powered two-wheelers.

This short animation was created and directed by Sumo Science at Aardman for Nokia, via Wieden & Kennedy. It is a beautiful and imaginative sequence starring a 9mm girl called Dot who’s being chased by a disproportionate unraveling danger. It was inspired by Professor Fletcher’s invention of the CellScope, a Nokia device with a microscope attachment: All the minuscule detail was shot using CellScope technology and a Nokia N8, with its 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics.

After an overwhelming response for the 2009 festival Encounters International Film Festival, Bristol, has once again teamed up with YouSendIt, to accept festival submissions digitally. In a bid to decrease waste and make life a lot easier for Filmmakers, with YouSendIt, filmmakers can upload an entry directly through the Encounters web site.

Submissions open 19 April and close on 30 June. This year sees the return of Animated Encounters and Brief Encounters as the two competitive strands. Films under 30 minutes of any genre are accepted, see the Encounters International Film Festival website for full terms and conditions.

I have always been a big fan of the look of 60s American illustration, with very simplistic features that tell o much about the character, a dominant colour on each scene, basic compositions and very accentuated poses. This charming short has it all and it’s all handsomely delivered.

This short animation was commissioned by Faber & Faber to promote the release of Andrew O’Hagan’s novel The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe.

Robin Davey designed, directed and animated the whole short. The music is Bean Bag by Jeff Curry.

Robin says: “Drawing inspiration from film titles and cartoons of that era and incorporating quotes from the novel itself, I produced this minute long whistle-stop tour of Maf’s early life, tracing his journey from an English farmhouse kitchen to the company of the most famous woman in the world. The piece was conceived as a single sequence without obvious cuts, using colour transitions to reinforce the sense of movement.”

A bit of advice: Select the HD version and play full screen, it’s worth it!

I’ve made a new animation aimed at young moped/motorbike riders who don’t dress correctly for the conditions. The animation was commissioned by the Bristol City Council Keep Your Wheels project. Find out more on my blog, enjoy!

Encounters Short film Festival returns this November to celebrate 15 years of supporting new national and international short film and animation talent with a jam-packed programme. Introducing new for this year an Online Audience Award partnered with Babelgum, extended competition programmes and more delegate only events than ever before. You can now see (or download) the complete programme of events for this year’s festival.

The event will take place in Bristol, UK between the 17th and the 21st of November.

Competition Screenings — Before 16:00 — £3.50
(£2.50 for delegates) and after 16:00 — £5

Special Events — £8/£6.50 conc.
Guest Screenings — £6.50/£5 conc.
Panels & Masterclasses — £5
(Limited complimentary delegate tickets)

Delegate only Events — Available to only delegates — Free
Industry Screenings — Available to only delegates — Free