Here’s a wonderful animation, cleverly written and animated by 21 year old Irish animator Bryan Joseph O’Sullivan. He studied animation at IADT Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.
The short is about two young detectives named Rian and Pogo who set out to investigate and explore the depths of their hometown Oakridge. Along the way they encounter odd creatures, a haunted house and even more odd creatures.
This is his graduation project which is doubling up as a pilot for a TV series. His aim is to create a cartoon for 7–12 year olds. Best of luck to him, this is very a professional looking piece and I do hope someone has the good sense to pick it up.
About a year ago I started work on a project called Tootles. After all this time I am only half way and I am hoping to have it finished this year, although that’s hard to ensure, mainly because I do this around my commercial work and, like for most people, bills keep getting in the way. However, I am happy to release a little teaser for the world to enjoy. The lovely music was created by talented musician Tim Burns.
I recently had the opportunity to show my work in progress to Pixar veteran Jeff Pratt, who’s now an animation tutor at Escape Studios in London. This is what he had to say about Tootles:
“Having a look at the Tootles teaser I think it’s brilliant. I really like the look and style of hard plastic 3D animation characters with kind of a stop motion facial animation sensibility. I really like the fact that the characters don’t deform or bend except at a few joints and that the eyes and mouth pop from one pose to another. It very much reminds me of what John Lasseter used to say about Toy Story. That the toys had to stay true to their forms and couldn’t bend or deform except at their joints. The hard plastic parts had to remain hard and rigid and once established this rule couldn’t be broken.
This sets up a very believable world for the audience, which once accepted allows them to enjoy the stories presented to their fullest. And I think that the use of very graphic style of eyes and mouth makes for easily read and very expressive characters. As long as the stories match the thought and strength of the character design and animation I think it will be a huge success.”
I would like to thank Jeff for the encouraging words and I hope you like it too!
Nathaniel is almost 7 years old but he still can’t read… When his aunt Eleanor left him her library containing hundreds of books, Nathaniel was very disappointed! Yet each of these stories will deliver a wonderful secret: at night with the little hero, the lovely Alice, the wicked fairy Carabosse, the terrible Captain Hook, they are all coming out of books… They must tell Nathaniel that they are at great risk and danger of disappearing forever. To save his tiny friends and their stories, Nathaniel, shrunk by the Fairy Carabosse, embarks on an adventure! Will he arrive in time to read the magic formula that will save them all?
Directed by Dominique Monféry, this oneiric looking film was release on the 16th of December 2009. It was produced by Gaumont-Alphanim, Lanterna Magica and La Fabrique, distributed by Haut et Court and international sales by Films Distribution.
“The Bunjies are the biggest, greatest, loudest Rock’n Roll group in the World. They are also not yet out of junior school. Royalty, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Totalitarian Dictators, they all want to be photographed alongside The Bunjies. The Bunjies, however, aren’t interested in any of that. They just want to rock. Well, actually, they just want to rock and then smash their instruments in front of a hundred thousand screaming fans… after they’ve finished their homework, of course.”
The Bunjies’ Bunjy up yourself is the trailer to an animation TV show for children. It was created, written and designed by Ged Haney and Andreas Hykade. Produced by studio Film Bilder in Stuttgart (Germany) back in 2007. It won them an award for Best European project at Cartoons on the Bay, Italy in 2008.
