Hi Y’all and welcome to the first tentative post on this shiney-new Flip Animation Festival 2007 blog. For those of you who have been under a stone (or otherwise engaged) the festival is now hurtling towards its fourth year and is promising to be bigger and better than ever (how cliched does that sound? – Who cares – I mean it).
The festival team are working hard; Kate, Raj and myself are aided by a group of enthusiastic volunteers (animation/media students and graduates from surrounding scholarly institutions) and we are all kept on our toes and guided on our path to festival-righteousness by Dr Peter McLuskie, Festival Director and Head of All Things Flip.
Thursday’s (1st Nov) programme is in the bag; we have an educational workshop for young people which is already taking bookings and proving popular. The aim is to give ‘the kidz’ an insight into the animation industry, view some work, maybe get some hands-on experience. We never had school trips like that when I was at school…
Later on that day and it’s education with a grown-up twist as this year’s symposium is launched. Entitled ‘Drawing in the Digital’ – The University of Wolverhampton have invited the cream of the academic/animation crop to join panels and debates, keynote speeches, discussions and of course, a buffet.
The rest of the programme is still unconfirmed so far, needless to say there will be the usual gala events, Open Submissions screenings and competitions, student competitions (sponsored by ToonBoom) retrospectives, and a look at animation from foreign shores.
We are also keen to ‘get out and about’ so a lot of our Friday afternoon discussions are centering around getting Flip to make its presence felt in Wolf-town and further afield. So far, we have an installation in the new Pop Art Gallery, possible use of the Passageway (opposite the Varsity) and various ideas for shop-fronts and screens throughout town. And of course, we already have highlights from last year’s festival showing at the moment on the BBC Big Screen in Centenary Square in Birmingham. The rest of our Friday afternoon meetings lately seem to consist of launching paper aeroplanes and wandering our courtyard with a clip-board pointing out power supplies – but it’s not back-of-the-class shenanigans, it’s work towards and interesting art-installation we have planned which is guaranteed to amaze and amuse…
Well, time to stop blogging and get on with some ‘real’ work – it’s a hard life being on a festival team. Just yesterday we found out that we have to go to a local restaurant to sample their menu (for free, with wine) as part of our research…
Who said there was no such thing as a free lunch?
Ange
PS – For those of you who like the look of the website, the images come courtesy of a Staffs Uni animation student – Ewan Brock. We will be posting links to his MySpace etc. shortly. His work is forming the basis of all of our print and web design this year and is adding a touch of cred to the proceedings. Also, he is letting us use the images as we want to, so cheers Ewan!
Peter
Steph
flipguest
Hey,
Good luck with organising this years festival. I went last year and it was great ,my favourite part was the student competition (because it seems much more ‘in reach’) and I look forward to that section again this year
Great siteEwan and Flip and I’m looking forward to the festival
thanks James for the positive comments. The student competition is exciting I agree, although on paper it doesn’t look much: no stars, no professional animators and a regional focus. But it works because the films are always very watchable and often excellent and there is a sense of occasion and community because people bring their friends and family. And of course because there are prizes. This year Toonboom have sponsored the prize section so hopefully it will be a 2D animator who wins. See you there
Peter