National Film and Television School

I was invited down to Beaconsfield last week for a 3 day intensive course in film making as part of the Digital Shorts Scheme. I can honestly say it was one of the best things i've ever done. The three days covered everything from contracts and all the legal side of things, getting clearances etc. Festivals, Producing, Post Production, Sound Design and Editing as well as a whole day dedicated to animation in which all our projects were scrutinized.

I went along wanting to learn as much as possible. I'm happy to say i was pleasantly suprised by how much i was already aware of but still it was a fantastic overload of information from the industry professionals.

Theory of (R)evolution was put under the microscope by Hugh Welchman who has just finished producing Peter and the Wolf (stop-motion epic) Having listened to the grilling some of the other projects received i'm relieved to say even though our script is epic on an almost biblical scale, once i had explained how we were going to go about making it and what we had already done it received the royal thumbs up.

The 3 days was not just about learning though. I met a fantastic group of animators, it was fascinating to hear about the other animated projects being produced. I still think us animators are a much friendlier bunch of people than those live-action weirdos! I think we were all suprised by how strange it felt saying goodbye to each other once the course was finished as though we'd known each other for three years, not three days. Oh well, if the first day of training pays off, i look forward to catching up with them all on the festival circuit.

P.S. The photos is blurry cause it was bloody freezing when i took it.