Lets introduce one the wonderful animation teams in Bristol, UK.

A for Animation; it does animation and is almost the first one listed in the phone directory.

Introduction to this team was like finding the right people for the right job, as soon as we meet we realised they could take anything we throw at them. Their twisted humour and ability to overcome a particular challenging section of the film were hit head on and you will have to see for yourself the final reward. Trust us you will be telling your friends about it long after the film is finished.

We asked them to write a few words about themselves and this is their reply…..

A cheery and friendly little company happy to produce animation for whoever or whatever wanted it. It wasn’t long before the likes of Madonna, Rod Stewart & Elton John were popping into the studio for cups of tea and gossip. Okay, well perhaps they didn’t actually visit the studio or drink the fine tea or gossip. But they did ask A for Animation to produce music videos for them. Well, not them directly, it was probably their manager or producer or somebody. We’re getting off the point here. The fact was that A for Animation was working with a lot of people doing a range of interesting animation jobs. After music videos and adverts the studio moved onto series production with schedules that would literally go on for months. Imagine that, working on just one job for months. Incredible. Okay, not that incredible, but in the world of animation long jobs like that don’t come along that often. The studio was now a trusted pair of hands with clients coming back again and again. Perhaps for the fine tea and gossip. Who knows?

So they like to chat it seems but personally we could not of met a more personable and talented team than who we were introduced to, besides the other 14 companies working on the film. The director of their section Jane Davies worked closely with a small team of animators and compositors and brought to life the work of colourful vision of illustrator Leah Heming. Viewers of the film will have to look out for the fine detail in their section its hilarious and don’t miss the musically timed pooping pigeon.

Guys tremendous job one worthy of a standing ovation, A for Animation, no way ……….. A for Awesomeness.

It’s been a little while since the whole Project Chapman family have got together, our Tech and Tone days seem like they happened a lifetime ago now. Well last week friday the gang all got together once more, this time for a Video Shoot for the credits.

This event, which took place on Jan 27th, was a great success, alongside the big social gathering for the family, throughout which we were all able to chat & catch up, everyone was also able to view there work on our big 3D screen. More importantly the day was dedicated to shooting the whole family singing along to a well known, very hilarious and very entertaining Monty Python song. The footage filmed on the night will actually be used in the end credits of the film.

We still have to film a couple of the companies, so maybe we’ll do it all again. Going to have to do something tricky to capture the guys from Superfad who are in America.

A fun filled evening with the whole team, literally. Now back to work.

Don’t say that we don’t ever give you any behind the scenes exclusives, we captured the whole event on camera. Watch us all here and have laugh with us.

Project Chapman

Don’t panic. Who ever wasn’t lucky enough to be in New York to have sneak peak as Lloyd Kaufman served as panel moderator, while Project Chapman 3D hosted a Comic Con panel dedicated to ‘A Liar’s Autobiography,’ can read all about it here

Directos Ben, Bill & Jeff (surrounding Graham above) were joined at New York Comic Con, by our animating friends Andrew Johnston and Sean Dougherty from Superfad and of course the man himself Mr. Chapman (As a cardboard cut-out) Enjoying talks of animation and stereo 3D, ending with the entire crowd singing a verse of “Sit On My Face“

Are you ready for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival? Well its here. Running until the 29th Jan 2012, this amazing film festival begins today.

For those who are not familiar with Sundance, it is the largest independent Film Festival which takes place annually in Utah, showcasing work from both American and international filmmakers. The festival is managed by The Sundance Institute, an internationally-recognised nonprofit organisation, responsible for advancing the work of risk-taking storytellers.

At this years festival, fellow creatives from the This Is It Collective will be screening a short film about teaching creativity, titled ‘Don’t hug me I’m scared.’ The film is directed by Rebecca Sloan & Joseph Pelling (Joe is one of the directors working alongside Sherbet on a section of the Film)

Alongside This Is It, there will be many many other talented filmmakers. More info on them and the Festival here

It’s been a while and it does seem like we’ve been neglecting you. We’d like to say sorry, so we’re going to bring you up to speed with a few short and sharp posts over the next week.

Last time we caught up, we were telling you all about the films directors. They have been in and out over the last few months with their 3 opinions. Our main task over the last few months is quality control, basically making sure its all working. Checking the left and right sequences are working, sometimes we have dropped frames, sometimes people have mistakenly rendered corrupt frames like two left eyes. Importantly we’re making sure its not the 3D that makes you jump back from the screen, snatch your 3D glasses off, and wipe your watering eyes. This has been a mammoth task considering we have 19 different stereo techniques.

So stay tuned we’ll be back soon. Happy New Year Everyone

* image above is actually a piece of Graham’s memorabilia which we use as our 3D glasses holder. So Graham is still with us.

Ever wondered who the directors of A Liar’s Autobiography 3D were? Well, It’s no secret. The film is being directed by the wonderful Jeff, Bill and Ben. These guys also sat and brought Graham’s story to life from the original publication ‘A Liar’s Autobiography’ a few months ago in a room in soho reviewing python archive coming up with ideas and above all laughing.

Can you guess who founded Bill and Ben Productions. Together Bill Jones (Python’s own, Terry Jones’s Son) and Ben Timlett have been producing award-winning film and television content since 1998, including the multi-Prime Time Emmy Award nominated MONTY PYTHON ALMOST THE TRUTH – THE LAWYER’S CUT – which Bill and Ben produced and directed in 2009. ‘WHO KILLED NANCY’ was another great documentary they made as well telling the story of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen.

We cant forget Jeff Simpson. Formerly of the BBC  Jeff’s credits include MARTY FELDMAN: SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION and GIRLS AND BOYS: A HISTORY OF BRITISH POP and as a producer on Top of the Pops. Not to forget 13 years at Radio 1 where he was heavily involved as a reporter, journalist and producer covering entertainment news. Taking the film review slot on BBC 6 Music on saturday lunchtimes on the Liz Kershow Show.

In a way I suppose you can say the film has another 19 directors as each company in their own right are directors of their section bringing in their own opinions and not to forget style.

There you have it, now you know.

Back for another year, courtesy of Cut & Paste, its none other than ‘The Digital Design Tournament.’

This live tournament is a battle styled competitive showcase, a platform where emerging designers can showcase their talent to a live audience in 15-20 minute rounds. Each event features competitions in both 2D and 3D plus Motion/Animation design, all accompanied by DJ music, an MC host and lively Bartenders.

To get involved visit here for more info. The entry deadline for London = October 21st 2011 so be quick.

The winners of each competition in each of the various cities invited to participate, are flown to New York to compete in an annual Global Championship. Check out the designer profile for Eve Weinberg, the 2010 New York Champ in the 2D Design competition.

Time to introduce Peepshow, if there ever was a group that illustrated the idea of “A Collective”, these guys are it. Our first meeting involved sitting round a small table with everyone who was part of the collective and basically laughing. Always a good way to start any meeting. Peepshow is made of Andrew Rae, Luke Best, Miles Donovan, Chrissie MacDonald and a few more who I can’t remember their names as I told you it was a funny meeting? Oh and pulling strings certainly on this particular project is wonderful Pete Mellor.

We were after a certain something else to be brought to a section and we found it through their humour, previous work examples like “ Cowards “ and even browsing through the hilarious blog of Andrew Rae we felt our humorous request would be safe. Its been a pleasure working with these guys so far and you can certainly see a long friendship which began when they all finished at the University of Brighton in 2000.

Some other bits and pieces of their work that’s worth a look are “Kantar Montage” which is a great example of what the collective can offer. “From www to zzz” also a nice little tactile animation.

When asked them what they do exactly their reply. “We work extensively within the areas of illustration, advertising, art direction, moving image, set design, mixed media installation and fashion and textile design.”

So basically anything. They did also pitch for another part of the film with a storyboard full of stuffed animals which was hilarious but did not quite fit our film.

Be sure to look out for small nuances within their piece this is the humour that made us laugh in the first meeting and I’m sure you will to.

Some Exciting news ! The directors of A Liar’s Autobiography ’3D,’ will all be looking forward to sharing some rude clips and Pythonesque humour with visitors at Comic Con New York on 15th October.

If you happen to be in the Big Apple and fancy it, or more importantly if you feel you can handle the adult humour, then grab a friend and join the directors for a sneaky peek of the movie, which by now you should all know is based on the life of the hilarious Graham Chapman of Monty Python.

For Tickets and more info. visit here

Its been important to follow each company’s workflow and make sure all is in order, most of the companies have been popping into the chapman headquarters studio but some studio visits have been necessary. Justin equipped with his glasses popped to Bristol, visiting two of the companies involved the lovely Arthur Cox and hilarious A for Animation.

For the more technical minded of you out there what we were mainly looking at was depth budgets between cuts, any issues where the stereo is to much or even a side panning camera that works so well in 2D, but in 3D stereo its a problem. So we had three different styles to look at, all composited in Adobe After Effects but with very different work flows. Hand generated oil on glass looping textures of George Sander Jackson, precision drawing skills and character animation from Matt Walker and the mighty complex and hilarious work from the team of A for Animation directed by Jane Davies which will have you all in laughter.

Since we have been open with development so far we are not going lie, there have been issues with rendering the huge files, problems with stereo rigs breaking in the computer, to much depth in shots which just hurts your eyes. Orientation issues linked with point of interest of Camera’s in Adobe After Effects, effect plugins that just don’t work in stereo. These are just a few of the issues as we come to the point of compositing and outputting the film. So Justin did return from Bristol with a headache but with a smile on his face put there by the mazing visuals that are being fine tuned.

Just thought we’d let you know – Here’s a Pic of the team.