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[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
Go to the Screening Room to see animations.
The night showcases some of the best in British animation talent. Many are nurtured under one of C4's many schemes. One such is the Animator in Residence scheme at the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) animation studio, now housed in the BFI IMAX cinema foyer, where talented newcomers and college graduates can develop a new project with professional support and input. With four such residencies every year, it also provides a bridge into the professional working world, often leading to C4 full commissions - see Bunny Schendler's World of Interiors. For more information on the MOMI scheme click on www.C4momi.com.
ANIMATE!, a collaboration between C4 and the Arts Council of England, encourages more experimental work (see Camouflage, by multi-award-winning director Jonathan Hodgson), with an emphasis on artist-filmmakers engaging and exploring new techniques with new technologies.
But the impact of new technologies, the development of video games and interactive entertainment have rapidly and radically been changing the animation landscape. There is a huge DIY community of filmmakers emerging in the UK, where web design, computer games design, music promo-making, commercials and traditional animation skills converge - see the Toon Comandments on Machinima, who use games design software with computer graphics animation to create their own form of filmmaking.
The UK now produces nearly 60% of the world's animated computer games. Scotland in particular has developed a strong industrial base in this field: with one area now known as Silicon Glen. C4 has responded with its Mesh scheme, based in Glasgow, which commissions innovative digital linear and interactive animation. Films from the first year of the scheme can be seen on Sci-Fi night at www.channel4.com/mesh.
Innovation for sale
The UK has long enjoyed an outstanding international reputation for innovative and quality animation. In addition to the more traditional and long-established companies like Aardman Animations, home of Wallace and Gromit, and many studios making children's entertainment, in recent years emerging young talent has been quickly scooped up by studios making animated commercials. Many of the C4/Animate! filmmakers come via this route, the publicity having a mutual benefit for their studio.
London has several such studios, always on the lookout for innovative and distinctive ideas that will stand out on television. Sometimes the most experimental animators can earn a lot of money doing ads. They can also develop their experimental techniques in a highly professional context, using the facilities of Soho's sophisticated post-production houses. These 'post- houses' are in great demand by major Hollywood movies for their special effects skills and expertise - again, providing opportunities for animators.
Hybrid forms have evolved. Adding to mixed media, live action with animation, others have pushed the design boundaries of animation computer software programs. This spawns an incredible diversity of graphic styles and innovative techniques, which have been picked up by the proliferation of new TV channels particularly in their quest for stand-out visual branding.
Companies such as Slinky Pictures who created the animation around this season's C4 Hot Reels: Animation Grand Prix 2001 have sprung up to fulfil such demand. They also make comedy animated series, shorts and animated promos.
Danny Capozzi, the night's featured hotshot, is typical of many young UK animator-filmmakers, in combining work for hire with personal projects. In fact his film Ill Communication was a co-production between Bermuda Shorts in London, which represents him for animated commercials work, and Capozzi's own Bristol-based Big Fat Studio, run with Sam Holland and Simon Quinn. Capozzi gained an HND in animation at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design, then spent a year designing board games, toys and merchandising. In 1995 he started work with The Puppet Factory, initially as a model-maker and designer then moving on to animating and directing. He also freelanced as animator then director on Aardman's TV series Rex the Runt.
| Machinima | |
| First Commandment. | Thou shalt appropriate technology |
| Second Commandment. | Thou shalt think big |
| Third Commandment. | Thou shalt expect weirdness |
| Fourth Commandment. | Machinima is like nothing else |
| Fifth Commandment. | Commandments are there to be broken |
Best of British | Sci-fi
| Japan | Blaxploitation
| Outrageous | Music
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