Local animation
and illustration companies
After deciding to
move back to Hertfordshire at the end of this year researching local companies
to Newcastle didn’t seem like a great use of time because it wouldn’t apply to
me as much. I want to gain my experience
locally if I can and local for me I would say stretches into London so
companies within London are what I looked at.
The mill, Framestore and studio AKA were the big names that initially
came to mind.
Framestore
Framestore are
mostly a postproduction company that works with other film, FX and animation
companies. They are based in central London as well as having branched out to
Montreal, Los Angeles and New York. They
have worked with lots of big company such as Galaxy, Pepsi and they are currently
working on Iron man 3. The work they do is very well known and always has a
very perfect finish to it. Not necessarily the way my work looks and my style
but to be able to work for/with a company like this would be such a dream and
the experience I would gain would be invaluable. The work they do I think would
also expand my portfolio and skillset massively because they use of a lot
camera trickery and compositing techniques that we have touched on in the
course but I’m not especially confident in using the methods, and Framstore use
these skills to a very high standard so watching and learning the skills from
them would be a great experience.
The Mill
The Mill like
Framesore are a leading company is visual effects, their clinents are also very
well known for example IKEA, Lucozade and Old Spice, and the work they produce
is often of a similar style and quality. They have also branched out into
America in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and their UK base in central
London so they are a very similar company to Framestore in general. So being so
similar to Framestore the massive amounts of experience and skills I would
learn would be very similar too so the Mill is another Local Company I would
like to work for.
Studio AKA
Studio AKA again
are London Based and are located in the center around Soho but they differ to
the other two companies in their work. Studio AKA are an animation company with
a variety of directors that produce work for adverts but also personal work.
They are innovative and having a variety of directors their animations vary in
style and content and I think this makes them a very versatile and successful
company. The be able to work for or gain experience with Studio AKA would be
incredible to see how these directors work from ideas to completion and how the
animation industry itself works. They do also have US representation so they
are branching out but they have seen most of their success in the UK and won
lots of awards for their work including BAFTA’s. I first knowingly saw a studio
AKA animation at the Pictoplasma festival in berlin and it received a round of
applause and for me stood out as the best thing I saw there. Seeing an
animation from a company that I enjoyed so much means it would be great to able
to meet and network with the people responsible and gain valuable industry
tricks and skills.
Blue Zoo
Blue zoo are
another BAFTA award winning animation studio based in central London. Their
work is not something I knew a great deal about before visiting the website and
taking a closer look at their work. They seem to deal mainly corporate based
work but a lot of it is in different styles I really like. Their work for
animal planet in low poly was something I particularly liked, as low poly is
something I have been experimenting with myself. They also work in a variety of mediums, 3D,
2D, mixed media and motion graphics, and this is something I currently do and I
think gaining experience with this company would allow me to continue to
develop all the areas of my skillset.
Seed Animation
Seed animation is
another central London based animation company with what I found to be a very
impressive show reel. They seem to have a small staff base, which makes me
think a lot of the work is outsourced but as a company they have quite a
specific cartoon like style that was evident throughout the show reel. Another
impressive animation company that I would love the gain experience working
with.
Passion Pictures
Passion Pictures
are yet again a company situated in the center of London but the style of
personal work is different again, I would describe it as retro and vintage. The
style of the work is often washed out colours and grainy filters to either
mimic or give the impression of old footage, a style that I actually really
like as I found it different from what other companies are offering and
producing. The style of their commercial work was more in keeping with what I
have seen in other companies. The commercial clients like the Mill and
Framestore are big names for example they produced all the animations for the
2012 Olympics, which is one of the most watched things on TV. Unlike Framestore
and the Mill though they produce animated work as well as quality post
production and film editing so more of an all round company and this is really
appealing for me because the vast amounts of skills they posses and would be
able to teach someone like myself would be endless.
After looking at
these animation companies that are leading the way in London it gave me a real
sense of what I’m aiming for and what the viewing public and clients are
looking for. I’m definitely going to pursue gaining experience with these
companies and getting in contact with them even if its just to find out a
little bit more of their workings because learning about the industry is what
I’m focused on doing.
