Local Companies

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.