Manchester Animation Festival

Between the 17th and 20th of November, our class attended the Manchester Animation Festival. The three day event which took place in Manchester's Home venue, featuring guest speakers such as Tomm Moore, Will Becher and Brian Cosgrove, sharing their own individual insights into the industry. The festival also hosted a series of short film showreels, showcasing independent short films, graduate films and competition films.

Personally, the highlight for me was the talk with director Tomm Moore from Cartoon Saloon on his work for his last feature film 'Song of the Sea' which up until that point I had not seen. The talk and insight into Moore's creative process piqued my interest in watching the film and made me consider things I had not thought about up until this stage in my animation career such as more filmic and literary influences when creating animation and drawing upon one's own experiences, as Moore did of his childhood in Ireland when creating Song of The Sea.

We also attended several graduate film showcases, with highlights such as Simon Cartwright's 'Man O Man' and Nina Gantz's 'Edmond', both of which came from graduates form the National School of Film and Television. Exposure to these films has piqued my interest in different styles such as stop motion and puppetry, mediums I have not considered in the past which were put to great use in these two films.

We also attended a talk with industry legend Brian Cosgrove, creator of such childhood favourites as Danger Mouse and Count Duckula. Cosgrove's experience and diverse career in the industry was inspiring for someone with intention of entering the industry at some point after university. I also attended a talk from the new creators of the upcoming Danger Mouse cartoon and gained insight into their creative process and it was interesting to compare and contrast how the process of creating children's animation for television has changed over the course of forty years.

Overall I would certainly say MAF was well worth my time and I came back from it more inspired than ever to create animation and explore the medium to it's fullest. Gaining insight form industry insiders was a valuable experience and I certainly look forward and hope to attend it again next year.