Presentation Slides
Presentation Notes
- Studio AKA (according to it’s website) is a multi-BAFTA award winning, and Oscar-nominated animation studio based in Soho, London. (Just next door to Reckless records.)
- The studio prides itself on the diversity of it’s output, both in terms of the style and aesthetics of the work it produces (with particular emphasis on story, ease of design and character), as well as the types of clients they work with.
- Unfortunately, according to the FAQ on their website, since they are such a small, busy studio, nobody was available was give an interview and cannot arrange visits.
- However, when I was at Manchester Animation Festival I got a chance to attend a Masterclass hosted by Creative Director Philip Hunt, where I gained a few insights into their studio work culture.
- Hunt stated in his Masterclass at MAF, that Studio AKA has a sort of Love/Hate relationship with advertising briefs. Seeing working with commercial clients as ‘almost like a second or third film school.’
- Hunt did stress during the Q&A that the team did take into account the ethical practices of the clients whom they were having films commissioned for, and have in the past turned down potential projects due to ethical concerns.
- What I really respect and find interesting about AKA is their mature approach to work ethic. They’re a studio which realises that in order to be a self sufficient studio there needs to be this balance between more commercial briefs (San Pellegrino campaign, TSB Bank) and their more artistic endeavours. (Lost and Found, Varmints, I’m Fine Thanks)
- And these two areas are not necessarily always exclusive, for example there have been cases in the past in which advertisers have commissioned a project and later abandoned it, leading the studio to rework some of the ideas to create Jo Jo in the stars, an animated short film which went on to win a BAFTA for Best Animated Short Film in 2004.
