The Astronomer's Sun

Making The Astronomers Sun

2011-11-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in knowing more about the production of "The Astronomers Sun", then this vodcast should be of interest. Writer/Directors Simon Cartright and Jessica Cope discuss the making of the film with me. It sounds like we recoreded it in a toilet, but it's worth a listen.

BEST ANIMATION at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival

2011-10-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

A huge thank you to the audience and jury at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, USA who presented "The Astronomers Sun" with it's 16th award for BEST ANIMATION last weekend. This is the 3rd award in a row from New Mexico and it's humbling to see the NM audience take the film to their hearts.

Horror & Fantasy Film Festival, San Sebastián (Spain)

2011-10-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

TheAstronomers Sun has been selected by our Selection Committee to takepart in the International Short Film competition at the 22nd editionof our Horror & Fantasy Film Festival in San Sebastián (Spain), which will be held from October 29^thto November 4^th, 2011.

2011-10-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

Das Museum.BL, The cantonal museum of theSwiss canton of Basel-Landschaft have a very special

exhibition for children and families called "3, 2, 1...Start!Einmal Weltall und zurück." The exhibiton is about astronauts and themysteries of the Universe. The Astronomers Sun is being shown in a film night film of short science fiction films. This evening will take place on Friday,2nd of December 2011.

Masham Arts Festival

2011-10-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

"The Astronomers Sun" is screening as part of the Masham Arts Festival, in North Yorkshire, Tuesday 25th October at 7.30pm, Masham Town Hall. A new film produced by David Bunting and animated by pupils at Kell Bank C.E. Primary School, especially commissioned for Masham Arts Festival "Betty & Dorothy" will also be be premiering.

Bucharest, Romania

2011-10-02T03:02:00.000-07:00

We are honored to be screening The Astronomers Sun in the MASTERS OF PUPPETS retrospective of the 6thANIMEST international animation film festival, which will take place in October7^thto 16^th2011 in Bucharest, Romania. It will also be screened on the Creepyanimation night of this year edition of the festival.

Santa Fe USA

2011-09-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

screening atthe Santa Fe Independent Film Festival USA, on Oct. 19th 2011 and Oct. 21st night 9:00pm at the Warehouse 21in the Taos Shortzprogram.

East Asia Premiere

2011-07-29T04:58:00.000-07:00

The Astronomers Sun is playing in competition at the Kavalan International Short Film Festival 2011 in Taiwan.

Screening times are Aug.20(Sat)11:00 @Luodong Senior High School Arts Center, Aug.21(Sun)18:30 @Yilan Performing Arts Center, Aug. 22(Mon)20:30 @Luodong Senior High School Arts Center, Aug.25(Thu)12:30 @Luodong Senior High School Arts Center.

Win number 15

2011-06-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

The Astronomer's Sun having won the animation section of the 2011 NM Filmmakers Showcase screened in Santa Fe last weekend and will now screen on tour at
TAOS: July 2nd, RUIDOSO: July 8th, LAS CRUCES/MESILLA: July 9th and in GRANTS: July 14th - this brings a total number of festival wins to 15.

New Mexico Filmmakers Showcase

2011-05-09T01:00:00.001-07:00

The Astronomers Sun will play on Saturday, May 21st as part of the 2011 New Mexico Filmmakers Showcase.

Seattle - 24 April

2011-04-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

I’m thrilled to announce that “The Astronomers Sun” has been selected for screening in a special stop motion retrospective, Stop.Motion.Time at the Settles International Film Festival 2011 on 24 April. Playing alongside SIFF favorites, past Oscar® nominees, and extraordinary works from all corners of the globe, including a rare 35mm screening of Tim Burton's Vincent, it's quite some company to be in. Congratulations to the team!

"Mauvais Genre",Tours, France

2011-04-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Catch The Astronomers Sun in the 5th edition of the International Film Festival "Mauvais Genre",Tours, France, from the 21th to the 25th of April 2011!

Otley, Yorkshire - with Beyond the Pole

2011-04-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

There is another chance to see “The Astronomers Sun” play in Yorkshire at the Otley Film Society in West Yorkshire on Thursday 21st of April, playing alongside a screening of ‘Beyond The Pole’, an independent British film. Starring familiar faces from TV, a documentary film crew follows the first carbon neutral, vegetarian expedition ever to attempt to reach the North Pole. Described as @Touching the Void' with laughs or 'Withnail & I' on ice! Films are shown in Otley Courthouse Arts Centre.

Best Animation

2011-03-12T06:35:00.001-08:00

Taos, set amongst the mountains was the place at the start of the 1900's that a number of artists first came to New Mexico to be inspired. The writer D.H. Lawrence is buried near Taos.

The Astronomer's Sun picked up its 14th film festival award in Taos, NM, USA this last weekend.

The shortz event was held at the Harwood Art Museum and featured a fantastic range of New Mexico, US and International films with filmmakers from across the State, the US, France, Poland, and S. America in attendance.

With some excellent animation in competition we did well to win the BEST ANIMATION award.

This was a jury prize with special mention for the film's editing in the judges comments. It was fun to be able to attend the festival for the team.

Byron Bay International Film Festival

2011-03-02T04:07:00.000-08:00

I’m pleased to announce we are playing in competition at Byron Bay International Film Festival in Australia, 5 Annual March 04, 2011 to March 13, 2011. The Astronomers Sun screen on Sunday 13th March.

Tehran International Animation Festival

2011-03-02T04:03:00.000-08:00

The Middle East Premiere takes place at the Tehran International Animation Festival, selected for the competition category. 6-10 March 2011.

Prague screening

2011-03-02T03:35:00.000-08:00

"The Astronomers Sun" is being screened in at BIO OKO in Prague in a programme of short films on Wednesday, March 16, 8PM. iShorts Evenings are organised by FAMU students and present amazing Czech and foreign short films.

New Mexico screenings

2011-02-11T02:11:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to anounce a special series of screenings in New Mexico of "The Astronomers Sun", hosted by my co-producer, Peter Kershaw. All New Mexico Screenings all are free and open to the public.
Carlsbad: NMSU-C Saturday February 26th 2011, 6pm

Program starts at 6:00pm in room 153.

Where? NMSU-C campus 1500 University Dr,

Instructional Building, Room 153

Santa Fe: Public screening at IAIA, Institute of American Indian Arts

March 2nd 2011, 6pm.

Las Cruces: March 14th 2011, 08.30am at Creative Media Institute

New Mexico State University

Truth or Consequences: Thursday, March 24th 2011, 7pm

Where: The Lee Belle Johnson Recreation Center

300 S. Foch

T or C, NM 87901

Las Vegas:

Wednesday 30th March, 5.30pm

Where: in the Media Arts West Building, 901 University Ave., Las Vegas, NM 87701

Grand Prize in Seattle!

2011-02-06T06:09:00.000-08:00

We were thrilled to hear that “The Astronomer’s Sun” won Grand Prize in this year’s Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival! The awards were announced to a sold out house at Seattle’s renowned Cinerama Theatre. We were really sorry not to be there in person, but I'm told it was was an incredible night, and an amazing experience watching the films on the big screen with a rapt audience of sci-fi/fantasy film fans. Thanks to everyone in Seattle for who made this such a festival to remember.

Festivals Feb & March 2011

2011-01-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

The New Years screenings launched this weekend with a sell out show at Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival in, Seattle and the Minicini in Leeds.

We have a slate of exciting new festivals screenings over the next few months.

In France, The Astronomers Sun is screening in the Clermont-Ferrand short film festival's tribute programme – 4 /12 February 2011, presented at festivals, universities or schools.

We have some great screenings lined up around the world over the next few months.
We are playing in competition at the Omaha Film Festival, USA, March 5th 2011

The Festival showcases over 60 films during its annual event, selected from an average of over 400 annual entries that come in from around the world, offering a wide variety of independent cinema choices that includes regional and world premier films as well as advanced screenings of films that have already attracted wider distribution.

In the UK, you can see the film at Borderlines Film Festival, UK MARCH 2011
Herefordshire and Shropshire’s vibrant rural film festival.

The Astronomer's Sun Shines at Comic Con

2011-01-28T09:03:00.000-08:00

Screen Yorkshire have a great article on The Astronomers Sun, follwowing the latest award success at Comic Con.

THE ASTRONOMER'S SUN is now officially Screen Yorkshire’s most successful animated short film to date with 12 wins in as many months.

My co-producer, Peter Kershaw, who was at Comic Con, said

The Astronomer's Sun has demonstrated through success in film festivals around the world the ability of Yorkshire talent to create and produce stories with universal appeal that can play and win against the very best other cultures have to offer.

The Astronomer's Sun continues it's festival run with a screening at Armley Mills Miniciné this Sunday in Yorkshire (30th Jan) as part of an afternoon dedicated to short film. For more information and to book, click here.

Wins 10, 11, 12

2011-01-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

Comic Com is an amazing event and actually screening in a film festival I was able to attend rather than just doing the submission paperwork for was a lot of fun. More so, as we came away with an actual producers award.

While last night many film buffs were watching the Golden Globes the real film drama was being played out in at Comic Com, Albuquerque, USA.

I'm pleased for the directors and all the film's creative team to announce The Astronomer's Sun walked away with the vote for CINEMATOGRAPHY and the AUDIENCE vote as well as the star prize, BEST PRODUCED FILM. Other than the animation award and director's award we'd walked away with the 3 top prizes watched by over 1,000 people.

A strategy of targeting film festivals has produced 12 awards in just a year giving all involved in the film's production a fantastic resume of success. Submitting to film festivals is expensive and not all festivals give out actual physical awards but, Comic Com's first film festival did for Best Produced Film creating the blue action hero (see photo) in true comic book style.

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

As we look back on 2010, we are very pleased to announce our 9th award for The Astronomers Sun!

On Sunday December 12th, The Astronomers Sun won the The Audience Choice award at Anima: a festival of contemporary animation by women.

This follows winning the Best of the Festival award at the Flip Animation Festival!

Thanks to our directors Simon Cartwright and Jessica Cope, our talented team, and most of all everyone who has seen The Astronomers Sun this year and made 2010 such a special year for the film.

Happy New Year!!

notes from the jury

2010-11-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Leeds International Film Festival for the following quote from the jury, where The Astronomers Sun won the Yorkshire Short Film Competition:

There is such weight and therefore capacity for emotion in the beautifully crafted stop motion animation, but it is the universal film techniques supporting this that make it such a joy to watch; the lighting, the sound and the camerawork are masterfully synchronised in tone, emphasising the sacrifice and loss at the heart of this story

Winner YORKSHIRE SHORT FILM COMPETITION 2010 at 24th International Leeds Film Festival.

2010-11-18T02:40:00.000-08:00

I was delighted to be able to accept this award on the behalf of Duchy Parade Films. With David, Jess and Simon all at the Bradford Animation Festival on the same day and Peter busy promoting the film State side, I was asked to represent the film at this festival. Screened at the Hyde Park Picture Palace in Leeds, we were up against some very well observed documentaries and thought provoking dramas.

In the end though "The Astronomers Sun" eclipsed the rest of the competition to be awarded the Best Yorkshire Short Film.

After been encouraged to give a very unrehearsed acceptance speech, I was able to talk to the judges about why the film had won. Their answer "they loved the story" in particular the ending and the relationship between the bear and Henry. I think it's credit to the whole production and post production team that throughout the project the importance of story and character development was never missing from the creative process. Producing stunning stop frame animation is one thing, but what makes the film really work is everyone on the team recognised the need to connect to the audience and used their own particular skill to ensure they did.

Thanks to everyone at the Leeds International Film Festival for their hospitality, it really was a Saturday to remember :)

I'm pleased to annouce our South America 2010 tour of The Astronomer’s Sun as part of Animarte:-

2010-11-16T13:12:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased to annouce our South America 2010 tour of The Astronomer’s Sun as part of Animarte:- November 19, Viña del Mar, Chile (in conjunction with the Viña del Mar International Film Festival): Plazoleta Maria Lusia Bombal, Av. Valparaiso y Villanelo. Viña del Mar. Chile.- November 27, Buenos Aires, Argentina (in c...onjunction with InspirationFest): Ciudad Cultural Konnex, Buenos Aires.- December 26, Mendoza, Argentina: open screening at Mendoza City Central Park.

www.animartefest.com

BEST SHORT ANIMATION at Fantastic Planet

2010-11-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

We were thrilled to accept the award for BEST SHORT ANIMATION at Fantastic Planet Film Festival, Sydney, Australia on Friday. Huge thanks to everyone at FANTASTIC PLANET, and to our wonderful team for their commitment, passion and dedication to their craft which has made “The Astronomers Sun” such a special film. We are touched to know how much “The Astronomers Sun” has resonated with people in Sydney.

Special talk and screening in Bradford

2010-10-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Foyle Film Festival

2010-10-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

We are delighted to be screening in competition in the 23rd Foyle Film Festival, between 19th to the 27th November. Foyle Film Festival is the biggest Film Festival in Northern Ireland and an Oscar® affiliated festival - not to be missed!

Win number five

2010-10-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

Win number five. This last weekend The Astronomer's Sun took joint win at the Santa Fe Film Festival, NM, USA.

The jury liked the cinematic feel of the film. The unity of color design. The attention to the sound design and as in New York the bear, with questions over whether he'd be coming back.
As part of the festival the film played in touring venues and in a series of art galleries including Chuck Jones notching up 20 individual screenings during the festival ending with a Q&A. The film's success was announced at Val Kilmer's NM ranch in beautiful Fall weather.

Back in New York

2010-10-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

Peter travelled to New York to see the screening of The Astronomer's Sun as it played the opening night of New York's Imagine Science Film Festival. A week long event dedicated to films with real or imagined science connection. "One of the best venues and screening events I've attended. There was a real buzz and an evening of films all with great concepts or ideas informing their reality." A number of my US family travelled to the festival which coincided with the end of John Lennon's 70th Birthday week making it quite a party.

Art Show

2010-10-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

Images from our film appeared in an innovative mobile art show put on as part of the Santa Fe Film Festival. The mobile art bus travelled to different screening venues during the festival as part of the festival's marketing.

Leeds International Film Festival

2010-10-27T01:40:00.000-07:00

The Astronomers Sun is screening in the Leeds International Film Festival, playing competition in the Yorkshire Shorts programme and the sister competition; the Best of British – UK Short Film Competition in the wonderful Hyde Park Picture House.

Yorkshire Shorts
4pm, Saturday 13th November 2010

Best of British – UK Short Film Competition

2pm, Saturday 13th November 2010

The Astronomers Sun scoops the Silver Blaster!

2010-10-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

We were thrilled to accept the audience award at the National Irish Science Fiction Film Awards this weekend. Thanks to the audience in Dublin who made our Irish premiere so special. We've been touched by how The Astronomers Sun has resonated with peoples in Ireland.

The awards host, John Vaughan said,

The Astronomer's Sun runs a gamut of emotions in under six minutes, covering hope, loss, friendship and loyalty... if you don't go "Ahhhhhhh!" at the end of this picture and try to hold back a tear... then there's something wrong with you!

The Golden Blasters (The National Irish Science Fiction Film Awards) is a film festival dedicated to short science fiction, fantasy and horror stories. We aim to bring the best speculative fiction to Octocon and expose more people to the wonderful art of the short film.

Small World International Animation Festival

2010-10-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

Screeening in the Small World International Animation Festival at the Civic in Barnsley. 21-27 October, programme 5.

Red Stick International Animation Festival

2010-10-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

Screening in the 2009 Red Stick International Animation Festival, Nov. 10-13, 2010, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Festival venues include the Shaw Center for the Arts, the Manship Theatre, the Louisiana Arts & Science Museum, and the Louisiana Old State Capitol.

BAC! Barcelona International Festival of Contemporary Art

2010-10-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

BAC! Barcelona International Festival of Contemporary Art November 9th at 5pm in Santa Monica Center of Barcelona.

Fantastic Planet

2010-10-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Playing in Official Selection at Fantastic Planet, Sydney International Sci-Fi & Fantasy Film Festival, Oct 29-Nov 5

Screening in Dublin

2010-10-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

We are delighted to be screening in competition at the Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention THIS WEEKEND, celebrating the weird and wonderful, attracting artists, writers, film-makers and fans from across the human sphere of influence. Running since 1990, thier guests have included Terry Pratchett, Anne McCaffrey, JG Jones, and Tanith Lee.

John Vaughan from says

"I'm not crying... I'm not, I've just got something in my eye. The Astronomer's Sun runs a gamut of emotions in under six minutes, covering hope, loss, friendship and loyalty... if you don't go "Ahhhhhhh!" at the end of this picture and try to hold back a tear... then there's something wrong with you!

See the film on 4oD

2010-10-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

If you missed the network premiere of The Astronomers Sun last Thursday, you can watch the whole film, for a limited time only, on Channel 4s 4oD, along with some of the rest of the fantastic 4mations series. 27 days left and counting... Go on! don't miss it!

UK TV premiere

2010-10-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce the UK television premiere of The Astronomers Sun on Chanel 4 Television, Wednesday 06/10 at 0125 (i.e. early Thurs am) It will show after a selection of 4Music programmes.

Kansas screening

2010-10-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

The Astronomers Sun screens at the Tallgrass Film Festival 22-24 October in Wichita, Kansas, USA.

Now playing in New Mexico

2010-09-30T08:11:00.001-07:00

We are thrilled to acknowledge the officially invite for "The Astronomer's Sun" to screen at The Santa Fe Film Festival, New Mexico, October 22 - 24, 2010.

Ottawa International Animation Festival

2010-09-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to be screening at the world famous Ottawa International Animation Festival, in their special programme, salon des refuses", Friday Oct 22, beginning, 11pm.

Fancine Fantastic Film Festival, Spain

2010-09-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

The Astronomer´s Sun has been selected for the official competition in FANCINE, XX Fantastic Film Festival of the University of Málaga, section: ANIMATION SHORT FILM. 11-19 November.

New York screening

2010-09-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

See The Astronomers Sun in New York for this unique film event that celebrates the integration of science, imagination and film. The Astronomers Sun is screening in competition at the 3rd Imagine Science Film Festival competition which takes place October 15-22, 2010.

Bradford Animation Festival, UK

2010-09-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

Another chance to see The Astronomers Sun at the National Media Museum, this time battling it out for a prized BAF Award for Best Film For Children. Bradford Animation Festival, UK, 9-13 November 2010

Animated Encounters, Bristol, UK

2010-09-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

‘THE ASTRONOMERS SUN‘ has been officially selected to screen in competition in the Animated Encounters Best of British programme as part of Encounters International Film Festival 2010. 16-21 November, Bristol, UK

Flip Animation Festival UK

2010-09-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

Screening at the Flip Animation Festival, in Wolverhampton, UK, 4-6 November 2010

Fantastic Fest - Austin, Texas

2010-09-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

We are excited to be screening at Fantastic Fest, in Austin, Texas, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. The Astronoemrs Sun screens on 25 and 27 September.

Spainish Premiere

2010-09-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Spainish Premiere of The Astronomers Sun takes place at the Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya between 7-17 October 2010.

2 animation AWARDS in USA & Russia!

2010-09-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday 11th September was a big night for “The Astronomers Sun”. It is with huge pleasure I am able to announce two new awards.

“The Astronomers Sun” won the animation award at the 2010 Rome International Film Festival on Saturday in Georgia, USA!
Managing Director, Laura Musselwhite of RIFF offered us this wonderful acolade,"When you have an animated short that makes you cry (as it did myself and several others whom I know), it deserves to be the winner. Please tell the filmmakers how well received their film was at RIFF."

Then across the Atlantic, the VI International Short and Animation Film Festival OPEN CINEMA awarded "THE ASTRONOMER’S SUN" Special Prize from the Organizing Committee «For the mystery of liberation»! I’m told the film was highly estimated by the members of International Jury, organizing committee and rose an enthusiastic response from the side of public.

I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Simon and Jessica and our wonderful team who got behind this film and to realise the director’s vision so exquisitely.

Congratulations!

To see the recent BBC TV news report about the films recent success at the Northern Futures Awards, you can view it on the BBC news page here.

TV interview with BBC Look North

2010-09-02T03:55:00.000-07:00

We had a very special guest in the potting shed this week. Amanda Harper from BBC Look North came to do a story following the films success at the Northern Futures Awards. We invited her to Simons potting shed in Ilkley to show her were the animation was filmed. You can see the report on BBC news.

From left to right: Amanda Harper, Jessica Cope and Simon Cartwright. With most of the set on display at the National Media Museum, there’s not much left in the potting shed but Simon managed to pull together a small set corner perfect for day.

Henry was let out on day release from the National Media Museum. Here he is having his interview.

Amanda was so friendly and professional and made the whole experience a delight.

Smile - Henry,Simon Cartwirght and Jessica Cope and in the potting shed.

Henry accepting his award.

Leeds screening

2010-08-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

Here's another chance to see the film in a lovely small festival in Yorkshire where the film was made.

Chapelallerton Short Film Festival, Monday 30th August 2010, Seven Arts Centre, Harrogate Road, Leeds

Northern Futures Award Success!

2010-08-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

I am very proud to announce that The Astronomer's Sun won it's first award last night at the Northern Futures Awards!

The film was awarded first place by the judges against some stiff competition from other northern film makers, including another couple of shorts co-produced by Screen Yorkshire. You can see the rest of he short list here - http://www.northernfutures.co.uk

Our film was the only animation in the group so it was a great honour to receive the award and get to meet some of the other films creators.

Jess couldn't make it to the awards ceremony but our producer David came along and you can see us both in the pictures below.

Many thanks to the Northern Futures organisers for a great night!

All the shortlisted films had their own screen and some information about the productions beside them.

Myself and the other nominees sat together on the film table waiting nervously!

David and myself accepting the award off head judge Caroline Cooper Charles

David making his acceptance speech.

The both of us chatting with Caroline afterwards.

Russian Premiere

2010-07-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

The Russian Premiere takes place at OPEN CINEMA, Saint-Petersburg. September, 3 till September, 12.

OPEN CINEMA received more than 1000 works this year. 19 fiction films, 18 animations, 11 documentaries, 16 experimental and 9 music videos will contend festival's First prize in four nominations – amongst them, The Astronomers Sun. 27 shorts, divided into theme programs "Great expectations", "Other lands" and "No anesthesia", have composed OPEN CINEMA's Parallel competition list.

Nomination for a Northern Futures award

2010-07-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Astronomers Sun has been nominated for a Northern Futures Award 2010 in FILM. In can be seen as part of The Northern Futures Award exhibition between July 28th-Aug 17th at The Civic Hanson Street, Barnsley.

East Asia Premiere

2010-07-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Screening in The Official/Special Program’s Section for Short Films at Chungmuro International Film Festival in Seoul, 2-10 September.

Albuquerque Film Festival, USA

2010-07-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

Screening in Official Selection at the Albuquerque Film Festival, USA, August 25-29.

Review

2010-07-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Astronomer's Sun
Reviewed By: Andrew Robertson

A stop motion figure enters an observatory, its skeletal dome stuck into the heavens, panels missing from its frame indicating age, neglect, a clear sense of abandonment. Inside there is a mechanism, an orrery fantastical which gleams with mechanisms and markings uncanny. Through a flashback, the eyes of a clockwork teddy bear, we see the orrery engaged, a man inside, with a comet in the sky, the terrified face of a child.

That same child now adult, the same bear hidden in the same chest, the same comet in the sky. With character design that recalls the stylised yet hyper-real figures of Eastern European animation, the ridges and quirks of nature before the rounded edges of Aardman, this is a visually exciting film. Served well by David Aston's sound work, the machinery and the small quantity of voicework, and by Peter Wright's music, it's technically excellent.

Written and directed by Jessica Cope and Simon Cartwright, it conveys a lot simply, and strikingly concludes with an ending that is almost equally maudlin and joyful. With its focus on machines arcane, even magical, this piece is phantasmagorical, recalling perhaps His Dark Materials before Tik Tok of Oz. The trick to short animation is to do just enough, and as the planets and gears of the orrery combine to wondrous effect so too do the elements of The Astronomer's Sun.

Produced by David Bunting and Peter M. Kershaw, Duchy Parade Films Ltd

Rome, Georgia

2010-07-09T12:50:00.001-07:00

Catch “The Astronomer's Sun”, at the 2010 Rome International Film Festival on Saturday, September 11, at 11:00 a.m. in the historic DeSoto Theatre in downtown Rome, Georgia, USA.

Australian Premiere

2010-07-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

The Astronomers Sun plays in official selection as part of the 59th Melbourne International Film Festival (22 July – 8 August 2010)! It screens as part of a program called Animation Shorts, screening on August 1st at 4.45PM at Greater Union Cinema, Melbourne.

London screening

2010-07-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

Another chance to see The Astronomers Sun in London, this time at the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival

Venue: Institute Of Contemporary Arts (The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH)

Screening Dates: 22, 25 Jul 2010

Cost: £9 / £8 Concessions / £7 ICA Members.

Showing for two days only, Rushes: Animation showcases a fantastically eclectic selection of both new and established talent, UK and international, working with a broad range of techniques.

New York Premiere

2010-06-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

You can see The Astronomer's Sun this summer in New York as part of the Animation Summer Block Party 2010.

ABP received 518 entries but are playing only 90 films The Astronomer's Sun is one of them.

Official selection success in Edinburgh

2010-06-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

We are proud to be screening in the official selection of the Edinburgh International Film Festival!

The Astronomers Sun plays in the McLaren Animation 1 programme on the following dates:

Thursday 17 June 15:00 Filmhouse 3 (McLaren Animation 1)

Saturday 19 June 11:45 Filmhouse 3 (McLaren Animation 1)

Official website launced!

2010-05-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our editor Adam Kirk, we now have an official website! http://www.astronomerssun.com/
It's crammed full of information about the film and the people who made it, a gallery and information of festival screenings. It also boasts a trailer and a podcast with myself and the directors! To whet your appetite, here's the trailer.... enjoy!

North American and Canadian Premieres

2010-05-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

Fans in the USA and Canada will have a change to see THE ASTRONOMER'S SUN over the coming weeks. Our North American premiere is at the 36th Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF, May 20-June 13) as an official selection during SIFF's Short Film Weekend (May 21-23, 2010). The Seattle International Film Festival is the largest and most well-attended film festival in the United States with 150,000 attendees expected in 2010. SIFF screens a wide selection of the best new international features and documentaries over the 25-day festival, presenting more than 400 films from over 50 countries. Check out their great programme!
The Canadian Premiere for is at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival between 1-6 June. WSFF is the premier venue for the exhibition and promotion of short film in North America and one of the leading short film festivals in the world.

The East European Premiere took place at the 6th edition of BucharEST International Film Festival in ROMANIA. (20th and 25th April 2010). If you see the film, drop us a line! We’d love to hear from you.

Awards Night!!!

2010-04-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

Those of you who have followed the Astronomer's Sun will know that we were nominated in the public choice category of British Animation Awards and last Thursday was awards night!

So Jess drove us down with her good friend Donna in tow for moral support. We made it down in one piece despite the car losing power half way! After a quick change (2hr 30 mins for Jess) we headed off to the South Bank.

The public choice category was announced last so we were down to our last nerve by the time it came around. Unfortunately though it wasn't to be. The prize went to Smith & Foulkes for their CG comedy This Way Up (Nexus Productions). It's a very well told tale and the visuals are slick, so we didn't feel too bad to lose out to it. However, before they announced them as winners they gave a special mention to the Astronomer's Sun as the votes were so close!! There are a lot of films in the public choice so to be within the top 4 or so is a massive achievement for us to rank so highly.

After the ceremony came the after party and thats were things get hazy. So I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Here's me with Nick Park!!!

Here's Jess with Pick Nark!!! He was exceedingly lovely and very patient of our drunken ramblings!

The award given for Best European Feature went to The Secret of Kells. It was a drawing by one of the greatest living animators, Glen Keane! After the party we ran into its producer, Paul Young. I asked if I could have a look at the image up close and he was in no state to say no!

Here's Jess with an assortment of BAA survivors. The rest of the pictures are a little too messy to post I'm afraid!

The awards were great but the real fun came on our way back from London when the breaks lost most of their power on the motorway! Jess managed to get us into a service station and we waited two hours in the hot sun for help. After the breakdown guy wrapped some tape around a hole in a pipe we were back on our way. Seems all our problems can be fixed with tape!

A message from Barry J C Purves

2010-04-07T03:25:00.000-07:00

Master animation director, Barry Purves, got in touch with us after seeing "The Astronomers Sun" in AnimFest animation festival in Athens last month. He liked the film much he has written this extraordinary write-up:

This exquisitely crafted and sensitive film manages to raise some profound and surprisingly emotional ideas, all in a few oblique, beautiful and economic minutes. Animation at its' mysterious and haunting best.

Barry Purves, who was a mentor on another 4mations Digital Short last year, is one of the worlds great puppet animation masters and inspires all of us. His new book "Basics Animation: Stop-Motion" hits the bookshops this week and includes a picture from - "The Astronomers Sun"! Co-director Jessica Cope's, graduation film, The Owl House, is also featured inside! We couldn't me more honoured and more excited to be featured in such distinguished company!

Keep posted for details of where you can see The Astronomers Sun play across the world.

National Media Museum displays film set

2010-03-14T11:23:00.001-07:00

We are very excited to announce the launch of a yearlong exhibition of the set from The Astronomer’s Sun at the National Media Museum. The set, which opened in time for the British Animation Awards, takes pride of place in the Animation Gallery, in the old Animator In Residence booth. Being the birthplace of many classic short films financed by the prestigious and long running Channel 4 scheme, there is no more fitting place to exhibit this new 4mations Digital Shorts film set, supporting new and emerging animators than the National Media Museum.

Above: Deb Singleton, Director of the Bradford Animation Festival with Simon Cartwright holding part of the set with Bjorn from the Media Museum.

Athens AnimFest

2010-03-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

Visitors to Athens AnimFest got a chance to see “The Astronomers Sun” play in competition in full High Definition detail this week. Keep an eye out on the blog to hear about where you can see the film near where you live.

World Premiere with The British Animation Awards!

2010-02-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

It’s finally here. The world premiere of “The Astronomers Sun”! We are very excited to launch the film at the British Animation Awards UK tour this month, where the film has been nominated for a Public Choice award for Best Short Film!

From the 8th to the 27th of February, you can catch the Public Choice screenings at a cinema near you, and vote for your favourite from a fantastic range of animated films made over the past few years. Three programmes containing a mix of animated shorts, music videos and commercials are screening at 27 venues across the UK. The Astronomers Sun plays in programme 3.

The British Animation Awards (BAA) covers all aspects of the UK animation scene, from student work to commercials, children's entertainment, short and experimental art films, music videos, new technologies.

We’d love to hear comments from people who catch to film on the blog. We are travelling to as many of the venues as we can, so if you see us, say hi!

Channel 4 preview screening 15 Jan 2010

2010-01-23T06:36:00.000-08:00

Editor Adam Kirk outside the mighty 4.

Mentor Sara Mullock, Director Si Cartwright, Director John Williams

Director Jess Cope talking to Producer David Bunting

Hand drawn special effects

2010-01-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

Lots of job sharing occurs in the making of short films, so it feels in the spirit of things that as well as co-producing “The Astronomers Sun”, I also got stuck into the film making like everyone else.

After providing the screams for Henry, ‘the screaming producer’ seems to have stuck as my job title! However what people might not know is I am a drawn effects animator by trade. Back in 2001, I animated effects for another 4mations short film, the multi-award winning “How to Cope with Death”, directed by Ignacio Ferreras at Tandem Films. So I was proud to lend my expertise to “The Astronomers Sun”, climactic effects showstopper.

As a stop motion film, we were all keen that to ensure that the effects reflected the ethos and style of the hand crafted world. Digital effects tend to jar and look out of place in stop motion films. For “The Astronomers Sun”, we used a combination of effects elements, optical, miniature, drawn and digital, with many shots combining several techniques to achieve the final look.

The majority of the drawn animation elements I produced were used for the transformation sequence. Henry was filmed with an LED light in his chest and shot using a Vaseline filter which gave a wonderful rich glow. I added hand drawn sparks and vaporous smoke.

Before and after: TOP: The original stop motion footage, complete with an LED light and Vaseline filter, and ABOVE, the final composited image with hand drawn smoke and light particles.

One of over 700 tonal charcoal drawings made of the main smoke pass, all animated on 1’s.

The sparks and smaller smoke elements were animated with a wacom tablet straight into ToonBoom Animate Pro, which sped up the production work flow as well as making it possible to create incredibly rich painterly shots. The drawn smoke elements then went to Kevin Herbison who created mattes for the smoke interacting with Henry and other objects in the scene. Finally, all of these elements were exported and sent to Zoe Matzko in London for compositing in After Effects. What’s exciting in tackling drawn visual effects now is how much modern compositing has transformed the toolkit of possibilities of open to drawn effects artists. Zoe took all of these various layers and made them work together like one beautiful and seamless photograph.

Miniature effects by David Ross

2010-01-07T04:35:00.000-08:00

David Ross used a combination of model, practical and visual effects to create the breathtaking shots in the film showing the exterior of the observatory and the comets. Incredibly, David created his shots whilst studying full time at the Edinburgh College of Art. I asked David to share his experiences in working on “The Astronomers Sun”.

From left to right: Donald Holwill, David Ross, Neil Kempsell and Steve Warne.

What is your job on “the Astronomers Sun”?

I've been using a combination of model effects, practical effects and visual effects to create the shots in the film showing the exterior of the observatory and comets.

You are currently studying animation at the Edinburgh College of Art. What is it like working on a 4mations film at college and how is it benefiting your studies?

Working on “The Astronomer's Sun” has helped me enormously. When you take on a project like this it forces you to work to a level of professionalism that you maybe wouldn't with a college project. College allows you the freedom to experiment and make mistakes and but it doesn't give you the pressures of the real world. You have a responsibility to the people you are working for to create what you say you can create and it has to live up to their vision, which is a different kind of pressure from creating something for yourself. You also end up learning a lot about certain aspects of the film making process that college can never really give you experience with. I'm sure the experience I've had working on "the Astronomer's sun" will prepare me well for my degree film next year.

Simon and Jess were students at the Edinburgh College of Art. When did you first meet and how did they approach you about their new film?

By the time I started at ECA Simon and Jess had graduated, but I saw both their degree films shortly after and I was thoroughly impressed. Later in the year I briefly met Jess at the “Young Scottish Bafta Awards” because her degree film "The Owl House" was nominated in the animation category. It was many months later though before I was contacted about contributing to the “The Astronomer’s Sun”. It was actually Steve Warne who put my name to them. I had just finished a model effects shot for his stop motion film "Savage Mountain" and I guess he saw that Simon and Jess needed similar shots in their film. Simon contacted me by phone and explained the project to me. I collaborated with Simon over the phone for a few weeks, figuring out how the shots should look and how best to achieve them. When we shot the opening shot Simon came up to Edinburgh and it was great to finally meet him and work with him direct.

Donald Hollwill is the films mentor, so it must be handy for you having direct access to him at the Edinburgh College of Art?

Donald is around the department from nine till five during the week so I can see him during those hours when he is available, and he has been extremely helpful and supportive. I had figured out how I wanted to create the shots, but that’s only part of it. You then have to figure out how to actually make it work and that’s what Donald was so helpful with. He is great at coming up with a variety of practical solutions to problems. There is no how-to manual for the kind of low budget practical methods we were using so it was a case of trial and error and problem solving to make them work. I should also mention that the department’s technician Neil Kempsell was an enormous help and support too. My course mate Will Anderson played a huge role in actually getting these shots done in time for the deadline because he came in to help with the compositing load in the last week and solved a few problems we were having with motion tracking.

You say on your website that you try to create spectacular and convincing special effects by combining traditional in-camera effects techniques with modern day technology. Can you explain the processes in a little more detail that you are using for “the Astronomers Sun”?

When I go about creating an effects shot, I always try to shoot as much as possible for real in front of the camera. To me the computer is mainly for solving the problems that can't be solved during the shoot, making subtle enhancements to the shot, or for use as an affordable optical printer. The way I see it, modern day off-the-shelf editing and effects software actually make traditional effects techniques an affordable and practical option to those who don't have millions of pounds in the budget. Yet the software usually seems to replace the traditional techniques. Of course, there is a lot of skill involved in effectively using programs like Maya or After Effects to create a shot from scratch but I think it is usually a less creative and interesting option that often makes for a pretty sterile and lifeless effects shot. I'm mainly inspired by old school effects maestros like Derek Meddings and I try to think "how would they do it?" If you do that then you have an organic and slightly random look to the shot. For example, the comets in the Astronomer's sun could have been created using CG particle effects but I actually created them by shooting falling salt, which was then colour corrected and composited in After Effects.

For the opening shot of the film, where the camera tilts down past the stars and settles on a view of the observatory, we shot the camera move for real frame by frame. I felt the fact that we were doing this camera move frame by frame was an opportunity to shoot two passes - a matte pass and a beauty pass - and that would give up a really good quality composite superior to just keying out a green screen. However getting the two pass method to work without motion control was much more difficult than I imagined and it required everyone to put on their thinking caps to figure it out. We eventually got it to work and used the frontlit/backlit process, which Douglas Trumbull used on films like “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and “Blade Runner.” I'm chuffed we got that to work because it gave a really high quality matte for compositing. It's going to be a very useful technique for me in the future if i ever find myself shooting model space ships and things like that again.

Practical Special Effects are a very specialized area in animation. What got you interested in them?

I think it all started when I was about three and got hooked on “Thunderbirds” and the other Gerry Anderson programs. The show had all these really cool planes, space ships, machines, spectacular explosions, crashes and rocket launches galore. It really was everything a young lad could want in a TV show. I was never really that interested in the puppets; I just wanted to see the next cool aircraft or explosion. Some of the designs by Derek Meddings were just stunning. And all of this was done with little models. Everything was done for real. Every last thing you saw on the screen was real and crafted by hand. I still look back at the shots now and they are stunning. The amount of care and attention to detail that went into those model shots was unbelievable. It was all done at a time when nothing like this had ever been attempted before. At a very young age I did get pretty obsessed by it, so I think it was that that really set me of on my way.
It just kind of carried on from there, most of the films or TV shows I got really interested in had these model effects shots. Star Wars, Ray Harryhausen films, James Bond films, Superman etc, and when I was older films like 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the time, I had no idea how they did things. I found it all so fascinating. I looked at these special effects guys as geniuses, and still do think of many of them in that way.
I got the opportunity at James Watt College, where I was studying Graphic Design. In our last six months of the course we had our "personal project." I wasn't feeling that inspired to create graphic designs and technically we were also allowed to make a film or animation so I opted for that. This gave me the chance to create the kind of special effects I always thought I could create in my back garden and garage, and I worked on it pretty obsessively for six months. By the end of it I had nine minutes of effects shots showing a space ship on a voyage to Mars and back, and I put it out YouTube. When I came to study animation at ECA, people gradually got to know about my home made space film, and I started getting requests to do model effects for people. And now here I am doing what I've always wanted to do on this beautiful film "The Astronomers Sun."

You must be busy with all of your studies. What’s next after “The Astronomers Sun”?
I'll have a few college projects to keep me busy for the rest of the year, and I'll also be starting to turn my attention to my degree film. I’m really looking forward to getting the chance to make a film of my own again. I’m not completely sure what I’m going to do yet but I've got an idea forming in my head that will take my work back into space again.

You can view more of David’s work on his webstie
http://www.davidross-sfx.com/

Its ALMOST DONE!!

2009-12-30T13:44:00.000-08:00

OK, so the last time I left a post it was some insane time in the morning and I thought we had FINALLY finished....well turns out we hadn't but now we pretty much have and I'd like to finally slap up a few images to remind you of what Si and my self have been doing in the lonely, COLD dark potting shed...which now smells like boiled eggs gone bad as we just recently found an old bucket of painty water that had been sitting in the sink for around 7 months and I happened to disrupt it whilst washing lube off my hands...an explanation will follow later don't worry!

So, here are some pics....enjoy!

Now you may notice an awesome blur effect on these shots...Si and I actually painted lube onto a bit glass which we mounted right in front of the camera lens. Hence why I was washing lube off my hands. This gave these images a cool motion blur effect...hey and we got the lube for 75p because the box was torn...bargain!!!

This part of the film was pretty awesome to animate although animating the orrery was incredibly tedious as the wires would tangle beneath the set and I would have to get underneath the set to untangle them mid shot. It was a painful job but I must say my dad, brother and uncle did an awesome job getting this orrery working. We used Christmas baubles and the Orange coloured ones were made before I was even born!! We broke a few along the way but luckily my mom and dad kept finding them in boxes in the loft. I think we were down to the last one in the final orrery shots!!!

These are Teddy's final shots...

Its pretty funny to think that our Teddy only cost around £25 to make in comparison to the erm...£700 maybe more it cost to make Henry. Teddy is literally made out of twisted aluminium wire, balsa wood, glue a few watch parts and furry material. Henry has an expensive armature made at Mackinnon and Saunders and his body and heads are made from a special silicone called silastic rubber. He was then air brushed using pretty fancy silicone paints. MENTAL!!! I'm the idiot who said to Si, id rather keep Teddy than Henry. I think at the time all I could think of was all the painful hours I spent pocking every single hair into Henry's head and sculpting all 6 heads only to poke more hair and then carefully airbrush each head so they would match....I was sick of the sight of him but now I must say I regret saying he could have him.

I ended up making 2 Teddy's in the end and one giant teddy arm....oh yes and not to forget young Henry's fluffy little teddy in the chest. He held out amazingly and I am pretty proud of the little guy.

Teddy was born from Simon's head and I have to say my partner is a genius for coming up with such an amazing and endearing character, at first Ted was only a small part of Henry's story but as time went on he became a key character in the Astronomers Sun and I loved making him as well as animating him.

Both Si and I have been through hell and back to get this film to where it is now and we have been helped by some amazing people along the way. Our little team has made something quite awesome and I'd like to thank each and every one of them... Soon you will be able to see the fruits of our labour and I hope you all enjoy!!

sound design with Dave Aston

2009-12-24T03:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I found myself driving over the snow covered hills to Skipton for the sound mix at the Digital Audio Company, led by Emmy award winning sound designer, Dave Aston.
Joining me were directors Simon Cartwright and Jess Cope, composer Peter Wright and editor Adam Kirk. It was an incredible experience, and for me quite emotional to see and hear the film come together after a year in the making.

Below, the master at work, Dave Aston at the helm.

On the directors couch, Simon and Jess. Note the directorial book on Simons knee... filled with and many doodles and notes. I’ve begged Simon to share a page or two on the blog. He is bashful... but it is Christmas!

Composer Peter Wright worked and perfected the score side by side Dave Aston. Yesterday was the ideal workflow. Hearing the music with the mix, if Peter or the directors wanted to change something or experiment with a fresh idea, Pete was on hand to do just that. Truly inspiring.

We have been extremely fortunate to have Dave Aston and his team working on the sound design to “The Astronomers Sun” over the last week, and I asked him if he would share some of the insights to the process of sound design with us. Here’s his interview.

Can you explain what is the role of a sound designer is?
According to Skillset Sound Designers are responsible for providing any required sounds to accompany screen action. Most Sound Designers are experienced Supervising Sound Editors who carry out a managerial role, steering the work of the entire sound post production process, combined with the specialist role of creating the sound concept for films. As well as creating the sounds for giant explosions or car crashes, Sound design is also the art of creating subtle sounds that enrich the language and feeling of a film.

You are the owner of your own studio, the Digital Audio Company. Can you tell me about the company and the your considerable experience in Sound Design?
Having my own studio is quite a luxury in this day and age, but it does mean that I can do the preparation in a good acoustic environment whilst being able to look out of the window over the Yorkshire Dales. We built the studio when the company grew too big to run from our house 15 years ago. At the time we were doing a mix of documentaries, drama and music mastering; which might seem odd, but we are audio specialists after all. We have two dedicated control rooms, one for mixing and one for preparation along with a voice room that can double as another preparation room. The two main rooms have ATC 50 speakers which means that we have consistent sound monitoring and much better preparation facilities than most. Our huge sound effects library is accessible from a central storage device so we can instantly access effects in any room. We’ve set things up so that the creative take precedence over any technical aspects of a job.
Even before I left school I was into sound, doing some live work with local bands and recording my friends playing, bouncing back and forth between two reel to reel tape recorders. I followed a path from the live work to music recording studios where I gained a wide variety of experience and learnt about the quality of sound. The music was great fun but too many long sessions meant that I decided to steer a course to sound for picture. When digital came along I bought an early digital audio workstation and set myself up to do audio post production for TV. Although I enjoy mixing I soon found my niche as a sound editor, bringing the pictures to life. I found that I had the knack of interpreting the wishes of the directors and producers that I work with, and they trust me to work on my own without their constant input. I enjoy this as I can be as creative as time allows and surprise them with the finished project.

How did you became involved in “The Astronomers Sun”?
I had worked with Peter (Kershaw), one of the producers, on a couple of short films he had done. (“Wilfred” and “Cinema of Horror”). When he rang me up I could hardly turn down an animation on my own doorstep.

What are the unique challenges working on an animated film as opposed to live action?
I have to say that working in drama we produce music and effects tracks for foreign language dubbing, so we effectively start with a mute film like animation for probably 90% of the scenes. What is different is that the sync sound might have something in it to inspire and develop, whereas the animation only has the pictures. The trick is to make the animation convincing as if it were real life. If I can’t convince myself I throw the sound out, so on this particular film the Teddy is the third attempt, so I hope you are convinced.

As well as yourself, you have a talented crew including foley from Universal Sound. You tell me a about that?
I have worked on numerous projects with the guys at Universal Sound. They specialise in Foley which is generally the replacement of footsteps and clothes movements when dialogue is stripped out for the foreign language versions. We have a working relationship where I will send them notes giving direction where needed and they just do their job. Very well I might add. Sometimes they will add other spot effects that I might not have here. For instance the opening of the watch and the fitting of the mirror are a combination of our efforts.

This is the first time that 4mations directors, Simon & Jess have had the opportunity to work with a sound designer. What has it been like working with them?
It has been a pleasure working with them as they are obviously keen to produce a film of the highest quality. They were obviously conscious of the final sound when doing the animation and were able to give me a good idea of what they had in mind for the finished product. I look forward to the next one.

Thanks Dave!
Watch out for on the special effects in “the Astronomers Sun” in a weeks time.
Until then, to one and all, Merry Christmas!
David Bunting, Co-producer

Interview with editor Adam Kirk

2009-12-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

Well today was a huge day in any measure of a film. While I’ve been in York teaching animation to school pupils and staff from the National Railway Museum, Jess and Simon have been doing the final picture edit with our editor Adam Kirk. All through the making of this film, Jess and Simon have been working with a wide range of professionals to realise their vision. I thought it would be fascinating to share their experiences on the blog, impart to give them the credit they deserve for the miracles they are performing in the background, but also to give our readers the opportunity to discover a little bit more about the process of making a short film for 4mations Digital Shorts.

Adam trained at Yorkshire Television working in childrens, features and news. He also worked for BBC schools, Disney, Yorkshire Forward. He is currently working freelance as an Editor.

Can you explain your role as editor & How does it differ to Live action editing?
As an editor my job is split into two areas, technical and artistic. Even though the technical side is vital I won’t bore you with all details lol, suffice to say all the images Jess & Si shoot get sent to me and I convert them into standard and high definition video. Once that’s done it’s onto the artistic side of the job. Following the anamatic as a guide, I take the shots and edit them together to produce the finished scenes. Jess & Si have put so much time into the detail of the animation that the characters literally come to life on the screen. So for me, it’s pretty much exactly the same as editing live action drama. In fact I tend to forget I’m editing animation and treat the characters as real actors.

Are there any unique challenges?
Yes unlike live action editing you don’t have several takes of a shot so you can’t piece the scene together from the best takes. Also sometimes you want a shot to be longer than it is, but you have to remember that asking for additional five seconds could take Si & Jess an extra days worth of shooting! This just isn’t possible to fit into an already tight schedule.

So the best way I find is to just work with the material I have got and edit it together in the best way you can concentrating on building the characters relationships as the story progresses.

Once an edit is complete I upload it to a secure website so the entire team including the executive producers can all view the edit and make comments. This way everyone gets there say and this review process enhances the finished product.

What is it like working with Simon & Jess?
In a word “Brilliant!”. Amazingly, because we live miles away from each other and because they have had such a busy schedule, up until last week we hadn’t met face to face! All the editing so far had been done via email and phone conversations! Anyway last week I got invited over to their studio to discuss the final sequence. So having navigated the perilous steep incline of Simons driveway and parked the car making sure it was in first gear, it was great to finally meet them and see them at work! I also got to meet David Bunting, for the first time, and he amazed us all with a hand drawn animated test of one of the effects.

It was a great afternoon made even better when Jess & Si showed us the shots of the final Orrery sequence. Having edited together about a month ago some test still images of the final sequence, to send to the executive producers, it was great to see it now in motion. Simply breathtaking!

Thanks Adam!

With the picture now locked, sound design can begin in earnest next week, and score finalised, and compositing and effects completed. Look out for more posts from other members of the crew over the coming weeks.

Final Shot DONE!!!!!! WOOOHOOOO

2009-12-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

Its 5:02am on Thursday morning and I have to be up at a fair hour as we are visiting our musical man Pete tomorrow. I can't get to sleep just yet as I am buzzing from finally finishing the last 3 shots. My head is throbbing my neck has seized up and is struggling to hold the weight of my throbbing head and my back feels like its been trampled on by a heard of hippo...a heard? I don't care though as i have finally finished these last AWFULLY hard shots. I wish my partner was here to share my happiness but alas he is asleep in his bed as he has not been very well today. This will surely cheer him up. Both Si and I have been counting the days down until New Moon hits the cinema screen but sadly we have been WAY too busy to take a break to go and see it...so maybe tomorrow we can treat our selves :) Team Jacob!

Anyway...

Tomorrow (erm I mean later today) I will slap up a few stills to tantalise your taste buds:)

For now im off to get some sleep!

Notes from a small shed...

2009-11-24T06:25:00.001-08:00

Let me be frank (I'm actually called Steve but it's just an expression). When I first read the script to The Astronomer's Sun I was thinking, “This is great...but how the hell are they going to do it?” A massive telescope, a mysterious moving orrery, a looming comet and a clockwork bear were just some of the unknowns in the equation, and let's not even start on the climactic finale of the film. It seemed to me that collectively this was more than just a little challenge to overcome. It wasn't really a medium sized one either. It was a great big humongous whopper. Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little, but faced with an entire animatic of unfilmed shots is one of the more daunting parts of the film making process, especially when it's an elaborate stop-motion. However, what I'd naively forgotten to consider was something that would make that process work; The resolve of the directors. Jess Cope and Si Cartwright just happen to be two of the most driven, dedicated and passionate people you could ever imagine working with and carry with them an almost bloody-minded attitude towards what is humanly achievable. For me then, turning up at the beginning of the shoot back in July was a relatively simple task. All I had to do was get up in the morning, go through the day's shot with them, and animate, animate, animate (and sometimes help set up lights). The rest was taken care of. And when I say 'the rest', I really do mean 'the rest'. Cooking, cleaning, washing, beer drinking. I barely had to lift a finger outside the potting shed/studio. “This is great,”, I thought, “It's like being a child again but with the added benefit of doing something to increase my career prospects!”. “And with more beer!”. It was all a nice form of payment.

I remember arriving at the Cartwright residence on a warm Summer's afternoon (actually it could've been grey and drizzly but my memory has possibly romanticised the occasion) and I was brimming with excitement at the task ahead. I'd spent most of the three hour train journey from Edinburgh trying to come up with puns on the title of the film to impress my new directors and lighten the mood a little. I decided that The Astronomer's Bum was probably the closest I would get to a certified joke, but didn't consider it witty enough to share with anyone. A good decision, I decided as I stepped off the train, as Si's quick witted and high-brow sense of humour in particular would've been disapproving. Three months later it suddenly occurred to me that what I really needed was a good Astronomer's Pun.

The studio itself exists in a small converted potting shed up a narrow set of steps in the back garden of Si's family home (also known as 'The Chalet'). One night, whilst animating a particularly complicated sequence of blinks, I heard a strange scratching noise at the potting shed door. I froze. “Badger?” I thought. “Squirrel?”. “Dog?”. “Small woodland creature of unknown origin?” and finally, yet inevitably, “Yorkshire Ripper?”. The door handle started to turn slowly. I looked at my vintage 90's Casio wristwatch to check the time, just in case I needed to recall it for the police at a later date. IT WASN'T ON MY WRIST. Then I realised that was probably because I don't own a wristwatch. The door started to open. Preparing myself for the worst, I grabbed the nearest sharp instrument, which just so happened to be a pair of tweezers and thought that if I was going to get attacked, I could at least have a pretty good go at plucking the attacker's eyebrows out, which would make them more identifiable in a police line-up and leave excellent DNA evidence. A shadowy figure was standing there. It was so dark I couldn't even tell if they had eyebrows. “Hello Stevie” a voice boomed out from the gloom. It was a familiar voice. A voice I'd heard more than once recently. It was Si. “Dinner's ready.” He said, and he wasn't lying either. Dinner was ready. I surreptitiously placed the tweezers back in the drawer and went downstairs for another great meal with the family.

That was just one exciting episode from my time in the shed. Animating is truly a glamorous and exhilarating lifestyle. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you.

I think the real beauty of this film though is in the fact that we didn't really know what we were doing a lot of the time. Every new setup provided new unforeseen challenges, and sometimes (well, more often than not in my case) we had to attempt things a few times before we got it right. The perseverance and audacity of those involved (not to mention the patience and overwhelming hospitality of the Cartwright family) has, in my humble opinion, paid off. The film is looking great and I'm really excited to see what Jess and Si have done with the rest of it since I left. Something which has come out of a sheer passion for the art form no doubt. And to be frank with you, no one can argue with that...

Here's a few pictures I took with my phone...

Henry on the phone to his agent. "I didn't sign up for this..."

Henry after hearing that he has to do yet another reshoot.

Si wearing a really expensive part of the set on his head for the sake of art.

And here's a clip of the first shot I animated - Teddy tugging on Henry's leg:

BAF award!

2009-11-18T11:39:00.000-08:00

Well here's a shout out to some up and coming animation talent! My co-producer Peter told me I should let you all know that a film I supervised has won Best Film Produced by Young Animators at the Bradford Animation Festival 2009! Wooo! So this post is dedicated to the animation talent of the future! “Immersion, Emergence”, was made by year 8 pupils at Titus Salt School, Bradford and inspired by a trip to Bradford’s Civic art gallery, Cartwright Hall. Produced as part of the Anim8ed Stories educational outreach programme which I am currently delivering for the National Media Museum, supported by DCMS. The film is terrific example of young peoples filmmaking and the school have won a copy of ToonBoom Studio along with their award.

For more information, check out my blog!

Guest DOP visit

2009-10-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

We were honoured to have a special guest at the studio on Wednesday. Director of Photography Alistair Mckenzie, who brings 20 years experience in live action cinematography, including Duchy Parade Films 35mm cinema short, “Wilfred”. He loves animation and even turned down a DOP job at Cosgrove Hall! He kindly offered to spend a day looking at the film’s most complex lighting set-ups with Simon and Jess.

Alister’s says, “We talked a lot about the ways that I approach a live action set and how I split lighting the background with the foreground subject. These rules can easily be translated into lighting a miniature. We also talked about how the lighting of a scene is governed by the light that we have least control of ... in my case that is the ambient light of a location, in their specific case it is governed by the light of the LEDs which have a limited maximum brightness. We also looked at when having a light source in shot (The Orrary) it is also essential to have supplementary lights to mimic the effect of the light on the rest of the set.

They certainly have taken on an ambitious storyboard for their first film, but the results so far look great and I can't wait to see the finished film.”

Further information about the art of cinematography from Alistair Mckenzie can be found on the Duchy Parade Film’s website here.

BA BA BA BA BA IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAYYYYYYY

2009-09-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Thats right, no longer shall September 11th be remembered solely as Victor Wooten's Birthday, it's also Jess's!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!!

She got up at 5.30am to animate an impossible shot, what a star.

And by the way, it took me hours to find a useable image as she hates having her photo taken as you can see....

Some assorted photos

2009-09-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

I just took all the photos from my phone and decided to put some up for you to see. They're not great quality but they'll do.

Here's the desk Ally made with dozens of handmade notes surrounding it.

Each little note was written out, then stained in coffee and then crumpled and torn. I tried doing scribbles but they didn't look right so ended up righting real notes. If you look closely there might be one to you......

What could this contraption possibly be? You'll have to watch the film and figure it out, but I was pretty pleased with it! A good morning's work right there and some cannibalised A level art.

This is the floor for the set. I was a bit of a mission getting it built but once I'd finished putting it together Jess and I painted this first layer of white and then put a dark wash over it. We had intended to do all sorts of floor tiles and paving etc but it we were running behind and nobody will no the difference unless we tell them.....ah shit....

On one of our many trips down to the hardware store to buy Gorilla tape and batteries, Jess spotted this handsome little critter.

A bad day....or night, you can't tell in the studio.

Things get worse.

Steve may now be gone, but his spirit lives on in the studio.

This blurry photo is to give you some idea of why this film is taking so long to make. This is a single set up. We have tiny reflectors on wires so we can see the eyes. Burning hot lights all around, bits of string holding poles out of shot and amongst all this you have to reach the character to animate. As a matter of fact Jess is animating this very shot RIGHT now, on her birthday! and it's not going well :(

Here's another terribly precarious set up. Oh yeah.....we're pretty professional....

I could really do with getting a proper camera one of these day. My birthday's coming up if anyone's interested.

Working with our composer

2009-09-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

The music for our film is being written and performed by a good friend of ours, Peter Wright.

Here he is with the sunshine of my life. A Gretsch Syncromatic G400 with an added Kent Armstrong floating pickup for all you guitar fans out there.

I've known Pete for seven years. Right from the first time I met him he amazed me with his playing and he has continued to do so ever since. He plays in the band Vessels, check them out:

http://vesselsband.com/

Pete has been such a joy to work with (so far). He never waits for me to call him and is incredibly focussed on getting the job done.

We had to get an updated animatic sent off sooner than expected so Pete cancelled all his lessons for the day and came round for a night and day and worked like a man posessed.

Here we with him working through the score.

Here's me showing Pete how to play guitar.......HA!

Pete and Jess going through the animatic

Pete's mini portable keyboard.

Pete playing along with the animatic. No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, that guitar really does have a scalloped fretboard. My brother bought it from Durham market, which funnily enough is where I found Pete.

Pete'll be back next week to progress the score but you can catch up with Pete and his adventures at http://www.megaboon.co.uk/

A glance at production

2009-09-11T06:54:00.001-07:00

Here's a few images to give you a peek behind scenes at us hard at work.

Here's Steve getting the Henry puppet ready for a shot. In this shot not only did he have to animate both Henry and Teddy,but he also had to animate a moving light over head. He did an absolutely phenomenal job on this shot! It's actually made people gasp when they see it!

Jess and I posing and pretending to do work while Steve did everything.

Here's Steve and I having some fun on the studio steps while Jess set the camera up. The tin foil on the windows is to stop light getting in by the way, not because it's a Meth lab or anything....

Awwww, aren't we a good team!

A sneak peak!

2009-08-20T01:43:00.000-07:00

We've been working flat out the past month or so and had too many ups and downs to get into. Hopefully though it's all worth it as we're making good progress and crossing off shots day after day!

Now that we have a good deal of footage we thought it apt to show some images to tantalise and tease.....

Here's Henry and Teddy Fixing a broken mirror

Henry at the telescope checking his old pocket watch

The Teddy spots something approaching overhead

Is it a bird......

Henry puts the Teddy into an old chest to protect him from what's about to happen....

Teddy's view of Henry from inside the chest.

More to come very soon. If you're good we might even put a clip up for you!

pics to blog about!

2009-08-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Meet Steve and Donald. Donald is our mentor as well as our old tutor from college. He is a genius and has many hidden talents. We got him down again for the weekend to help us figure out some lighting effects. He also brought a few bits and bobs which will come in handy later.

Steve (standing next to me) is our wonderful animator. I don't know what Si and I would do with out him. He is very modest and has no idea how good he is. He is always keen to improve and he has no problem with re shooting the most time consuming shots. He is an absolute joy to work with and by the time he leaves here his head will be so HUGE he'll need a trolley to wheel it to London... only cuz I can stop complimenting him on his talents...he is very modest though!

Me and Donald doing something....I have a feeling we were staring into a bright light...i recall anyway

Donald is playing with something only he knows the name of....it moves in all kinds of ways and will hopefully give is some wicked camera pans...this thing is heavy and needs to stay in a box as its that old:)

Si is the darkeness playing with a vase
erm I mean lighting effects...

4mations interview

2009-07-22T03:10:00.000-07:00

Check out this great 4mations interview with directors Simon Cartwright and Jessica Cope. Co-producer Peter Kershaw and myself popped over last Friday. All very exciting - after months gearing up, we entering animation production proper this week. Hurrah!

Let the filming commence!

2009-07-15T10:59:00.001-07:00

I dont have time to say anything!! Theres not time for anything...Im late, Im late! I have eyeslids to deliver.

No time...and heres why...

Fine summers BBQ

2009-07-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

It's been an intense few weeks as we move into production, so yesterday we made the most of the great Summer weather for a barbecue at my house.

From left to right: The two long suffering partners - Jess' boyfriend Topher and Simon's girlfriend Cas; Simon, who's trying to describe the exceedingly good chargrilled taste of my stuffed tomatoes. Reaching for a drink to toast Simon's fine words is Kevin, who's been helping us out as a production assistant.

Even a barbecue can't stop Jess animating. Here she is with with her friend Donna (left), drawing a flipbook with one of my pads!

My friends Mark, Emma and Helen, with co-producer Peter Kershaw and his wife Mary on the right. Helen is saying, "All these famous people in the same garden. Do you think my pink t-shirt will help me stand out?!"

Alex Holland - Director of Photography

2009-06-21T13:03:00.001-07:00

Alex sitting in our set

A very talented photographer Alex Holland has agreed to work as our DOP on the astronomers Sun and came to visit the set last week. He spent a good few hours working out what lens's we will need to achieve the shots we have planned in our animatic. This is no easy task! In theory our shots work but it is a totally different kettle of fish trying to get the camera to do what we want it to do. Luckily Alex is pretty good with his camera and I'm sure with his expertise we will achieve exactly what we are looking for with this film.

Alex took a few pics of Henry with his beast of a camera, thought I'd pop em on the blog cuz they look ACE!

Don't worry, these are not Henry's eyes, just experimenting with bead sizes.

Here Si is directing Al - For the record, Si is NOT posing...

Story reel mark 2 gets Green light!

2009-06-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

Yippee! After months of hard work of story development, "The Astronomers Sun" has been given the green light and will be moving into production. It is only through the blood sweat and tears of story development that you can really feel the accomplishment of approval and it's been a real pleasure to work with Simon and Jess to help craft their story. A debt of gratitude must go to our editor Dave Long, who's brought pathos and rhythm and to the story reel whilst working to intense deadlines. There are of course small changes to be made, with the main emphasis on getting the running length down. Peter and I have been planning the next couple of week’s ramp up into production with Simon and Jess and had a sneak peek at the work in progress. There’s plenty to do – but that’s what we like!

Jess NEVER wants to make another wig again!

2009-06-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

This has been one of the hardest things I have had to do on this film.

Henry's hair.....

Luckily I had just found a new hairdresser called Jo who could cut me hair just the way I had it done in Edinburgh and she asked if I would be her hair model...OF COURSE I replied:) I told her all about the film and she was kind enough to give me some extension to use for Henry's hair. This stuff doesn't come cheap and it was 100% human hair so I was pretty grateful!! She also offered me her help and any hairdressing tools I might need.

It started out well but then took a turn for the worst.

Let me show you...

Here I am poking Henry's head with a home made rooting fork thingy. I just used a needle and chopped off half of the loop and glued it into something I found.

Pushing single hairs into the front part of Henry's hair line was an insane task...i had to do this for all 6 heads.... :*(

I was seriously contemplating giving Henry long hair and making him look like the guy from crash test dummies...alas I knew Si wouldn't like that at all!!

Here's where it all started going wrong...His back removable wig bit is a separate piece to the front as I wanted to save time. I tried to poke the hair in the way a humans hair would grow....this was a mistake!! It would have worked if I hadn't made his hair so thick...it was REALLY thick and extended off of his head like a crash helmet. I took a break and slept on it.

Next day I look at Henry's hair and called my hair dresser to see if she could give me a few tips.

He was looking like Goku from Dragon Ball Z...this wasn't really what i was going for!

I did discover the night before if you dip the unruly hair into boiling hot water and then into ice cold water you can style it much more easily. it kind of shocks the hair into doing what you want it to do. Probably best you only do this with real hair.

Here he is with his hair all wet and ready to be cut at the hair dressers.

Hehe, I was just messing about...but I could see something was very wrong... well obviously.

Took them into the hairdresser, lots of people stared as I carried 6 heads on sticks in a box from my car to the Salon. Jo did not expect that they would be so small and she feared that what ever she did she might ruin them...this seems to be becoming a pattern. So, she gave me a razor, some more hair a few tips and sent me on my way, but not before telling me how much Henry's screaming head looked like her ex husband.

I pondered for a bit and then started again. I decided to make his hair really fine this time and then paint each layer I poked in with black silicone sealant. This worked better. I'm almost there, I think... who knows!

Mark and Anna and other things...

2009-06-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

My last post was probably the cheesiest thing I have ever written. I think I was so happy that things were going right. So this post is going to be mainly pictures...Si, that Cat in a bucket is the best thing I have seen in ages...my dad would say "Hey Jessie, that would make a great animation" all the damn time, that man never stops trying to come with ideas for me...hehe.

Anyway back to the progress we have made.

Anna measuring Marks wood...hehe

Anna is an incredible artist and a dab hand at the old airbrush. I got her along to help me out and although she doesn't think she did well she did. She let me know I was doing a good job and gave me a few pointers. She did as much as she could but the idea of airbrushing with chemicals and silicone is just a totally different process to airbrushing with acrylics. She was so scared of destroying what I had already done. I know that if she had taken the airbrush she would have done an amazing job but she encouraged me instead which turned out to be the best help she could have given me. She then turned her attention to the masses of wood that needed to be measured and cut. I could have kissed them both!!!

Sparks getting excited with the electric saw - We had to keep a close eye on him.

Mark LOVES the camera, he's only pretending to saw, Anna actually did it all! No I'm kidding, it was a team effort and both Anna and Sparks helped out so much whilst I was messing about with an airbrush they did all the hard work - we are truly grateful. They worked into the night and in the dark. Bats and bugs were flying at them and miggies (im sorry I have no idea how you british people spell that word) were biting their heads. Marks hand was vibrating and shaking afterwards...I know what he's thinking to that comment.

Heres a hand.

The pocket watch - this is an important prop, you will have to wait for the film to see why. Its made out of a tiny watch and some sheet metal I bashed into shape suing two teaspoons. My dad felt the need to call up to my room to ask if i was in any kind of trouble. I think he thought I had fallen over and couldn't get up again or something. My parent are having to get used to a lot of strange sounds, smells (chemicals for those of you who were wondering) parcels and phone calls.

Two of Henry's heads after I learned how to use an airbrush.

Me learning - if you ever wanna do this give you self more than a week! Im a little bit concerned with how its all gonna look under the lights. We shall have to wait and see.

The observatory roof. My dad did all the CAD drawings for it and got a shop fitter to make it. It looks pretty awesome.

The Scariest thing I ever found in the woods....

2009-06-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

Need I say more.

2009-06-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Here's what the body looked like after the latex had dried. Although this method has many properties which we wanted, the process was too complex and unpredictable so as Jess has now posted we have switched to using silicone and things are moving a LOT faster now.

Assorted Images of Post Production

2009-06-01T10:09:00.001-07:00

Before I was relegated to storyboarding Jess and I were actually able to work together in constructing the set and making the characters, here are some pictures of us working in the studio.

The armature has to be sprayed before the mould is filled to avoid it rusting. We spent most of a day driving around trying to find the right stuff!

The mould is painted with liquid latex to form the skin of the puppet.

Jess pouring some chemicals, note the appropriate safety apparrel.

The foam latex expanding out of the mould. It looks like we crushed Gromit!!

Lucky the latex isn't low calorie or she'd have eaten it all!

Si.

Story reel number two

2009-06-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by and another story reel has been sent off. The storyboards took a lot longer than I had anticipated but thankfully there was enough time to get them finished before going to Jess's on Wednesday to capture them on David's rostrum (thanks David!) Thursday and Friday night were spent editing at Duchy Parade Films in Harrogate. We got straight down to it the first night and got all the frames numbered and timed out.

This new version came together a lot faster so on Friday we just had to add some new drawings I did during the day and put some sound to it.

Here's Dave Long deep in concentration, poor guy had 4 people barking orders at him none stop. Truly the patience of a saint!

Dave's speed on the controls is incredible, he's like a concert pianist on an editing keyboard.

Peter keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.....between coffee runs.

Two heads are better than one, or in this case probably equivalent to one!

Peter sent the DVD's off on Saturday morning so now we're just waiting to hear back about how it is received. So this week will be spent preparing everything else essential for the start of filming.

Si.

Thank the lord for silicone!!!

2009-05-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

Well folks I decided on Thurs that I would scrap everything that I had done with Henry's body, arms, and heads and start all over again. I was finding the liquid latex way too unpredictable and back painting latex is just insane. It worked for my lil old lady in The Owl House as she only had one head. Henry has 4 and they all need to be consistent colour wise.

Luckily I was prepared and had ordered some silicone (silastic rubber) from a company call Thompson Bros in Newcastle before hand. They were SO helpful and provided me with all the info I needed. I then needed to learn how to airbrush, oh and purchase one too. Luckily I have a dad who is like my knight in shining armour...I'm not kidding, he just gets things done. He got it for me as a gift and also bought me a compressor...I think I might be his pension? So next task, learn how to airbrush and research how to paint silicone.

I found it's not a straight forward process and you need to mix silicone pigments and silicone sealants with toxic chemicals...it's safe to say I had jumped in at the deep end. Help was at hand though and a quick phone call to my friends at Mackinnon and Saunders set me on my way. Sara Mullock, my super hero at M&S arranged for me to chat with Joe, one of the talented genius who paints up all the models. He was a great help and I felt confident to go for it.

I also needed to purchase a thinner called Toluene and found a local solvent company in Tockwith called LSS (Leading Solvent Suppliers). Thanks to a very kind gentleman called Derek Walker, I came away with just what I needed and free of charge... Derek also had to do a check on me to make sure I was not going to use the chemical for erm...other things.

Next job was to order some silicone pigments. At first this felt like a lost cause but then I stumbled across a site called ModelLife. These guys are great and they provided me with a load of pigments and a bunch of information.

So away I went and you know what, this was the best decision I think I have ever made. I have now 2 silicone arms ( I attempted to do this with latex and expandable foam around 14 times...each time taking 5 hours or more) I have 3 heads, two with animatable jaws and I'm just working on the final head and then I shall start on the Body...I am as happy as a monkey!!