A week at King Bee studios

This week I am doing a week placement at King Bee animation studios which is based at Elstree studios, London.

Today is only my second day so I haven't got an awful lot to recount but thought I would start keeping track of what I've been doing.

Despite feeling like a country bumpkin and completely out of place yesterday morning (must remember not to smile at fellow commuters) I am feeling much more comfortable and settled today.

I was ignorant of the history behind Elstree studios and I have to say it is very exciting being in an environment that has so much going on. I want to nose into every room and studio though to see what is being made behind each closed door. They are currently filming the new series of 'Episodes' so I am hoping to catch a glimpse of Matt Le Blanc! "How yo dooooin'?"

King Bee studio is fairly small but full of people on every bit of desk space, animating, creating concepts, logos, pitch bibles etc. It is really encouraging for me to be a part of an environment like this, a welcome break from working from home!

Chico and Rita

If you have already seen it and love it or are yet to fall for it...Chico and Rita is currently on iplayer and is one you won't want to miss.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cpckc/chico-and-rita

It is a Spanish animated feature-length film, with English subtitles but please don't be put off, it's definitely worth the reading! The story of Chico and Rita is set against the backdrops of Havana, New York City, Las Vegas, Hollywood and Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Chico is a young piano player and Rita is a mesmerising singer, music and romance unite them and they chase their dreams, and each other, from Havana to New York and Las Vegas. Following the tradition of the Latin ballad, their story brings heartache.

It's a must see!

From the official Chico And Rita Website about the style:

"One key creative decision for the film-makers was the animation style: how real; how graphic. Explains Errando:  “We had to investigate what quality of movement we needed for the film. Live action is very precise. Animation needs to invent another reality. You move a character using other ways, it’s another quality of movement. You have all these feelings that an actor is giving you, on the other hand we want the poetry that animation can provide. We spent about six months discovering the right balance.”

Assembling a team of animators capable of animating Mariscal’s  designs was also a challenge. Says Errando:  “In a film you need great casting, and in animation the actors are the animators. We chose some of the best animators we could find, all of them had a lot of experience. But then we had to ask them, ‘Hey guys, forget everything that you have done in your life. Here you’re not going to use all the tools that you’re used to. Forget about stretch, squash, anticipation, and start animating in a very different way, in a very new way.’ Some of them reacted very well, and they found it fascinating, and some of them couldn’t do it, it was very frustrating.’”

Academy Illustrations are up

Tall ships Falmouth 2014

Not animation related but a perk of living in Falmouth...there is always something going on down here, it's not quite the sleepy, fishing village life everyone thinks.

This weekend was a big weekend in Falmouth, The Tall Ships Regatta 2014, a landmark moment in history, when Falmouth and Royal Greenwich together host one of the biggest international sailing events in solely English waters.

Falmouth was full to the brim...46 sail training vessels from around the world, including 11 square sail Tall ships.

Saturday night was the celebration night with every single pub full to the brim, bands playing everywhere and a firework display. We all had the best time, its so much fun to see the town so full of life and everyone in such good spirits.

On the Sunday we were one of the lucky ones able to be out amongst the tall ships on the family boat.
It was an incredible experience, you realise the enormous scale of the ships, it really is a spectacle. Seeing the crew climb the rigging at the dizzy heights of the mast were a bit sickening to say the least! Especially on Saturday nights cider diet.

Here are some of my photographs from the boat and a panorama of us all taking photographs!

Below is a video of some men flying over the Tall ships in Falmouth Harbour with a paramotor. Some incredible views of the sail parade.

Here are a few favourites from the photos that are flooding my facebook feed after this weekend.

Falmouth also made the front page of not one but two national papers!