Manchester Animation Festival Part 2

The talks I felt were he best part of the festival. I felt that about the Bradford Animation Festival but, to me this animation festival was better than Bradford and that overall as were the talks. There were just so many good speakers and every one of the speakers we had were really good and genuinely had a huge passion for animation. For example Tom Moore’s talk is one I enjoyed in particular when he spoke about bringing his second film Song of the Sea to the big screen.





The talk was fascinating as it not only made me go from being intrigued about the film to being absolutely have to see the film. He also really made me want to work for the company he makes films for; Cartoon Saloon. The animation company is one that particularly appeals to me because yes it is all traditional 2D animation, but even I am happy to admit a lot of 2D animation is fairly low quality, but the animation they produce at Cartoon Saloon is absolutely top quality. The style they bring to each of their animations is fresh and original, yet very accessible to all audiences.



Another great speaker we had was Brian Crosgrove who founded Cosgrove Hall. I feel slightly guilty admitting that I hadn't actually heard of Cosgrove Hall before this trip but as I said earlier, I have learnt a great deal through being at MAF and I can now say I feel I do now know quite a bit about Cosgrove Hall. I might not have heard of the production studios but I had definitely seen some of the animations that had been produced there, for example The Wind in the Willows, The BFG and Danger Mouse. The man himself, Brian Cosgrove was also a fascinating bloke who even though is clearly a legend in the animation world, he himself was happy to admit it didn't just happen overnight.

What was especially interesting about this is that he we were, receiving a talk from the man who brought the original Danger Mouse to the TV screen. And then the very next day we were receiving a talk from the creatives at the BBC who were remaking Danger Mouse for new audiences. I felt like my judgement of the new series would always be slightly bias towards the original but I have to say I enjoyed the new episode that they showed us a lot more than expected.

Original:



Remake:



At first glance I didn't really like the new slightly altered style of the characters and the general aesthetic, but once we were shown endless slides of concept art and background designs and extensive character design research I was won over as much of it looked pretty amazing.