'Trixie the Little Carousel Horse' by Rochelle Hodgson

Rochelle takes every opportunity to make textile based work and her animation project has been no exception. Trixie herself is a riot of pattern and colour and the sets that Rochelle has made are painstakingly and delicately embellished fabrics. Rochelle has set herself a big task in putting these two time consuming techniques together but you can tell that her love for textiles work has overshadowed her animation. I would have liked to have seen movement in the sets, perhaps the Indian paisleys dancing to some traditional music and the fish swimming around the Great Barrier Reef. Perhaps Rochelle could have taken inspiration from Luka's use of time-lapse photography animation technique to really show off the process of the stitching and embellishments.

The final film is however a quiet piece that may appeal greatly to it's intended pre-school audience. If you have any comments please post them here to Rochelle who will use them to further her work and working processes...

'The Little Anglerfish' by Kerry Ann Smith

I can't find fault in this animation, those who have been taught by me will find that a rare occurrence! Kerry has worked so hard on every aspect of this animation but most especially on these cutout characters. Each one was threaded by hand and she worked long into the night to make them. I'm sure you will agree that their movement is beautiful. At first I wasn't sure about Kerry's choice of music but now I see the finished piece and the way that the fish dance I can see that the music fits the story and characters well. This story is so much more sophisticated than the first version for her illustration project, it has been a great opportunity to develop an idea and Kerry has succeeded so well because she has refined her work at every stage.

Please take the time to leave a comment for Kerry, she will use them to analyse her work and further her future work and working processes...

'Rockin' Horse' by Pip Renault

When I was talking to Pip about how he would record viewer's reactions to his animation he told me that people wouldn't actually laugh out loud when they watch it. I laugh out loud every time I watch it, I bet most people do. The best part of this story has to be 'Gator' thrusting to Twisted Sister and electric bolts shooting from his fingertips as he transforms 'Rockin' Horse'. I also like the head banging scene but with more time would have asked Pip to give the disco lights more movement. 'Rockin' Horse' is aimed at young teenagers but I think it would appeal to a much wider audience.

Leave your comments for Pip to help him improve his work and working process...

'Ook and the Blue Wheels' by Luka Pinto

The amount of test animations Luka made to prepare for this final animation have ensured that he has really maximised the potential for movement in his work. Sometimes the jumping of shots where he has photographed the frames without a tripod or seeing the photographer's shadow at the edge of the frames makes the animation look crude but it could also be seen to go along with the rebelliousness of the story. The action is fast paced, Luka had a lot that he wanted to fit into this short film, a great deal of the story has already been edited in the development of this piece. But again the speed fits the story and the music. The time-lapse animation is brilliantly done, tiny glimpses of great drawings flash past, you have to watch it again and again.

Send Luka your comments here on the blog, they will be used to help him improve his work and working process...

'The Adventures of Mikey Rabbit and Mr Prang' by Jake Stoodley

The Adventures of Mikey Rabbit and Mr Prang began as a great story with really interesting looking collaged characters and sets. I feel that the final animation seems to have become jumbled and difficult to follow, this may be a conscious decision to follow Mikey's drunken Saturday night but it may leave the sober viewer confused.

Comments please to Jake to help him improve his work and working process...

'Stubs at the Beauty Contest' by Sam Halliwell

'Stubs' is a seriously misunderstood and dangerous character. He developed quite naturally through giving a found object, (a broken toy horse) a name, character and background. Once Sam discovered that there were other Stubb's horses the story grew. I like the juxtapostion of photographic background and the crudely drawn Stubs against George Stubb's beautifully painted horses but I feel that there is a lack of action movement in the fight scene that might leave the viewer confused at the ending. The story however is wonderfully bonkers and as before I'm (a little) older than Sam's target audience of 16 year olds so my opinion may go completely against the grain of the public view. Please leave your comments here and help Sam keep improving her work and her working process...

'Bliiink' by Lucy Dobin

Lucy has been working on this story since September first of all as a series of sequential illustrations and then as this animation. I've seen it a fair few times so it is testament to the strength of her story that it still makes me laugh every time. It's been lovely to see Lucy bring movement to her illustrations, the spiders and tumbleweed ensure that the final frames are still full of life and the build up of the music accentuates the drama of the end of the story.

As before, any comments about Lucy's animation will be used to help her improve her future work and her working process, they are most useful so please let us know what you think...

'Clyde the Clumsy Cow' by Diana Hey

Clyde the Clumsy Cow is aimed at four to five year olds. Personally I found the story confusing but then I'm thirty years older than the intended audience. My five year old however LOVES this animation and has begged me to play it to her over and over again, laughing uproariously the whole way through (but most especially at the end).

A significant part of this project involves the students collecting and analysing audience responses so that they can make their work and working process better with each new piece they undertake. Please leave Diana a comment and help her to analyse how well her animation has worked. These are the questions she would like to know, if you have a pre-schooler their opinion would be most welcome...

What happens in the story?
What sounds do you remember?
Does Clyde look clever or silly?

'Ook and the Blue Wheels' by Luka Pinto

Luka's animation begins with Ook skating down the street, looking almost like the opening scenes of Mr Benn walking down Festive Road and indeed some of the music Luka uses is also reminiscent of British 1970's children's animation. His character 'Ook' could be compared to 'Morph'. Here however is where the likenesses end, this animation is aimed at a much older audience as we discover when Ook spikes Burney the policeman with 'liquid 666' and Burney slips into a Luka's time-lapse animation of graffiti inspired felt-tip pen doodles.

The bottle of 'liquid 666' was the beginning inspiration for this story, Luka discovered it in a cabinet of Victorian medicines at the Jersey Museum. In the original illustration project the story was much longer, there was a whole background to Ook and Burney's relationship. As many of the other students have, Luka has had to edit his ideas in order to achieve a finished animation in just 6 weeks and the story feels more sophisticated for it.

Luka has been incredibly organised over the course of this project and has constantly refined ideas through experimenting by making tester animations to help him understand the very best ways to animate his characters. I have had a sneak preview today of the scene of Ook skateboarding down the street, (you can see the tester animation for that scene here on Flickr) it looks fab, I'm also looking forward to seeing Burney's trip scene when Luka switches from cutout animation to time-lapse photography. You can see some more animation tests for that technique here on Flickr. You can also see recognise an influence from Blu and David Ellis in Luka's work, see more about those artist's work on Luka's blog post here.

Below are Luka's storyboard instructions.

1. Ook comes out of the front door with his 'liquid 666' and skateboard. Ook side on in front of door (1-3 seconds)
2. Ook skateboarding down the road. Ook side on, move along background of row of houses as Ook skates (2-7 seconds) Sound of skateboarding, cars, maybe background noise of people.
3. Burney the Policeman is sat on a bench, Ook spikes Burney's coffee with his 'liquid 666' without him noticing and runs off. Camera slowly moving from right to left. Sound of cars, sound of Ook laughing a little bit (1-5 seconds)
4. Burney drinks his spiked coffee, view Burney straight on. Sounds of cars slowly fade out as he drinks, sound of mechanical toy being wound up (2-5 seconds)
5. Burney's trip scene. Time-lapse animation of doodles. Music; Mr Bungle, Gollem II, at 24 seconds the song sucks up, cut at the first frame of scene 6
6. A dog barking wakes Burney up, he walks out of frame. Back to everyday sounds of cars (3-7 seconds)
7. End credits, time-lapse animation of doodles again. Sound of skateboards (3 seconds)

'Clyde the Clumsy Cow' by Diana Hey

For her illustration project Diana's Clyde the Cow started off as Cassie the Cow who visited a fancy dress shop and went back to her field with a princess hat. Diana has decided to adapt the story for her animation by making it more slapstick, with more movement and unexpected comedy enhanced by silly noises. Hopefully making it more appealing for her intended pre-school audience. Also Cassie has turned into Clyde, perhaps to appeal to both girls and boys. You can view Diana's animatic here on Flickr along with her original illustrations of Cassie the Cow.

Below are the storyboard instructions;

1. Cylde is sat in his field, boored. Super Mario soundtrack (4 seconds)
2. He jumps over the fence. Super Mario jump sound (3 seconds)
3. BOING! And falls into a bin (1 second)
4. Bin falls over. Tipping metal sound (2 seconds)
5. Boinging, bouncing sound as Clyde tips out of the bin (2 seconds)
6. SPLASH! Clyde bounces into a puddle (2 seconds)
7. BEEP!, a car whizzes on to screen (3 seconds)
8. CRASH! The car and Clyde collide (3 seconds)
9. Clyde gets up (3 seconds)
10. The shock makes him poo (2 seconds)

'Rockin' Horse' by Pip Renault

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Pip's animatic makes me laugh every time I see it. I think it has a great soundtrack, I love the way the music is muffled behind the door and then blares out at full volume as 'Gator' kicks the door down. I also love the sound of the electric bolts shooting out of his fingers. But I think what I like most is the fact that it was sparked off by a beautiful traditional wooden rocking horse that he drew in the nursery of the Merchant's House at the Jersey Museum. I shall always think of 'Gator' every time I visit the Museum now.

Pip has also really understood and exploited the potential of perspective and point of view, the 'camera' movement echoes the liveliness of the music. I'm looking forward to seeing the final animation, the cutout of the character 'Gator' looks very promising and I imagine that the sequence of them both head banging and the stage lights flashing will work really well once animated. I think Twisted Sister would enjoy it too, if anyone out there knows them then please pass it on...

1. Close up of Rockin Horse looking bored, he sighs
2. Shot slowly zooms out from his face, he looks up when he starts to hear muffled rock coming from the room next door 'I wanna rock! Rock!'
3. Gator kicks down the door screaming 'ROCK!" as his music booms into the room, he is holding a bag
4. Gator points at Rockin Horse in an Uncle Sam style and says 'You wanna Rock?'
5. Electric bolts shoot out of Gator's fingers turning Rockin Horse into a Rocker
6. Extreme close-up of Rockin Horse's eyes with piercing and eye make-up 'I wanna Rock!'
7. Gator and Rockin Horse head bang, stage lights flash

'The Adventures of Mikey Rabbit' by Jake Stoodley

Jake's story has been loosely based on his friend Mikey's weekend binges at Snow Hill, names have not been changed, he may be hoping that Mikey won't recognise himself as a tattooed rabbit.

His animatic as you see it here on Flickr isn't finished yet, it will have a narrator's voice who sounds like DJ Lance Rock in Yo Gabba Gabba who will be ineffectually telling Mikey Rabbit off as he makes drunken mayhem.

Jake originally photocopied his drawings in black and white but they lost so much of their aesthetic qualities that he was persuaded by the other students to keep the coloured collages. His stick and ink drawings are similarly appealing, showing a particularly apt naive line. Jake also hope to go on to study illustration and/or animation at degree level so if you like what you see then leave a comment to let him know.

1. Mikey is at Snow Hill toilets. Narrator; 'What are you doing? What's that? I think you should put that down'
2. Mikey is near the grass area. Narrator; 'Have you got a bad tummy? I told you not to drink that stuff'
3. He's walked to the grass area. Narrator; 'Mikey are you OK?'
4.He's got big and bad. Narrator; 'Mikey are you a bad mo fo?'
5. He has fallen asleep behind the box. Narrator; 'What have you done Mikey? Oops the police are coming'