Odd Cat Animation

BAA Sting

2012-01-30T13:19:00.000Z

This is my 'BAA Sting' made to promote the British Animation Awards.

(For their 'Sting' Competition)

For more information, Please visit:

http://www.britishanimationawards.com/

British Animation Awards!

2012-01-25T21:02:00.010Z

Bertie Crisp will be screening at 21 Different Venues, as a part of the

British Animation Awards- Public choice (in Programme One)

For more information, please visit:

www.britishanimationawards.com

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

2012-01-20T14:15:00.013Z

So this is the title sequence I created fr the BBC's 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' Which was first broadcast on the 10th of Jan at 9PM on BBC Two and BBC HD.

The main Idea for it was to convey a journey form London, to a place called Cloisterham in the countryside. Below are some of the first concept for the sequence, as it started out much more 'inky' with blocks of colour to show what was countryside and what was London.

There was much more detail on the buildings as they were drawn in ink, and the coloured ink seeped and spread as the camera tracked across the paper. But the problem with this graphic style was that the camera had to track much slower to give the ink time to draw in the detail and the colour, which heavily reduced the distance that felt travelled- Cloisterham had to feel very far form London.

The lines had to be much more simple- had to feel as though they were racing over a distance. So eventually, they became more and more simple, until all we had were streaks of ink.

We also went back to looking at Victorian ink drawings- we needed to go into detail at either end of the sequence so it was clear that we started in London, and ended in Cloisterham. The camera would have to track slowly/ pause over these drawings to give them time to develop.

One of the main problems we had was the camera movement. The camera doesn't just track from Left to Right, it also tracks back from London, and then tracks into Cloisterham. Theoretically simple, but because this project was fully digital- it meant that we would have to use a plate that quite a lot bigger than HD (@_@) ... and we had quite a few problems getting any computer to cope with it.
In the end, I made a low res plate and animated the camera move over it for reference.

The Victorian Drawings are animated Backwards- Drawn on several layers, I erased them bit by bit per frame. The main Ink lines are animated Frame by frame by duplicating the previous frame, moving it into position, (using the low res reference) and drawing the ink bleeding further.

The main two programmes used for this were Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe After Effects.

Below are some of the final storyboards of the animation, though the zoom, position of the title card and what was cut to at the end were changed during the anamatic stage.

For more information about 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' please click on the links below:

BBC's The Mystery of Edwin Drood

The Guardian: Review of 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'

The Mystery of Edwin Drood on IMDB

Crimbo!

2011-12-26T01:11:00.000Z

Ok... so a bit too late, but still....

Bertie Goes Down under!!

2011-12-16T18:38:00.000Z

Bertie has been accepted into FLICKER FEST 2012! in Sydney, Australia!

http://www.flickerfest.com.au

http://www.flickerfest.com.au/film_detail.aspx?e=15689&f=15719

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

2011-12-16T18:33:00.001Z

So my latest job had been creating the animated title sequence for the BBC's 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'. Its a Charles Dickens Novel, his last one that sadly he never finished- but now the BBC have. (or at least had their go)

'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' Episode One premiered at the BFI last Thursday, and will be aired on TV at 9.00-10.00pm on Tuesday the 10th of January, on BBC Two.

Unfortunately untill after the programme has aired I am unable to release any of my production stills, videos etc. But stay tuned! :P

For more information, please visit:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/02/edwin-drood.html

Bertie Gets his First Win!!

2011-11-15T17:54:00.000Z

For more info, and to see the other winners go here:

http://www.flipfestival.co.uk/2011/10/31/2011-winners/

2 Short Nights Film Festival

2011-10-24T01:01:00.000+01:00

Bertie has been accepted into '2 Short Nights' Film Festival, in Exeter! It will be screening at 7.30pm on Thursday 1st December, 2011 at Exeter Phoenix.

For more information, visit:

www.twoshortnights.co.uk

Bertie Crisp USA Premiere!

2011-10-20T14:03:00.001+01:00

Bertie Crisp has been accepted into the Los Angeles Comedy Fest- LAughter!!
For more information, Please go to their website!!

www.LAComedyFest.com

Bradford Animation Festival! (BAF)

2011-10-19T21:31:00.000+01:00

Bertie Crisp will be screening at BAF on Wednesday the 9th of Nov at 2PM, and Thursday the 10th of Nov at 8PM, in Panorama 3.

For more information, and to book your tickets, please see the website! :D http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/BradfordAnimationFestival/diary.aspx http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/bradfordanimationfestival/viewbaffilm?id=10086

FLIP International Animation Festival

2011-10-10T23:18:00.000+01:00

Bertie Crisp will be screening at this years FLIP International Animation Festival!!!

You can catch it on Friday the 27th of October.

http://www.flipfestival.co.uk/

ENCOUNTERS!

2011-10-04T20:44:00.002+01:00

Bertie will be screening at this years Encounters festival in Bristol!!!

Programme: Animation 5: Domestic Bliss
Screening 1: Wednesday 16 November 6:00pm, Arnolfini
Screening 2: Friday 18 November 12:00pm, Arnolfini

Please visit the Website for more informaiton!

http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/

http://bristolencounters.festivalgenius.com/2011/films/bertiecrisp_francescaadams_bristolencounters2011

P I S A F !

2011-09-28T13:50:00.001+01:00

Bertie Crisp has been accepted in to Pucheon's International

Student Animation Festival (PISAF) in South Korea!

For more information abou the festival, check out their website: http://www.pisaf.or.kr/

Face Britain!

2011-09-14T12:43:00.001+01:00

Recently, myself and Dani Negrin (A fellow NFTS Animator) have been working on the animations for a website called 'Face Britain' which Launched today (It was quite a mental deadline!).
Its a massive art project for children- a huge collection of their self portraits.

You can find out more, and watch all the animations we made on their website:
http://www.facebritain.org.uk/

Here is one of the sequences I boarded and animated:

Ideas Tap Interview

2011-08-30T13:30:00.001+01:00

I got interviewed by Ideas Tap. http://www.ideastap.com/ Its a creative network which help with funding. Its a pretty good place where you can easily upload and showcase your portfolio and make more contacts- Its like Facebook for artists and film makers! :D

http://www.ideastap.com/IdeasMag/all-articles/Francesca-Adams-Bertie-Crisp-Animator

London International Animation Festival!

2011-07-27T22:46:00.003+01:00

Bertie Crisp has been accepted into the London International Animation Festival! (LIAF)

You can see it screened in the International Programme 5 on the 30th of August, at 8:30 PM at the Barbican! (Follow the links below for more information and to book your tickets!)

International Programme 5

Barbican International Programme 5

LIAF

Bertie on the BFC!

2011-07-27T22:38:00.001+01:00

The British Film council has accepted Bertie Crisp onto its film Directory!

film.britishcouncil.org/bertie-crisp

Bertie Crisp Character Designs.

2011-07-23T00:25:00.001+01:00

Here are the some of the character designs from my Grad film 'Bertie Crisp'.

(These are pages taken from my portfolio)

Toon Boom Boo

2011-07-05T20:31:00.000+01:00

I've been trying to teach myself Toon Boom recently. Here is my first attempt at using it, and also animating Boo Cat.

TV Chat show Alien

2011-07-05T20:26:00.000+01:00

This is the design, and the suit of 'Zeldaro', an alien who Hosts a chat show called 'Life from Earth'. An NFTS TV creation from students Tim Partridge, and Omar Kenawi.
I was asked to design their alien host from their specifications, and then make the costume with a working blink.

Genie in a Tea Pot

2011-07-04T18:58:00.000+01:00

Been playing with Photoshop in my free time. Its nice to actually concentrate on just one drawing, instead of a few hundreds.

Anyway, I decided to colour an old sketch I did of a genie in a teapot, back when I loved to draw monsters. (Not that I don't love to anymore)

Cuddly Mr Crisp.

2011-06-21T17:49:00.001+01:00

While making 'Bertie Crisp' I also made cuddly toy versions of Bertie and Grace. (well... who needs sleep?)

And check out this 'Retro' Bertie!!! (Made by Hannah)

Cuddly Toys!!

2011-06-21T17:39:00.002+01:00

Making Cuddly Toys has been a hobby of mine for a while. Here are some more of my creation:

a MASSIVE Boo Cat. (Vampire addition)

Humphrey, from the film Damned. (Dir. Richard Phelan)

Carrying the Light

2011-06-15T10:29:00.000+01:00

This is the trailer for 'Carrying the Light' A documentary about a Rabbi who walks from Frankfurt to London, carrying the light from his Grandfathers Synagogue to his own.

I made the animated maps/ transitions and the title for the film, which appears at the end of the trailer.

Life Drawing

2011-06-03T16:56:00.001+01:00

2011 Showreel

2011-03-04T15:26:00.001Z

My 2011 showreel. Featuring clips from Bertie Crisp, Bunny, Anger Management, Supper, Heart, Master, and animation tests.

Bertie Crisp Trailer!!!

2011-03-04T15:20:00.002Z

For more information, go to:

www.bertiecrisp.co.uk

Mr Bertie Crisp.

2011-02-03T14:44:00.000Z

Wow. I havn't updated in almost a year?!
Well, This is what I've been working on. :D

2010-04-13T17:48:00.000+01:00

Happy Easter... better late than never.

COMMENCE YEAR 2!

2010-03-19T17:48:00.000Z

Finally I am up to date with my blog. Please enjoy these complimentary axolotls until my next update. :D

Live Project- Pt5

2010-03-19T17:19:00.000Z

Finally with all the Cut out, CGI, and drawn animation done as well as the Live action shots finished it was time to see if this would all actually work. I hadn't been able to do the sections in the order I needed to, to make sure everything would fit due to availability of both people and resources, so everything was based on estimations and rough calculations. ...I had also never used Adobe After Effects before- my final 'new thing' to try out.

I think overall it came out quite well- a bit of a patch work job, but considering it was a learning process, not bad. Of course if I had the chance to do it again, I would be able to do it much better, knowing the techniques a little better and knowing where I went wrong. But- Its like that with every thing.

People who worked on this project:
Producer: Andrew Start
Cinematography: Caroline Bridges
Composer: Jon Wygens
CGI backgrounds animation: Peter Renton
DPP: Andrew Quinn

More information about this competition can be found here: http://www.kraszna-krausz.org.uk/andor-book-awards/

Live Project- Pt4

2010-03-19T17:11:00.000Z

Finally, sometime after Christmas- I was able to get a Green Screen stage booked. Caroline Bridges (My cinematographer) set everything up perfectly, and myself, Caroline and my producer for this project- Andy Start- got throwing some focal press books about.

Of course- they were actually prop books with covers made for them to make them look like an assortment of focal press books.

Live Project- Pt3

2010-03-19T16:52:00.000Z

The CGI library was built by Peter Renton, a friend who's excellent at CGI, and didn't mind being paid in scotch eggs since we had no budget for the film. He built it using Avid-
Softimage XSI.

Using Photoshop, I created the balloon for the dog. To give it a traditional, jumpy feel, instead of manipulating each frame into the next, I re-drew the balloon each time

Live Project- Pt2

2010-03-19T15:16:00.000Z

And/ Or Kraszna Krausz
I had planned for the Backgrounds to be CGI (Good for camera movement) The Balloon to be 2D Digitally drawn, Flying books and fore-ground pieces of the library to be live action (On a Green screen) and the Dog to be cut out animation, with any extra animation and composting done in After Effects.

Cut out Doggie.
Ok, so not so much of a 'new' technique to me. Unfortunately with my booking of the green screen stage constantly being pushed back and canceled, I realised that although It would have been best to start with the live action (then CGI, then Cut out dog, then 2d Drawn...) I couldn't wait to start after, so I had to start with the dog.

Squirrelled away in a storage container to escape the light, My cinematographer- Caroline Bridges set up a rostra with a glass plane to animate on over a green screen, the lighting, and
managed to get us a beautiful camera that worked with the stop motion software (Dragon)
My doggie puppet was made from photos of Hungarian Vizlas (Kraszna Krausz was Hungarian and we were asked to include some sort of a link to Hungry- Vizlas are their national dog... apparently)

By the way- It was FU**ING FREEZING in that metal container. It decided to heavily snow on the days I needed to animate. (O_O)

Live Project.

2010-03-04T17:37:00.000Z

Our last project for the end of last year was a 'live pitch' project. We were given the chance to pitch and produce what would be the opening title film for the And/ Or Kraszna-Krausz book awards. Awards for Focal Press' best photography and film book of the year. I used this as a chance to try everything and anything I hadn't tried before. As it was for the opening of an award ceremony, I wanted to tap into the excitement you feel when on your way to such an event. What could be happier than a dog in a hot air balloon on his way to a party?
(Below: Frames from Anamatic)

Project 3

2010-03-04T14:26:00.000Z

The sound track I received for project 3 was mostly foley sounds. Wanting to do something with stop motion outside, the story about a farmer chasing a rabbit emerged. But with a bit of an unusual twist- the bunny was massive, and liked to eat people.

Bunny Building.

2010-03-04T13:52:00.000Z

Project 3- we were given one minute of sound created by the sound designers and we had to create an animation to it. We were asked to try something we hadn't before, and also to be fairly experimental with it. I decided I would try stopmotion with a puppet... only on a much larger scale, and animating outside, using pixilation too.

I had to build the puppet myself:

She was made using Card, Foam, lots of wire, Modroc (Plaster), false fur, bamboo, air dry clay and a bit of Meccano and a few stop motion joints.

Stop motion Practice - Lego

2010-02-14T13:15:00.000Z

I've never had the chance to work with a real stop motion puppet... and still haven't, but these Lego men did fine for a bit of practice.

Stop motion Practice - Cut out

2010-02-14T12:56:00.000Z

I decided to stay at the school for a while during the summer holidays to practice stop motion. This is just me having a go at some animal walk cycles.

Christmas Crisp eatings

2009-12-29T01:47:00.001Z

A Boo Cat interlude.

Project 2

2009-12-18T17:23:00.000Z

Project 2 was based around designing and developing a character. Once we had a fully developed character, we were then asked to take on someone else's character and create a short animated film in which they hug. My character was a bat called Simon, his back story was that he used to own a pub in Hull, but lost it when he was arrested for attempted arson on a rivals pub. As part of his probation, he was asked to attend anger management classes. The character I received was an elderly retired cartographer called Vincent, created by Daniela Negrin. Unable to travel as he once did, Vincent is fairly bitter towards the world, considering himself above most people.

The film is set in one of the few places I could think of in which people like this would meet. Simon just leaving his Anger management class, and Vincent taking a break from his calligraphy class, meet in the canteen of their local community center- host to many self help and night classes.

I used Biro on paper to animate the film, and somehow got it done within four weeks. I got through about 5 pens, one and a half boxes of animation paper and a pad of dope sheets (ye olde animation style)

Character of Place

2009-12-17T19:31:00.000Z

A pixilation project, collaborating with Production Design and Cinematography. I shamelessly took the easy pixilation rout and went for horror. It meant I got to pillage special effects for organs. We started with a small section of the main stage, with 3 flats. 1 day to plan, 1 day to build, 1 and a half days to animate and half a day to strike the set. Somehow I managed to get 10 minutes of footage.

Project One

2009-12-16T21:14:00.000Z

Project One was designed to help our story boarding and Anamatic skills, while collaborating with the Editors. We had to make an anamatic of a story based on 'Jack and Jill'.

My story was about an old lady who mistakes her husband for an octopus...

Sand Animation

2009-12-16T20:53:00.000Z

At the beginning of my first year at the NFTS, we got to do a sand animation workshop with Caroline Leaf. We did a morph exercises, a one day picture exercises (we were given illustrations to draw inspiration from) and a four day exercises, based on a child hood memory.

Other Bits and Pieces.

2009-12-14T00:14:00.000Z

Here's a show reel of everything else I did during my time at the UCA. Its made up of experiments, tests, and half made films.

Master

2009-12-13T20:10:00.000Z

My grad film at the UCA. Its pencil on paper, and again was pretty much all made in my bedroom. I offically became the 'Crazy Cat lady' of my uni after this.

Groove Cat.

2009-12-13T19:44:00.000Z

My second film at the UCA. With house of cake- I spent most of my time colouring in rather than animating, so with my second film, I decided that I want to just animate for the sake of animation. Pencil on paper with a very dodgy song made on garage band. The ninjas? ... don't ask.

Before NFTS

2009-12-13T19:06:00.000Z

Before I started at the NFTS I did a BA in animation at the University for the Creative arts (Previously known as The Surrey Institute of Art and Design) in Farnham. Here's the first film I made there. Actually its the first film I've ever made. Its hand drawn, the coloured on Adobe Photoshop, and put together on Premiere (Before I really knew how to use either programme) I think this film says a lot about me and what I like- Dark but Daft. I apologise for the bad quality- especially the voices. The whole thing was pretty much made in my bedroom.

Hello Blog.

2009-12-13T18:59:00.001Z

Ever since my website died, I've been meaning to start a blog.

Odd Cat Animation

BAA Sting

British Animation Awards!

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Crimbo!

Bertie Goes Down under!!

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Bertie Gets his First Win!!

For more info, and to see the other winners go here:

http://www.flipfestival.co.uk/2011/10/31/2011-winners/

2 Short Nights Film Festival

Bertie has been accepted into '2 Short Nights' Film Festival, in Exeter! It will be screening at 7.30pm on Thursday 1st December, 2011 at Exeter Phoenix.

Bertie Crisp USA Premiere!

Bradford Animation Festival! (BAF)

Bertie Crisp will be screening at BAF on Wednesday the 9th of Nov at 2PM, and Thursday the 10th of Nov at 8PM, in Panorama 3.

For more information, and to book your tickets, please see the website! :D http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/BradfordAnimationFestival/diary.aspx http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/bradfordanimationfestival/viewbaffilm?id=10086

FLIP International Animation Festival

ENCOUNTERS!

Programme: Animation 5: Domestic BlissScreening 1: Wednesday 16 November 6:00pm, ArnolfiniScreening 2: Friday 18 November 12:00pm, Arnolfini

Please visit the Website for more informaiton!

http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/

http://bristolencounters.festivalgenius.com/2011/films/bertiecrisp_francescaadams_bristolencounters2011

P I S A F !

Face Britain!

Ideas Tap Interview

London International Animation Festival!

Bertie on the BFC!

Bertie Crisp Character Designs.

Toon Boom Boo

TV Chat show Alien

Genie in a Tea Pot

Cuddly Mr Crisp.

Cuddly Toys!!

Carrying the Light

Life Drawing

2011 Showreel

Bertie Crisp Trailer!!!

Mr Bertie Crisp.

COMMENCE YEAR 2!

Live Project- Pt5

Live Project- Pt4

Live Project- Pt3

Live Project- Pt2

Live Project.

Project 3

Bunny Building.

Stop motion Practice - Lego

Stop motion Practice - Cut out

Christmas Crisp eatings

Project 2

Character of Place

Project One

Sand Animation

Other Bits and Pieces.

Master

Groove Cat.

Before NFTS

Hello Blog.

Programme: Animation 5: Domestic Bliss
Screening 1: Wednesday 16 November 6:00pm, Arnolfini
Screening 2: Friday 18 November 12:00pm, Arnolfini