Running, jumping, CineMe, Richard Williams & Halloween!

We learnt to walk, and then we learnt to run! We swapped puppets and I ended up with the tallest, gangliest man. I tried my best to get more than 3 strides with him across the table. My first attempt was ridiculously fast, my excuse was that I was taking my timings from the reference video we shot but others speculate that its because I walk ridiculously fast in real life :)
The initial attempt was a 6 frame stride on 1's. With his tall thin legs it was barely readable so I slowed it down to an 8 frame stride and this looked less like abject madness.

On Tuesday night I had my two 3rd year films shown at the CineMe event at Tobacco Factory which was great fun if a little scary talking about my films in front of a room full of people. It was great to see what others in Bristol are currently producing.

We also had a fantastic masterclass with Richard Williams who actually rents studio space in the same building as us. He spoke about his time making Roger Rabbit & The Thief and the Cobbler as well as regaling us of tales of his London studio and learning from Milt Kahl and Ken Harris. He also told us about his current project rather playfully named 'I hope I don't die before I finish this' which he estimates will take him 10 years to complete. We all sat listening with great fascination as he acted out each tale with the verve and passion of a man who has led a fascinating and varied life.

As you'd imagine, Aardman does Halloween in style. I was impressed by the offerings of the pumpkin carving competition but even more so by the incredible home made costumes at the company Hallloween party at the Tunnels. There was a Boxtroll, some people on a rollercoaster, three people who came as sushi and soy sauce, an angry kid and a man in full furry wolf outfit complete with plastic babies and working nipples which dispensed baileys!