Animated Insights

Only available to University Partners and Academy Alumni

 

Join the Aardman Academy as we host a series of online (via Zoom) guest speaker events designed to demystify and give insight into key areas of production within the Animation Industry. 

Through a programme of themed events held throughout the year, gain understanding of how industry professionals tackle a range of creative, technical, and aesthetic challenges to develop and create animated content across a range of practices, including:

CHARACTER & PERFORMANCE

ANIMATION DIRECTION & PRODUCTION

STORY

THE ART OF ANIMATION

Previous guest speakers have included:

NIKI LINDROTH VON BAHR – Animation Director –‘The House’

BENEDICT TOMCZYK-BOWEN – Head of Story: ‘Lloyd of the Flies’

JOANNA QUINN & LES MILLS – Animation Director, writer & Producer – Beryl Productions International

JENNIFER LEE – CCO of Walt Disney Animation Studio, Writer & Director of ‘Frozen’ & ‘Frozen II’

.

SARAH GOMES HARRIS - Co-Creator, Creative Director, writer & series designer of BAFTA winning  'SARAH & DUCK'

SAM GAINSBOROUGH - Annie Award nominated Animation Director

IAN MACKINNON - Creative Director, Executive Producer & co-founder of Mackinnon & Saunders

SIQI SONG - Academy Award & Annie Award nominated Animation Director of short film 'SISTER' 

 

JANE DAVIES -Aardman Series Director

SARAH PERRY - Movement Director and Character & Performance Coach

CAROLINE LEAF - Pioneering Independent Filmmaker

BRET IWAN - The Official Voice of Mickey Mouse

Event details and how to register are below.

The Art of Animation

Tuesday 19th March 2024 - times TBC*

Overview:

Join us to hear from 4 Industry Leading guest speakers who will give insight into their approaches and practices to The Art of Animation – including Art Direction, Character Design, visual development and more.

Each guest will speak for approximately 45minutes, with a 15minute curated Q&A.

* All times shown are UK-based. Full event details & guest speakers will be confirmed nearer the event date.

 

Location: Online (via Teams)

For University Partner Access Click Here

Character & Performance

Tuesday 4th June 2024 - times TBC*

Overview:

Join us to hear from 4 Industry Leading guest speakers who will give insight into their approaches and practices into Character & Performance – including Movement Direction, Character Development, understanding animated performance and more.

 Each guest will speak for approximately 45 minutes, with a 15 minute curated Q&A.

* All times shown are UK-based. Full event details & guest speakers will be confirmed nearer the event date.

 

Location: Online (via Teams)

 

Animation Direction & Production

September 2024 (date & time TBC)

Overview:

Join us to hear from 4 Industry Leading guest speakers who will give insight into their approaches and practices into Animation Direction & Production – including Directing Animators & Actors, Production & Department Management and more.

 Each guest will speak for approximately 45 minutes, with a 15 minute curated Q&A.

 * All times shown are UK-based. Full event details & guest speakers will be confirmed nearer the event date.

 

Location: Online (via Teams)

* All times shown are UK-based. Full event details & guest speakers will be confirmed nearer the event date.

Story

December 2024 - Times TBC

Overview:

Join us to hear from 4 Industry Leading guest speakers who will give insight into their approaches and practices to Story – including writing, Directing, development, visualization and more.

Each guest will speak for approximately 45minutes, with a 15minute curated Q&A.

Location: Online (via Teams)

* All times shown are UK-based. Full event details & guest speakers will be confirmed nearer the event date.

 

*All times shown are UK time and may be subject to change due to speaker availability. All events are held online via zoom.
Full event details & guest speakers will be confirmed nearer the event date. 
Event Aim

During each of our Animated Insight events you will hear from 4 of the industry’s leading professionals as they take part in hour-long sessions discussing how they approach focused areas of production – including key skills, individual experiences of creative problem solving, guidance, tips, tricks – and many more animated insights. 

 

Our Animated Insight events are open to Academy alumni and University Partners.

 

Each event offers an opportunity for you to pose your questions to our invited guest speakers – but due to the on-line nature of these events, questions will be curated by the Academy and will need to be submitted in writing 24hrs prior to the event, with selected questions being asked on your behalf during the event. 

 
 
Who the events are for

The Aardman Academy’s Animated Insight events are our Academy Alumni and University Partners, for anyone with an interest in learning more about the industry! All abilities and ages are welcome.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with  [email protected]