Animation on 35 mm and Storyboarding at the Anim’est 2011 Workshops

At the sixth edition of the Anim’est International Animation Film Festival, aside from the Puppet Animation Workshop and the workshop hosted by Minimest – dedicated to children, animation film lovers are in for a treat: two more workshops opened for applications starting September 22nd.

Scratch-o-topia, moderated by Canadian animator Steven Woloshen, will definitely be a one of a kind experience for film lovers, and, as part of this animation film workshop, there will be presented one of the techniques used in making certain animated passages, without the use of the filming camera. Hands-on animation techniques include drawing on 35 mm film strip and the scratch, frame by frame, with the help of instruments like paints, colored crayons or cutters. During the workshop for direct scratching onto film strip, happening in the first festival weekend (8-9 October), 15 participants will be able to create animation sequences through various means provided by the organizers. Stephen Woloshen is one of the best animators specialized in direct animation techniques, especially scratch-o-topia. The workshop speaks to those passionate about animation of ages over 16. Anyone interested must send a short comic strip of 10-12 frames to workshop@animest.ro, with the email title Scratch-o-topia.

The Storyboarding workshop, moderated by animator Mihai Bădică, follows the artistic structure of a film as reflected in the storyboard – the graphic representation of each shot from the director’s breakdown – an essential step in the making of any kind of film, live action or animation. From idea and on to the detailed description of the film’s elements, the action, character movement in the shot, establishing shot length, camera lenses, camera movements, 20 participants will go through all the types of visual story telling, with a special interest for the forms of expression taken by animation film, and so, with the help of imagination and newly gained knowledge, they will be able to create their own storyboard. The workshop will be taking place during October 10-14 and will be hosted by Danish director of Romanian origin, Mihai Bădică, the first proffesional puppet animator in Denmark and the pioneer of Romanian stop-motion. To apply, you need make five drawings that contain a visual story and send them to the same address: workshop@animest.ro, with the email title Storyboard.

Applications for both workshops are open from the 22nd of September to the 1st of October, and the results will be made public on October 5th, on the official Anim’est site. Attending the Anim’est workshops is free.