Critical Studies: Report on the Flip Festival

I had a great chance to attend an International Animation Festival "Flip" on the 29th of October in Wolverhampton. Had no idea what to expect since I've never been to animation festival before.
The day started with an open shorts session where we were watching animated movies. I liked the most of them but especially the 3D animation "Detective Detective" by Awner Geller & Stevie Lewis.


The Flip was continued by a showreel and presenation from Aardman about the process of character design from sketches to large stuffed figures. Once again I was convinced that animation is a "pain in the ass". I regret not taking part in Aardman's workshop later that day. It seemed fun watching from the distance.

They showd a great number of animations on the next open shots session. I could outline couple of   them. First was "The Making of Longbird" which takes us behind the scenes to look at an Animator/Filmmaker as he struggles with his character. Second was "Fixing Luka" - a stop-motion animation about a girl Lucy who thinks that her brother is broken. She thinks that he should be fixed, but not in the way she imagines...But the most outstanding, in my opinion, was "1984 Animated Visuals" by Rob Pointon. The animation itself utilises a variety of animation techniques: largely charcoal on a single surface, oil painted, cut-out and emulsion on wall animation. All of this combined with stage performance. It was loud, interesting and use of traditional art made it impossible to forget. Definitely inspired and ecouraged me to try something in the same manner.

The day continued with a presentation from The Brothers McLeod on their pathway to creating "Isle of Spagg". Explained how the main characters were developed, their influences, use of colour pallete. I really liked their drawing style also had a fun time watching this movie. It was unique, colourfull and psychedelic. 

My day at the lighthouse ended with the third open shots session . I only remember two movies: "The Ballad of Nameless Joe" and "John and Betty"animation. The first one is about the musician who made a bet with the Devil but unable to deal with the consequences he cons his friend Joe into paying his debt. Joe ends up returning from hell, wanting to settle the score. The second was about elderly couple who are happily married until John's unhealthy obsession with solving crimes leads him to grow dangerously suspicious of his wife. In the end his wife dies by accident so as he.


All in all, I had the time of my life at the Flip. I definitely consider coming back next year.