A Resolution of Films

I'm not normally one to make resolutions, even less so to write them down for people to bring up again in the future, but this year I turn 25 and thought that I should have some sort of goals to aim towards.

I would class myself as a film geek, perhaps even a nerd or sorts, however there are gaping holes in my film watching life which are not good at all, causing shame and open-mouthed shock at the lack of classic/older films I'm missing out on.

Fortunately I can cross off the original Star Wars trilogy straight away, something which until a couple of years ago I'd never seen altogether, apparently it has something of a cult following...

Anyway, to get the ball rolling, this is just a few of the films/directors of whom I wish to become better acquainted with in 2011:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Reservoir Dogs
Trainspotting
The Evil Dead

Alfred Hitchcock
Hayao Miyazaki

I'll update with my progress and add to the list should I see more that I have to include and I'm open to suggestions, old classics, forgotten animations, modern wonders - and I'll tell you if I've seen them or not.

Looking back on 2010's films one of the best experiences for me was Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, in addition to great performances, music and humour it started things off with a fantastic opening sequence dissected at the link by director Edgar Wright along with other graphic elements and animation used throughout the film.

Honourable mentions go to Inception and Toy Story 3, I don't think any explanation's needed there.

PROs and CONs of 2010

CON: Unemployed for personal best of 8 months.

PRO: Learned Dreamweaver + redesigned my website (leading to working on two other sites).

PRO/CON: Turned 24.

PRO: Returned to Norwich for the first time since graduating in 2008.

PRO: Reconnected with old friends from NSAD and my Foundation Degree.

PRO: Met new people and became a barista for 2 weeks with The Princes Trust and Costa.
CON: Didn't get kept on by Costa but (PRO) they did really like me and offered me a position later in the year (by which point I had another job).

PRO: Got a job at Sunnyside Rural Trust.
CON: Minimum wage and only 25hrs a week.

PRO: Found out I was part of an Art Foundation course's homework study, in Chelmsford.

PRO: My Sunnyside chicken designs were printed on t-shirts.
CON: They looked rubbish.

PRO: Coloured for a visually stunning music-video, an MA film and made new studio contacts.
CON: Still putting the free into freelance.

PRO: Created an animated presentation and earned a proper wage for it.

PRO: Met Tom Gauld, showed him my animated version of his comic and got approval to keep working on it, now working with James on foley and finishing off the last bits of animation.

PRO: Went to an interesting talk by Professor Brian Cox about his Wonders of the Solar System series.

PRO: Saw Flight Of The Conchords live at Wembley Arena!

Sunnyside Xmas Cards

Just before Christmas I designed a couple of animated banners for the Sunnyside Rural Trust site and used parts of them to come up with these two card designs, which were then sent out with the 2011 Calendar (+ Annual Report) that I also created in time for the holidays, pictures of the calendar soon!

Have an Ood Xmas!

Christmas Chickens

Sunnyside Rural Trust's Christmas themed banners for their website featuring the chickens having fun in the snow.







The calendar/annual report that I designed for them is going to print as the proof looks great, I've got to wait until next week to see it myself as I've been off this week.

Once Upon A Time In The Pixel West

Red Dead Redemption + Once Upon A Pixel = Cute, murdering, cowboy, man.

Toasting Chickens

Short looping animation used on the Sunnyside Rural Trust website as a header gif from the start of November.

Beware the Chickens!

Animation made for Sunnyside Rural Trust (in Flash).
[View in fullscreen for all the little details!]

Ood Party

The [dancing-moustache-wearing-tophatted] Ood (from Doctor Who).
Illustrated in Flash.

Let Go - Japanese Popstars

This is the latest music video for Japanese Popstars, directed by David Wilson, featuring some mind-boggling animation which I was lucky enough to help colour in parts of last week for David and the rest of the team working on it at Colonel Blimp, thanks to Toby Jackman (who did some of the animation along with several others, including Elena Pomares) for putting my name forward to the producer, always nice to be involved in something different.