Bradford Animation Festival: 365

I can't seem to find the whole version of this animation, so here is "April".

This is one animation that I saw at BAF that stood out to me quite a lot. It's called 365 and was produced by "The Brothers McLeod" and in my opinion it was stunning. Everyday for a year they had produced one second of animation and put all the clips together to make one film. Every single clip is different, and the vast majority of them are crazy.

I thought this was such a good idea for animation, and would be something that I'd be interested in doing myself if I found the time. I think it would be a great way to get ideas onto paper, and to practice my animation skills. I also think it would be a good opportunity to test different materials, unlike this animation where they have used the same method for each clip. The animation would allow me to see how I progress over the space of a year, and I could also use it as a source of inspiration, much like my visual language sketchbook. Instead of jotting down my ideas I could animate them, and return to them for larger projects if needs be. I could also do the opposite, and turn my sketches from my book into a quirky little short, to test how they could move.

I found the animation very hard to follow. As each clip was only one second long there was a lot to take in and not enough time to do so, but I think this adds to the beauty of the animation. It made some clips stand out more than others, which in turn made them more amusing. I also like that there is a mixture of happy and sad clips, as well as different characters and settings, some being more imaginative and bizarre than others. I also like the sounds they have recorded for the animation, as it gave the characters more life and made it more interesting to watch.

I really enjoyed watching this animation, and I love the variety of characters and drawing styles that they have used. I think it would have been nice to see a mixture of different techniques and materials, for example paper and stop motion, but I can't fault what they have produced, and overall it is a beautifully quirky piece.