Manchester Animation Festival: Masterclass with Tomm Moore

Today marks a very good start for MAF, and I definitely think that listening to Tomm Moore's presentation has been the highlight of my day. The graduation film screenings were lovely to watch (even if some were quite weird to say the least) and it was interesting to see what is happening currently in the world of animation outside university, but I think Tom's presentation was the most beneficial to me/the event I was most interested in.

For starters I learnt more about the company he works for - Cartoon Saloon - which was formed in 1999, and once we had learnt a bit about this background and their first feature film, Tom went on to talk about "Song of the Sea", the company's second film. I was absolutely blown away. The film looked absolutely stunning and I'm actually upset that I haven't already seen it. 

I found it really interesting to learn about some of the decision making that was undergone, and more about the process of making the film. I would really like to try to talk to him more about this, so I hope he sticks around for the remaining days of the festival as I didn't get the opportunity to speak with him today. If not I shall ask him on his social media that he provided (which I am now following) to show my interest and to hopefully gain some more insight.


Update: Unfortunatly Tom didn't stay for the remainder of the festival as he flew out to LA for another event, which is a shame as it would have been really interesting to chat with him about his work. Still, I really enjoyed his presentation and it was uplifting to know that he isn't too great with perspective drawing (he said this himself, this isn't me critising him) yet he has still been able to produce an amazing feature film. I should really try to not get worked up over my weaknesses, instead try to improve them where possible, or just play to my strengths.