Confetti’s very own creative industry conference, Industry Week, occurred this year as a hybrid programme of events for the very first time and it was a complete success. After the whirlwind of brilliant talks, workshops and masterclasses, we now have a chance to reflect on everything that was absorbed during the week – and what a week it was! Every year, Confetti promises a new line-up of professionals and industry successes and 2022 was no different, with some incredibly big names within music, VFX, TV & Film, graphics, games and more, coming in to share their journey, give advice or just to have a chat. It was an exciting event and an excellent opportunity for networking, since the students were given a chance to ask questions, show their work or talk to the guests one-on-one if they wanted to. After all, what better way to make links and step into the working world than through meeting the talents that have already paved the way?
Tim Allen
Professional Stop Motion Animator & Animation Supervisor
Wednesday’s second guest has been working as a professional animator for some of the biggest stop motion productions in the world for over 20 years and is a real success story! Tim’s name can be credited to feature films such as Fantastic Mr Fox, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride & Frankenweenie & many more and considering his masterful skillset and versatility in stop motion, this comes as no surprise. Tim’s talk was a chance to peak into the path of a senior animator and see how he acquired all of his experience, which was enjoyable if you are even remotely interested in films or animation and absolutely fascinating for stop motion fans. Personally, I love it and am considering going forwards with it as a possible career, so Tim’s account of his journey was quite valuable. He explained how he came by a stop motion HE course by chance and was amazed that there was a way for him to combine his love of art and film, after which he launched into the earliest stages of his career, which started out in university. His work at the time was rudimentary and experimental and he was embarrassed to play some of the clips – but he did so anyway, talking about his inspirations and even the reactions that knocked him back. I greatly appreciated this, since hearing that such a successful animator created films that were not, particularly up to standard gave me hope that with enough determination, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. And yes, that does sound cheesy, but you can hear it from the man who started out creating animations about ‘toilet humour’.
Hugo Guerra & He Sun
Director and VFX Supervisor
This one was a big surprise for me; our final talk of IW22 in which Hugo Guerra & He Sun explored the use of visual effects production in video games. I don’t really play any video games and when I rarely do, they aren’t of the shooting kind, which is why I thought that I would have no interest in a talk about the Sniper Elite franchise. However, the entire talk was actually about the cinematic trailer – and I almost always enjoy those. They are a work of art, a small film that sets up the narrative for the game and they always look better than the actual gameplay because of course, they are made to be viewed. Hugo and Sun broke down the entire process and explained how it is actually like working to create one of these trailers, from time management to the different stages and processes to even more in-depth techniques. It felt very exclusive! As though we were given not just a glimpse but in fact an entire window view into the behind-the-scenes. The two VFX artists talked with energy, enthusiasm and honesty, often commenting on relatable parts of working within the industry with memes and showing self-awareness about the length and detail of certain explanations that might have gone over the heads of some of the audience. I also loved seeing the breakdown images and gifs and in fact, every piece of visual evidence that they showed us, since the smallest most noticeable details add up to create the cinematic final result, and that’s where the most work is put in. Cool stuff!
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There were so many more talks that could have been included because these were just some of the highlights of a week filled with captivating presentations. With so much time poured into work so that we students can be recognised by the industry, it was incredibly refreshing and inspiring to have the industry brought to us! I’m sure that I speak for the full student body when I say,
Ah loved reading this Tina 🙂 Very well written and engaging too.