Schooltoons

We were rather pleased to receive a copy of Schooltoons towards the end of last week. It’s an animation resource pack for secondary schools, created by Britta Pollmuller of Norwich University College of the Arts. It covers the whole range of animation techniques, from zoetropes to stop-motion and digital animation, including, yes machinima. And there’s a nice little section on Moviestorm in there, which we’re rather pleased with.

“Cineliteracy” is fast becoming the big buzzword in education, as people start to realise the importance of teaching kids how to understand and create movies. It’s not that they’re all going to become film directors, it’s more that people increasingly need and want to communicate via this medium. Some day soon, kids will stop writing essays for their homework, they’ll be making little news reports or documentaries. They’ll stop reading Shakespeare and start staging it.

For years, we’ve believed passionately that machinima is one of the keys to unlocking all this pent-up creativity. We’ve recently seen it first-hand, as we’ve been doing workshops at local schools and colleges. Part-way through every session, there comes a moment when you see their eyes light up, and they just want you to stop talking and let them get on with making a movie. That’s when you know you’ve just nurtured another film-maker. And that, if the truth be told, is why we do what we do.

Election 2008 Energy Debate

Made with assets from the freshly-released Election 2008 Pack.

Moviestorm 1.1 Tutorial - Moving Around

This tutorial will show you how to move around on your Moviestorm 1.1 movie set, as well as how to make basic adjustments to your set.

Moviestorm 1.1 Tutorial - Giving Instructions

Learn how to control your Moviestorm 1.1 characters’ actions on set, and how to make them interact.

Moviestorm 1.1 Tutorial - Creating Characters

Learn how to create and modify Moviestorm 1.1 characters for your movie cast, using Moviestorm’s Character tools.

Moviestorm 1.1 Tutorial - Changing Your Set

All you need to know to customise your Moviestorm 1.1 set, including changing colours, adding walls and doors, adding furniture and deleting objects.

Moviestorm 1.1 Tutorial - Using Cameras

A guide to Moviestorm 1.1’s Camerawork View, including shot types, viewpoints and camera transitions.

AniBoom’s Annual Animation Awards (U$50 000 in Prizes!)

Scroll down the contest page to view the previous winners (2006, 2007) and read about what they’re doing now.

According to the AniBoom site:

• A total of 50 top entries will receive prizes to be determined.
• The two (2) 1st Place winners will each be awarded a prize of $3,000 (three thousand US Dollars) plus additional prizes to be determined.
• The two (2) 2nd Place winners will each be awarded a prize of $2,000 (two thousand US Dollars) plus additional prizes to be determined.
• The Competitor who will be declared The Grand Prize Winner will receive a series development deal with Aniboom worth $25,000 (twenty-five thousand US Dollars).

BBC Film Network: “Machinima: Film Without Cameras”

Over on the BBC Film Network site, Bill Thompson has written a feature article, “Machinima: Film Without Cameras“, about the potential of Machinima as a film-making and story-telling tool.

WANTED: Creative People (big cash and cars as prizes)

Want to get your Moviestorm films noticed by the wider world, maybe get a nice payday, not to mention a swanky auto?

ICE, Volvo, The Independent and Yahoo! have teamed up on a project called Creative 30 which aims to find and celebrate thirty of Britain’s most promising young creative people. We’re on the lookout for emerging artists, writers, filmmakers, photographers, musicians, designers, illustrators, animators… Whatever your field, whatever your talent – we want to hear from you. This is an open call to all those who feel they have the dynamism, the skills and the imagination. Submissions are being accepted until midnight, Sunday, September 28th. The Creative 30 nominees will be selected from all the submissions. Then the public will vote for the winner who will drive away in a Volvo C30 R-DESIGN. Our panel of judges will award another nominee £10,000. And, of course, there’s all the publicity. Get in touch. This could be your big break. Details (including who qualifies, and how to submit your work).