The Animation Focus

Has a year in lockdown changed the industry's attitude to animation? Our collection of articles and opinions from industry experts tries to find out.

Insight

Re-animating reality: How animation can help draw a new future for advertising

As lockdown has proved, there is life beyond live-action, and it lives in the ever-expanding alternative realities of animation. Sitting down with a range of experts and practitioners, Tim Cumming talks 2D, 3D, CG and sustainability in our strange new world

Insight

Rotoscope: The dark art of animation

Video didn't kill the radio star, but have traditional forms of animation been dispatched by more modern methods? Presence director and animator Richard Swarbrick argues the case for the 'forbidden technique' of rotoscope.

Insight

Keeping the axe sharp

Sean Richardson, Designer and Illustrator at Linetest, shares how he and the rest of his team find time to practice design without sitting in the studio.

Insight

How animating in real-time is changing the game in adland

Tim Dillon, SVP Growth at MediaMonks, explains how the same Unreal Engine technology that drives some of the world’s most popular games like Fortnite, Rocket League, and Kingdom Hearts III is opening new doors in advertising creative production.

Insight

Animating for the future

Young animators weigh in on the struggles of working while their industry is in flux, chat about changes they want to make, and share the phrases they never want to see in their emails again.

Insight

Corporate Memphis; the design style that quietly took over the internet

It's so ubiquitous it's almost hidden in plain sight, but over last few years a certain design and animation style has dominated online imagery. How? Why? Relax, The Moon Unit investigates the pastel pervasiveness of Corporate Memphis.

Inspiration

On My Radar: Thomas Harnett O'Meara

Rowdy London animation director Thomas Harnett O'Meara gives us the lowdown on some stop-motion excellence across film and television, and reveals the piece of work that opened his mind to the possibilities of animation.

Craft

Andy Gent creates a hare-raising puppet

Professional puppet-maker Andy Gent, a longtime Wes Anderson collaborator, shares the intricate and detailed process behind creating an empathetic character that embodies hope while refusing to sugar-coat the horrific reality of lab animals.

Insight

With animation thriving, can the talent meet the demand?

With the use of animation expanding so rapidly around the world, are there enough animators to do the work? Duncan Gaman, Executive Producer at Partizan Studio London, looks into a possible ‘happy dilemma’ facing the medium.

Inspiration

On My Radar: Ruel Smith

Stept Studios' Head of Visual Effects & Animation, Ruel Smith, is crazy for cameras, owes a lot to The Lion King, and finds inspiration from a series of Insta-influencers.

Showcase

Throwback Thursday: Animated Music Videos

Animation has come so far over the past few years that we had to narrow our Throwback Thursday down to one genre. We didn't make our lives much easier by picking music videos! Full of cartoons, paintings, robots, and CGI, enjoy this selection of some of the most excellent, and most memorable, animated music videos.

What's the score? Composing for animation On My Radar: Fons Schiedon Welcome to Pandemic U

Insight

How to animate your own music video

Musician George Moir, who spends hundreds of hours animating his own music videos in a papery collage-style inspired by childhood toys, shares six steps to help animators find their story and execute their ideas... no matter how much planning it might take.

Inspiration

On My Radar: Cris Wiegandt

Friends Electric animation director Cris Wiegandt has rewatched a lot of films this past year but is impressed with one specific animated opus. She also highlights an animated Netflix comedy that is both layered and hilarious.

Insight

Why animated advertising is worth the wait

Taraneh Golozar, Senior Producer at Where the Buffalo Roam, explains that, while some clients misunderstand the time it takes to create an animated piece of content, there are ways of speeding up the process, and it's always worth the wait.

The Music Video Focus

Since the 90s, when their budgets ran to millions, the internet and tech advances have made music videos easier to view, cheaper to produce and, possibly, more disposable. But is the medium a dying art, or still the best way for a director to get noticed? shots probes the state of the promo nation.

The Photography & Cinematography Focus

In a cacophonous digital culture that bombards us with a stream of personal image-sharing and branded visuals, it can be hard for photography to stand out. This month, shots pulls focus on the DPs and photographers whose work sets the optic nerves a-tingle and considers the input of non-human image generators.

The Inspiration Focus

What are the cultural artefacts, random objects, rituals and synaptic sparks that generate fresh ideas? We talk to some of ad land’s most innovative thinkers about creative inspiration. What it is, where they find it and do the AI bots have it too...

The YDA 2024 Focus

The rising stars who won Golds in this year’s Young Director Award share with shots the origins and ideas and behind their films, the production highs and lows and what they’re planning next.

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