Exeter: the 10th Animated Exeter

Date of Trip: 15 & 16 Feb

Previously regarded as second only to Bath as an architectural site in southern England, since the 1942 bombing and subsequent reconstruction Exeter has been a city with some beautiful buildings rather than a beautiful city. (wiki)

The trip to Exeter has been absolutely fabulous. I find the hilly city quite charming in its own ways and that will warrant several blog entries to describe. For a start, I will talk about Animated Exeter, which was the primary reason I went.

Most of the event I was interested in took place in the Phoenix Center. The multistory building on a hill was guarded by 3 mythical creatures.

An orange dragon watches over the western side of the building.

A unicorn stood on the eastern side, on the steps up to the cafe.

And right above the main entrance roost the center's namesake.

The phoenix will rise every hour or so (about 7 minutes earlier than the actual hour, or so I was told). I was fortunate enough to witness one of its 'resurrections' without even knowing that the mechanical thing can move. I did make a short animated clip of it, but that will have to wait till I find a suitable way to upload it.

Tales From the Golden West is the exhibition within the center. The South West of England is home to some of the greatest and oldest animation companies in the UK. This exhibition showcases their work with many eye-opening treasures. The many production models, original storyboard and snippets from the creative mind's sketchbook makes you wish they'd share even more! The following are some of the awesome production models on display.

The intricate and peculiar models from the advertisement for Fanta by the Bolex Brothers company.

Aardman's early success, the plasticine Morph.

Aardman's recent foray into 3D CGI, Chop Cocky Chooks.

Aardman's partnership with DreamWorks, Chicken Run.

and Finally the popular plasticine duo, Wallace and Gromit along with the were rabbit.

In the life drawing workshop for animators that I attended, this was the first time I try to draw a model in movements and sequential poses. It came as a beneficial exercise though it is really hard to get a great model like her who is a dancer and knows the specific needs and vocabulary of animators.

While my main motive was to watch Nina Paley's Sita Sings the Blues, I ended up watching Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure as well since all the shops, and most of the businesses were closed as regulated in UK on a Sunday evening.

Sita definitely lives up to the hype surrounding it. Having seen Nina's previous film, the style of utilizing collage and 2D animation was apparent in this one as well. Of the various mix and matches of styles, I still do like her Flash vector characters the most. Their strong stylistic design with limited but well times animation makes for an entertaining watch. Laughs are aplenty, but what is special about this film is the sincerity or rawness perhaps, of 'the greatest break up story ever told'. While the Ramaya epic was quite a storytelling material, interweaving so well, the thread between the modern tale about Nina's own story, the three shadow puppet's hilarious dialogs along with their not always concurring accounts and finally the Annette Hanshaw 'music videos' was very admirable. It is really an alternative film that is not to be missed!

Irreverent yet so human, when Rama finally sheds the single tear, Nina was happy with her new cat and in the final scene with the role reversal between the Hindu deities, there was a real sense of triumph for the ladies.
A link from New York Times here.

The other feature of my 'accidental comedic and irreverent double-bill', Lucky Luke, was even funnier than Sita (it being more children targeted than the later). The film is simply too hilarious, ridiculous, silly and witty for words to describe. It is so hyper-actively choke-full of gags both in the visuals and the dialogs that you have to be the Ice Queen not to laugh out out. It was really nothing less than what I would expect from the producers of Oggy and the Cockroaches. A sure cure for any blues, go see it, if you ever get the chance. I most thoroughly enjoy wasting 90 minutes of my life for that and will be more than happy to it again and again!

More from Exeter later...