Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries News

Glamorgan animators enjoy a year of international success

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:57:15 +0100

Animation work by University of Glamorgan graduates has achieved international recognition at festivals around the world this year.

Student collaborative project Day 83 collected a Silver Monkey King award at the China International Cartoon and Animation Festival in April, while 2D animation Botanical Nightmare won the Cartoons for Teens category at the Stuttgart International Animation Festival in Germany earlier this month.

These successes follow the university’s success at the Animated Exeter festival in February, where stop-motion film Opening Night by former BA (Hons) Animation students Joshua and Nathan Flynn took the technical achievement award, and MA Animation student Sarah Davies Best UK Graduate animation award at the Ffresh Student Moving Image Festival of Wales 2012 in the same month.

Pete Hodges, head of the university’s Division of Animation, is particularly pleased that work across a wide spectrum of animation disciplines has been rewarded: “It’s a fantastic achievement because it means that our work in 2D animation, 3D stop motion, CG animation and visual effects has now been recognised across the world” said Pete. “We’re very proud to have produced animators and artists who can compete on an international stage, and I’m sure they can all look forward to very successful careers in the industry.”

Alien invasion short Day 83 was created by students from a range of courses at the university’s Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries with BA (Hons) Computer Animation graduates Joe O’Connor and Aled Matthews taking key animation roles in the production. The film received almost 2000 views on YouTube before collecting an award at the largest animation festival in China earlier this year.

Botanical Nightmare by BA (Hons) Animation graduate Tom Lucas had already received acclaim before its success at Stuttgart. The short film about an astronaut encountering an alien plant won the Short Shorts category at the Ffresh 2012 festival, and also featured in the Computer Arts Graduate Showcase special and cover DVD.

Joshua and Nathan Flynn were the subjects of a similar feature on the Stop Motion Pro website, which described them as ‘An animation duo to watch’ before winning their category at Animated Exeter.

The animators involved in all three films had previously won awards at the university’s own Glammies animation festival. The 18th annual Glammies awards will take place on 1st June at the ATRiuM campus in Cardiff. The awards recognise the best and brightest new animation talent produced by the university. “We’re looking forward to unveiling the latest crop of animation talent from Glamorgan” said Pete Hodges “We hope that they will go on to enjoy the same level of success as their predecessors.”

Find out more about the event on the Glammies mini-site.

Watch Day 83 below:

Watch Botanical Nightmare below:

Watch a showreel of Opening Night below:

"The Raid" directed by Glamorgan graduate Gareth Evans released

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:58:56 +0100

The hit martial-arts action movie, The Raid, written and directed by Glamorgan graduate Gareth Huw Evans, was released on Friday 18th May 2012.

Evans, originally from Hirwaun in the Cynon Valley, studied on the MA Scriptwriting course at the University of Glamorgan’s Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries before moving to Indonesia to pursue a film career.

His latest film The Raid is a thriller about an elite SWAT team battling to capture a crime lord from a tower block filled with criminals.

The film was written, directed, and produced by Evans on a budget of just over £1m.

The film has received glowing reviews from critics: being described as “like nothing else around” and “an instant cult hit” by the Guardian, who also gave the film a glowing 5-star review, as “a high-octane action film which will leave you breathless” by Metro and “the most exciting action movie of the year”, by Empire.

The Welsh born director gave a talk about the film, and his career, for students at the University on Wednesday 16 May.

Reflecting on his time studying at Glamorgan, Gareth Evans said: “Everything I’ve taken from my course I’ve actually ended up using in my profession. It’s been invaluable to me.”

The Raid won awards at the Toronto Film Festival and the 2012 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, and was a sold out hit at the Sundance and SXSW Festivals earlier this year.

Professor Richard Hand who taught Gareth said: “We are absolutely delighted that Gareth is enjoying such success as a film director. He was always an extremely hardworking student on the MA Scriptwriting and was really eager to learn and develop the craft of writing and filmmaking and to increase his knowledge of cinema history and theory.”

Watch an interview with Gareth at the University of Glamorgan:

Glamorgan and Neath Port Talbot students collaborate on Olympic films

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:38:21 +0100

Student filmmakers from the University of Glamorgan have collaborated with Neath Port Talbot College to create a series of films for the London 2012 Olympics.

Students from the BA (Hons) Journalism, BA (Hons) Film and Video, BA (Hons) Television, BA (Hons) Media Production and MA Film Producing courses took part in creating the films Drove Drunk, Shine Bright and Bang Tidy for the BT’s Big Voice Film Festival.

The festival is part of Get Set, the official London 2012 education programme for schools and colleges.

The films were based on ideas by Neath Port Talbot College Students, and tackle hard hitting issues such as drink driving, fighting homophobia and safe sex.

The three productions will now join a shortlist of 36 from across the UK to compete for a public vote on the BT’s Big Voice website. The teams behind the films were presented with certificates at a BT Big Voice Youth Film Festival event in Bristol earlier this month for reaching the shortlist. They could now receive gold, silver or bronze medals depending on their share of the vote.

All of the entries are being shown on big screens at live sites around the UK, including The Hayes in Cardiff and Castle Square in Swansea.

BA (Hons) Film and Video third year Megan Talbot produced the film Bang Tidy, which deals with the topics of safe sex and teenage pregnancy. It is currently the most viewed on the Big Voice site.

“My job was to take the original treatment written by Alice Parsons from Neath Port Talbot and develop it into a filmable script” said Megan. “I was responsible for finding the crew and cast, and I am very proud of the team I had behind this – my crew were from Glamorgan, and we found our actors through the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s young actors program.”

The 21 year old from Brecon is proud to be discussing important issues with the short film. “I feel we sent a strong message with this story, as it shows the reality of young parenthood” said Megan. “We really wanted to get the boy’s side of the story on the matter of teen pregnancy; most of the short films I’ve previously seen have painted the boy as the bad guy.”

Megan is also excited about participating in the build up to London 2012: “It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and an invaluable experience for me and everyone else involved” said Megan. “None of the films I have been involved in the past will have been seen to this magnitude. It is truly a bizarre but brilliant feeling, and it is something I will look back on fondly in the future. I would be ecstatic if Bang Tidy was awarded a medal. I think all of our wonderful cast and crew are deserving of an award.”

Fizzy Oppe is a lecturer in film at the University’s Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, and helped organise the project. She believes that working on BT’s Big Voice provided the student filmmakers with valuable experience for the future: “The opportunity to work on films which were furnished with a proper budget, were scrutinised by professionals from the BBC, BT and Dialogics and were subject to strict compliance issues was an amazing experience for all our students who took part” said Fizzy. “We were very honoured to produce the excellent ideas that had come from some very talented students at Neath Port Talbot and I hope we can continue with some of these partnerships into the future.”

Watch Drove Drunk, Shine Bright and Bang Tidy at the BT’s Big Voice website, and register to vote for your favourite.

Glamorgan fashion students transform museum into catwalk

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:25:40 +0100

The National Museum Cardiff was transformed into a catwalk by University of Glamorgan fashion students last Friday for the Platffôrm12 graduate showcase.

Students from the university’s Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries showcased cutting-edge designs in the historic building as part of the end of year show. The event featured work from final year students on the school’s BA (Hons) Fashion Design and BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion courses.

Platffôrm12 is the latest in a string of events by the university’s Division of Fashion and Retail to use an unlikely location to display the latest in fashion talent – last year the school staged a catwalk show in Cardiff Central Library and a pop-up exhibition in the city’s Capitol Shopping Centre.

“Both students and staff have been working tirelessly to make this year’s show a success, and I think the results speak for themselves” said Tracy Pritchard, Head of the University’s Division of Fashion and Retail Design. “The work on show has been fantastic, and I think many of our students can look forward to very bright futures in the industry. I firmly believe that we are producing some of the UK’s finest fashion graduates, and it’s a real privilege to be able to showcase their work in such unique surroundings.”

The event featured live music and the official launch of the accompanying Platffôrm12 magazine, and ended with an awards ceremony recognising the brightest new talent represented at the show.

View a gallery of images from Platffôrm12 below.

You can also watch a video of the catwalk shows, or read the accompanying magazine and programme at our Platffôrm12 mini-site.

A Platffôrm12 website is also under construction, and will feature more examples of student work and blogs in the coming weeks.

[Platffôrm12] showcases Glamorgan fashion work

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:02:50 +0100

Fashion students from the University of Glamorgan hold their end of year showcase from 7pm on Friday 11th May at the National Museum Cardiff.

Final year students on the university’s BA (Hons) Fashion Design and BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion awards will showcase their talents in runway shows and static exhibits at the event named [Platffôrm12]. The event is designed to showcase and promote innovative and forward thinking fashion talent from the University of Glamorgan.

The evening includes the presentation of the Platffôrm awards, which recognise the brightest new fashion talent at the university’s Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, and the launch of the accompanying [Platffôrm12] magazine.

Fashion promotion third year Faye Dickinson is just one of the students excited about the show:

“The exhibition is the finale – I never thought I would reach the 3 year finish line but looking back now it’s flown by. I’m looking forward to the show because it is something I am proud of that means a lot to me. My work being displayed is important to me and it’s an amazing opportunity to be able to show my work in such a fabulous space.”

[Platffôrm12] is an invitation only event, but the show is followed by the [ffashiôn ffutures] exhibition on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th May between 10am and 5pm, which is open to the public. The exhibition features workshops in styling, fashion futures and fashion illustration. Visitors can book workshop places on the day.

View some preview images from the show below.

Lisa Lau, BA (Hons) Fashion Design

Emily George, BA (Hons) Fashion Design

Sarah Porter, BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion

Alice Moore, BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion