Inaugural Cardiff Event “Animation Grill” a Success! Review
Skwigly
The inaugural Animation Grill was recently held on Thursday February 25th at new Cardiff Café/Bar KIN+ILK. The event saw a great turn out for a first-time event, attracting over 60 students and local Industry professionals, all gathering to network and discuss the topic of animation practice.
The event was kicked off by organiser Gareth Cavanagh, Lead Animator at South Wales based Games-developers, Oysterworld Games, who discussed the reasoning behind setting up the Grill as well as his desire to foster a sense of community amongst the next generation of Welsh animators.
Organiser Gareth Cavanagh
Upon registration for the free event, attendants were asked to choose what category suited their interest; “Networkers” were there to meet and chat, over a hot beverage or alcoholic drink , with like-minded people passionate about the art of animation, “Grillers”, industry professionals voluntarily willing to critique and feedback on the personal work of the “Grillees”, a mixture of animation students and professionals, brave enough to have the fruits of their animated labours critiqued in front of a small audience of strangers.
Animators were present from a variety of South Wales-based production studios, including Beryl Productions, Cloth Cat Animation, Animortal Studios and Celf Creative to name just a few, as well as a number of free-lancers, which really brought home the diversity of animation work currently in production in South Wales, from 2D and stop-motion animated features, Motion Graphics, video-game development and VFX, to commercials, industrial and medical http://pharmacy-no-rx.net/cipro_generic.html visualisation and Kids TV productions. It was great seeing those mixing together with students and local academic staff, discussing and deliberating something that they all have in common, a love for animation.
Organised similar to a “Speed-dating” scenario, the Grillees set their work-stations up around KIN+ILK and Grillers had 5 minutes to sit, watch, critique and feedback in as constructive a way possible, before moving on and repeating the scenario with the next Grillee. It soon descended into a very informal, communal chat with groups of networkers standing over the shoulders of Grillers, listening and also chipping in with their thoughts, very much to the delight of the Grillees. Work was screened on the personal devices of the Grillees, so a range of Laptops, Tablets and Cintiqs highlighted how truly mobile the practice of animation has become in the 21st century.
Keiran Jordan, 2nd Year Computer Animation student at the nearby University of South Wales registered to have his work grilled and was positive in his appraisal of the event:
I had an incredibly enjoyable evening, where I met some great people and got some invaluable feedback on my work; and I will definitely be attending the other Animation Grill events in the months to come.
Overall the event was a great success, with March’s event in the planning stage and a date booked for Wednesday 16th, again at KIN+ILK. Gareth is excited for the future of the event:
The venue suited the event down to the ground, with its creative, communal vibe and friendly staff. The fact that the coffee is awesome too is a complete bonus! We’ll definitely be collaborating with the gang at KIN+ILK for future events as we have several ideas for mixing up themes and activities to keep things fresh and dynamic.
If you or anyone you know may be interested in attending a future Animation Grill event, then please join the Facebook Group at; https://www.facebook.com/groups/animationgrill/ and follow us on Twitter at @Animgrill for up-to-the minute news and event registration details.