The Stop Motion Training Program – StopMoLab – Has Published Its May Program & Free Lectures
Skwigly
Would you like to listen to Francesca Berlingieri Maxwell talks about the scope of Art Director duties in stop motion animation or meet with Simon Quinn who will introduce the subject of production organization? It’s possible now! StopMoLab is all about master workshops, talks, case studies, mentoring, lectures and some of them are open to the public on www.stopmo.pl. The stop-motion animation industry met last week for the first time to start a 9 monthly long training program. Project is the latest professional education project of the Poland-based company Momakin.
How does the modern animated film market work?
Where to find and how to apply for artistic residencies?
What does an eco-friendly film production process look like?
These are just a few topics that will be covered during the intensive educational course for beginner stop-motion animation creators. StopMoLab just started and will run for 9 months. The program is exclusive with only 25 seats, for 5 people of each profession: animators, puppet makers, production managers, art directors and screenwriters, with some of the lectures open for the public on the stopmo.pl platform.
In May there will be two open meetings:
The first one, on May 20th, with Francesca Berlingieri Maxwell who will have a lecture and will be explaining the scope of Art Director duties in stop motion animation, broadly understood artistic settings and managing a creative team. She’s been working as Art Director on Annie Awards winning and Oscar or Bafta nominated productions like Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr Fox” and on Laika’s “ParaNorman”. Moreover her portfolio includes: Aardman’s “Chicken Run”, Tim Burton’s “The Corpse Bride” or Luis Tellez’s “Inzomnia”.
The second meeting open to the public lecture will be held on May 25th with Simon Quinn, who has been working in the film and TV industry for over 34 years. He started his career as puppet maker creating among others for Aardman Animations and later on became Line Producer on Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr Fox” and on Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie”. Moreover he produced sixteen commercials with multi award winning Passion Pictures. Currently producing double Emmy award-winning animation series “The Adventures of Paddington Bear” for Studio Canal. Two hours of meeting with him will be dedicated to the subject of production organization, covering topics such as scheduling, budgeting the structure of the team, where to start, the ongoing rhythm/pattern of daily life on the production and how to pace yourself and plan to get to the end and successfully deliver a project.
StopMoLab starts with “Personal & Career Development Program (PCDP)” classes with Olaf Żylicz, Rector at the WSB University in Warsaw, a psychologist who combines the roles of organizational consultant and a scientist. He is an accredited trainer, business coach, and mentor. The workshop will help participants to discover social-psychological competencies, following setting developmental and career-related goals, including compiling a professional portfolio. On May 18th there will be a conference with Olivier Catherin explaining the financing system in France, the possibilities of co-production, and through several concrete examples, will illustrate the difficulties, but also the advantages that international co-production faces. Olivier was a board member and employee of the French Animation Film Association (AFCA), creator of Les Trois Ours studio, moreover, he produced, among others, “Kiki of Montparnasse” which won a César for a best short animation film.
Following week there will be meetings with experts for three days, day by day. Starting May 24th with a lecture on the structure of a film script conducted by Anna Bielak, head of development at Aurum Film and tutor at the “Scripts Atelier” workshops. Besides learning about the classic elements of the script structure there will be discussion regarding the basic elements influencing the building of tension and constructing the dramaturgy of the film image. The next day, the lecture with Simon Quinn will be held. On the third day, the meeting will concern the promotion of an online brand and how to show yourself to the world run by Karol Siodmiak, who specializes in conducting marketing activities for small and medium-sized businesses and makes e-marketing impossible to dislike.
The project was created to help to fill the natural gap between the knowledge gained in art schools and the realities of functioning in the contemporary animation industry. It gives participants a few additional months to recognize and find their path in the industry.
Paulina Zacharek from Momakin, the creator of StopMoLab project
More information about the project can be found at www.stopmo.pl. StopMoLab is co-financed by the European Union from the Creative Europe Media program.
The event is organized by MOMAKIN, a company connecting the world of animated filmmakers with the international production, distribution and promotion market, which specializes in stop motion projects. It supports animation projects at every stage of their development: from planning and financing, through production, to distribution. It deals with the education and professional education of the film industry.