Birmingham Screen Image Network and Networking

This is actually a big answer I gave to some questions regarding the Birmingham Screen Image Network that I attend once a month at Millennium Point. It took me a while to write it but hopefully it will be useful and interesting.

Here are the questions-

What makes a good network?

Why do you go?

And what do you want from a network?

And here is my Answer-

I've attended all sorts of different networking sessions for both creatives and business people, in lots of different venues. I enjoy the BSIN sessions as they are regular, the venue is good and it is easy to find out who is there, what they do and then I can decide who I want to talk to. Rather than the scatter gun approach which occasionally happens at larger sessions.

I think the venue is very important, the worst venues for myself have been bars and pubs. I find the main problem with these is they are to noisy due to loud music and are often being shared with members of the public making them unnecessarily crowded. I found that people end up getting hammered and it just seems pointless talking to some of them as they're totally incoherent.

A venue should have features that provide opportunities for conversation. A drinks station is always good. If I run out of people to talk to and cant see any open groups then I normally get a glass of water and engage the next person to come over to the drinks table. When food is provided finger food works best especially with tall tables that you have to stand at. As you can remain mobile and easily start up a conversation with a new group/table. I think it would be good to put spikes on the walls as it can be to easy for attendees to hide at the side and this would force them into the middle of the room.

Recently I've been attending sessions that have art, interactives, prototypes, puzzles and other assorted conversation props that are great for facilitating networking.

Another style of networking I've enjoyed is speed networking. You all sit in two rows facing one another and have about 60 seconds each to talk, swap cards and move on when the whistle blows. When the speed networking has finished everyone carries on with regular networking but now you know who everyone is and can carry on promising conversations.

Finally the most important thing for me is the people. I preferably want a good mix of creatives, animators, film makers, artists, sound people, writers, photographers, actors etc and preferably some business people, different entrepreneurs who are interested in the skills on offer by the creatives. Most importantly the attendees have to have a good attitude ie polite, friendly and be prepared to try to make conversation.

I go to BSIN each month for a variety of reasons. I enjoy the structure, each person introduces themselves, who they are, then news is shared and interesting debates normally arise. Although the attendances are low there is normally a couple of new faces each month. I have made some useful contacts, I get to hear of news, events and different opportunities coming up.

I think it would be good bring the Screen and Music networks into the same room for the last 20mins to further share news, info, leads etc

When paired with the free dinner and creative networks events after its a really enjoyable and useful way to spend an afternoon.

I also go to support the network and hopefully support the creative scene in Birmingham by attending. Attendances are low which is disappointing, although I wouldn't want the groups to have massive, if it could get up to 15/20 each week that would be great. The only way the group will grow is by people continuing to attend, talking and promoting the meet ups.

Hi

Yesterday I finally finished and uploaded the an animated logo for Blades Animation to stick in front of our films. I intended to finish it much sooner but its been so hot in the studio over the summer that the shoot repeatedly got delayed. Check it out below!

I have already began working on our next project a short explainer video to show off the benefits of using animation and the services we offer.

Richard :)

Update

Hi

This is quick update on what I've been up to.

Most recently I've been updating the Blades Animation showreel, the ancient Cwmbran animation has been added and there is a new piece of animation at both the start and end of the showreel using the Blades Animation Mascot (who is still nameless so if you have any suggestions please leave it in the comments). Please check it out below.

This afternoon I began work on a new armature that I aim to be animating with during July. The puppet is the main character for the multi platform series we have been developing for the last few years. The actual series is still a long way off from being ready but I am keen to experiment with some ideas for the character. I figure it will be a good way to try out some new armature ideas and begin establishing the character and world he inhabits.

Here is something I have been consistently going to since the start of the year its really good. The Birmingham Screen image network is on the last thursday of each month and is normally followed by creative networks all at Millennium point. The first half is a networking event for film makers and sound people. Then there is a free diner and it finishes with some kind of talk of visiting speaker. During the summer months it is just going to be the networking but it is still a must attend for any one out there interested in a career in film or animation.

Here are some things to check out. Number one is this cool scifi/philosophy blog cleverly titled Sci-Phi I've been reading by the talented writer Sarah Brown who you can follow on twitter

Number two is the new project by John-Lynton Bryan the creator of The Collector, a short I animated on a couple of years ago. It is a comic/film called Dream Staite heres the link http://www.dreamstaite-movie.com/.

Thats it for now!

Rich

Memorabilia Day two

So here it is the second day report from my recent trip to the LG arena for Birmingham's Memorabilia event.

When booking the tickets I had insisted that we go for both days, though on the second morning I was feeling concerned that there would be nothing to do and we would have wasted our money. Fortunately the second day was even better than the first. 

The Hall was far less busy on Sunday which was nice as it allowed us to look at the stalls with greater ease although there was less atmosphere. We started the day by doing a lap around the arena to see if there was anything we missed the previous day. 

On both days there were lots of people dressed in Sci-fi, cult and movie costumes. The good thing about it being quieter on the Sunday was it allowed more time and room to get photos with the people in costume. I had my photo with some clone troopers and Alan had a photo with Darth Vader.

We decided to fill our day up we would check out the talks on the main stage. The speakers who appealed the most were Michael Biehn, the Starwars crew, David Hasselhoff and Craig Charles. Each speaker was allotted 20 minutes and the format was largely the same for each. The host would introduce them, ask questions and encourage the audience to ask questions. 

The Michael Biehn talk was interesting although he didn't seem to thrilled to be there. He spoke about starting a film production company and how much easier and cheaper it is to now make a film. 

The Starwars crew consisted of Boba Fett, Greedo, the rebel pilot with the black moustache from a New Hope and the Storm Trooper who said the line “these are not the droids we’re looking for”. I was reluctant to see these guys as I didn't think it would be very interesting. As it turned out they were great. Lots of funny stories, very charismatic and entertaining. 

Next up was David Hasselhoff, who was another talker who I wasn't that fussed about seeing. I know that the "Hoff" has a large cult following but even just the nick name puts me off. I was never particularly a fan of either Knight Rider or Baywatch, I only liked Yasmine Bleeth who while a teen consistently made my various celebrity top 10s! We went to see him as there was space and we wanted to see Craig Charles who was on after. David Hasselhoff was meant to start a 1PM though was running late, it turned out he was running about 30 minutes late. The host stalled by dishing out lots of freebies which ranged from tat to some DVD's, I didn't get anything. 

So the Hoff finally turned up at about 2 to a packed audience took the microphone off the host and began talking and didn't stop till about 2.40. The host struggled to get him to wrap up and kept trying to bring the Q&A to an end. The Hoff was fantastic very charismatic, full of energy and just really funny. He was very honest about himself, his career and seemed keen to recapture the glory days of Knight Rider. I still wouldn't pay £25 to shake his hand and to write his name on some of my property but  I would definitely like to attend a similar event with the Hoff.

The last speaker was Craig Charles of Red Dwarf and Coronation Street who was another highlight. He was consistently funny and had allsorts of fun tales about Red Dwarf and Robot Wars. He explained that Robot Wars was cancelled due to the robots becoming to big and powerful which obviously created lots of health and safety problems. It was a shame he didn't have longer to talk as it was all really interesting.  

We finished off the day by checking out the last Robot Wars which was again really entertaining. Then had a final walk around of the stalls. I purchased some comics, clothes and a mug. The next Memorabilia is some time in March and then the big London Comic Con is in May I'm planning on attending both of those after having such a good time at this event. Advice to anyone planning on going to any of these events in future, take a packed lunch as mostly on Saturday there were long queues for food and the prices were vastly over inflated!

Memorabilia Fair Day One!

Memorabilia 2012 Day One

I attended the most recent Memorabilia fair at the LG arena in Birmingham on the 24th and 25th November. It has been years since I've attended an event like this so was looking forward to it. I don't buy comics or toys any more though I still enjoy that culture and the atmosphere. 

I attended with my two friends Pokemon Master Alan Kwan and the film maker Malcolm Kennedy. We had early entry tickets for both days. On the first day Malcolm and I arrived at 9 to be greeted by a disorganised mess of a queue, the attendants sent us form one side of the queue and back again. Once finally in we had a wonder around until Alan joined us (he was travelling from a different location to us). 

Upon entry we were given a free 50th anniversary issue of Spiderman and a program, posters were on offer but we didn't want to carry these around. The stalls were selling a wide variety of merchandise and collectables. It was cool to see a mix of toy dealers and smaller start up businesses selling custom made merchandise rather than the over priced “collectables” as a lot of stands were selling. I appreciate old toys that are mint in box are expensive as they are hard to come by but I find it ridiculous that a Batman figure fresh off the production line can have such a high price tag. 

The smaller custom stands were selling limited edition designed posters, t-shirts, mugs, clothing, console cases etc. It was awesome to see these stands as all of them were being manned by the designers and makers of their products. We got chatting to some of the owners of these stands and its far more satisfying knowing that you are giving the money directly to the products designers. 

One of the stands I bought an ace super hero mug off was Head shot clothing. The lads on the stand were super friendly and had loads of great stuff definitely worth checking out.

In the middle of the arena were all the celebrities asking for £15 to £25 for 30 seconds of their time. They ranged from actors from Starwars, Only Falls and Horses, Michael Biehn and David Hassellhoff to name a few. There were even some glamor models who just about managed to cover their nipples (well done them). 

Dalek made by Robots live and a house robot

As we worked our way to the other side of the arena we found the Robots Live ring. As far as I could tell this was the same as Robot Wars from TV, I assume they had to change the name for licence reasons. We watched one of these events. I was never to fussed about Robot Wars when it was on TV but seeing it live is totally different. Its really good! The first robots out were the smaller light weight Robots that were mostly wedges with flippers on. These were really fast and chucked one another all over the ring. Next there were boxing robots and they did a segment I think was aimed at kids. Then the final part was the heavy weight Robots and were again predominately wedges but these were even more satisfying to see fight. They're all much bigger than I imagined, it was really exciting seeing such powerful robots smash one another up. 

Around midday the arena began to fill up and it became very crowded so we decided to get lunch. Malcolm had brought sandwiches with him so me and Alan began to look for somewhere to eat. There was a Subway straight outside the arena but it had huge queues. We settled on the Weatherspoons but it had a special LG menu that was very expensive, we were going to buy some paninis but they had sold out, it turned out anything under £10 had sold out. So we had sweets and fizzy drinks for lunch. 

In the afternoon we continued looking around the stalls and made a few purchases. I bought some canvas prints, DVDs, postcards, a Megaman keyring and a Pokemon league cap. The event finished for the day at 5PM then we headed home. In a couple of days I’ll post my report on Day Two.

Batman preparing for a poo!

Intro to the All New Blades Animation Blog

Hello so Ive been reading friend of Blades Animation the talented live action director Malcolm Kennedys recently started blog. Below is Malcolm's logo please click on the link to be taken to his website. (don't do it yet till you've read this blog though)

www.malcolmkennedy.co.uk

Malcolm's first entry is an introduction to who he is and what he's about. I thought "umm did I do this?", No I did not. I had a look over my old post to double check as I couldn't really remember but No definitely didn't. So what follows is finally an introduction and welcome to the Blades Animation Blog.

I am actively trying to be more proactive with Blogging, tweeting and facebooking so this entry is all part of this new marketing blitz. Im aiming to blog about once every other week, tweet about once a day and put something on facebook once a week.

When I first started this blog it was just going to be updates of what I was doing, which I guess it had been. I decided that this was in-fact boring so out the window with that and from now on its the all New Blades Animation Blog. I based its boringness on the repetitive titles of the blogs they are all just variants of the word update. My favourite blog post is the networking one, I re-read it the other day and I just thought "THIS IS BLOG GOLD!" Anyway so this made me think from now I'm going to try to put in more useful blogs that are hopefully more interesting. I've got lots of draft blogs I've been compiling for a couple of months now, most of them are just titles with a few notes. I've even got the blogger app so am totally committed to getting these posts done and online.

Right so things Im going to cover going forward are still some updates of projects and what Im up to but less of these. The next puppet I make I intend to document the full process and stick it up on here as a sort of puppet making tutorial. Im planning a day trip to london to buy some studio lights which is going up on here. At the end of September Im going to be walking Hadrian's Wall as research for a project I'm working on which will probably be a mix of smaller posts. I've got lots of creative businesses posts I want to put up, this covers, my work process, marketing advice, scheduling, pricing, how to keep costs low, book reviews, all sorts of stuff and some fun blogs like favourite films etc. If readers have requests then please message me and I can probably do requested blogs or answer questions as well, cos Im nice.

So I think that works as a indication of what this Blog is about from now on. I want to avoid doing any really long blogs and keep them nice and digestible, so I shall stop now. I will try to follow this post up with some history on how I began on my journey into animation, where I started, the routes I took and so on.

Thanks for reading, please like the facebook page to stay up to date on whats going on.

Rich

Inspiring Websites/people/programs

I am well aware I have again failed to keep the blog updated and I haven't produced videos of the studio as I think I said I would last time. Iv'e decided not to make videos incase you see all my cool stuff and come and rob me!

Today I am going to talk about website that I find inspiring that I recomend you check out. I find them inspiring for a number of reasons the people who make them and their content. The following is a list and descriptions so please read on.

Angry Video Game Nerd/James Rolf
I cam across the angry video game nerd while at Uni trying to avoid doing some work. The AVGN is a  web series staring and made by the film maker James Rolf. Theres over a hundred AVGN episodes, he has also worked on other web series and produced his own short films. So if you are trying to procrastinate and want something funny check this out.
James Rolf seems like a cool guy and seeing his work is really motivating. He made a joke game review and uploaded it to youtube and the AVGN took off from there. He's currently working on a feature film of the character. I really like the do it you self culture and use of the internet to self publish work and to find an audience. This is what I am working towards making my own films for the internet.

Nostalgia Critic/Doug Walker
While watching the AVGN nostalgia critic kept coming up on the side on youtube and eventually I checked him out as well. The first episode I watched was his review of He-Man and She-Ra christmas special which is so funny definitely worth a look. I again find him inspiring for similar reasons to AVGN as it is a DIY show that he makes a living off. As well as the Nostalgia Critic he does lots of other shows the other most famous is the 5 second movies.

The Guild/Felicia Day
The Guild was a business model I was advised to look after i had finished pitching my project on the Transform@lab last year. I had watched a couple of episodes before but never really got to fussed about it. When I finally sat down and watched it from the beginning I then proceeded to binge watch all 5 seasons. This series is a comedy and follows a group of gamers who play a warcraft clone called the game. The series is created by Felicia Day who is an actress that wanted to expand the parts she played so created the guild. It was originally meant to be a television series but her producer suggested turning it in to a web series. The first episode were self funded until they ran out of money. They then added a pay pal button for donations and managed to fund the rest of the series. Microsoft came in and said they would begin to sponsor the series and the guild has continue since. It is now transferring to the youtube channel Geek and sundry. Felicia Days channel that also hosts lots of other cool programs.

Zero Punctuation
This is a web series I have only recently discovered. A new episode comes out each week and and they are comedy reviews of computer games. The reviews take the format of a high speed commentary with minimalist animation. I don't really find this so much as inspiring more just really funny and great when Im having a quick break from doing some work.

Zak Ryder
Zak Ryder is a professional wrestler with WWE and from that it may sound like he has already made it in his career choice. He was actually a failing wrestler who no one liked and was barely on television. He started producing a you tube show Long Island Iced Z to try to make a connection with the fans and save his career. As it turned out it worked audiences in attendance at show started chanting his name and demanding he come out. Eventually he started being featured on the TV shows, has a DVD and tons of merchandise. He still does his show though it is now featured on WWE's youtube channel. The episode are mostly comedy based and padded out with lots of catch-phrases but its a great example of some one picking up a camera and using the internet to find an audience. Since Zak Ryder has been so successful the WWE has heavily embraced social media and now you can barely see the wrestling as there are so many images of social media logos on the screen.

Well thats all I can be bothered to do at the moment i might do something like this again in the future. I've some cool stuff Im going to be working on in the coming months for now you will just have to wait probably for another 6 month before I update the blog again.

Rich