12 Things I Learnt at Manimation
Since it was (re)launched in 2010, the Children’s Media Conference has developed a strong reputation as the only producer of events in the UK for people involved in developing, producing and distributing content to kids. As well as a highly successful conference in Sheffield, the CMC organises an impressive array of events throughout the year and throughout the UK, including workshops, seminars and delegations to international markets.
In November, the CMC teamed up with MIDAS (Greater Manchester’s Inward Investment Agency), to run a one-day event on 20 November in Salford under the banner of Manimation – Manchester’s Animation Festival. Designed to inform companies and freelancers about key factors for success in the games, vfx, commercial, corporate, games and vr industries, the festival boasts an impressive line up of speakers, including Cathal Gaffney (Brown Bag Films), Jackie Edwards (CBeebies), Jean Flynn (Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick) and Christopher Halliday (BFI certification Unit).
The schedule was jam packed; with talks covering working with composers, training on the job, new platforms and innovations, and everyone’s favourite topic – where to find funding. There were also ample networking opportunities, 1 on 1 meetings and some particularly delicious cookies.
What marks CMC events out from other animation events, such as festivals, is the emphasis on the business and practical side of the industry. The events burst with advice and information, and what’s more, they provide hope to those of us who wish to make a serious career out of animation, that there is an industry and a support structure behind us.
As always, Manimation was filled with useful facts, info and tidbits galore – and because we here at Skwigly are really rather fond of you, our devoted and loyal readership, I have compiled some of this information in to 12 bulletpoints of things that made me go ‘…really!?’
- The English Animation Industry has doubled in size since the tax breaks came in to effect in April 2013 (source: Christopher Halliday from the BFI certification unit)
- Manchester is the second biggest City in England for producing advertising content (Source: Damien Lynch 422)
- Adobe is developing 2D motion capture software as a plug in for After Effects. Codenamed Project:Animal, it accesses your computer’s webcam to track the movement of your head, mouth, and eyes—including your blinking, glancing, and eye-brow raising—and moves your 2D puppet accordingly. They are currently looking for guinea pigs to test the product
- 44% of Kickstarter projects get funded. 12% don’t receive a single pledge. 5-10k is the optimum financial goal
- There are several festivals (of which Insomnia Festival in Coventry is the biggest) where an entire arena is filled by people watching other people playing computer games. Insomnia is a 4 day event that brings together over 30,000 people from around the world to play watch and play games for a £40,000 prize. Millions more watch online.
- And linked, but deserving of it’s own bulletpoint because I find it completely staggering – in the US and several other countries, competitive gaming is considered a sport and may one day be in the Olympics.
- Jackie Edwards, Exec Producer of Animation and Acquisitions at CBeebies, receives 12,000 ideas a year for tv shows, and buys 4 or 5.
- Brown Bag films and EON reality are both currently recruiting in Manchester. Fly my Pretties, Fly!!
- ToonBoom Harmony can now export content directly to game engines including Unity and Cocos2D-x.
- Brown Bag films have several studio dogs in their Dublin studios, so the first question they ask at interviews is ‘do you like dogs?!’
- How we consume content is likely to change more in the next 5 years than it has in the previous 50, largely thanks to Amazon and Netflix who are still finding their voice (Source: Cathal Gaffney, CEO Brown Bag Films)
- Games graphics have come on leaps and bounds since Super Mario 3