BAM | Bristol Animation Meetup | ✨ 2023 Festive Edition ✨
The last Bristol Animation Meetup (BAM) of 2023 is nearly upon us! Join Skwigly, Sun & Moon, Rumpus and the local animation community at King Street Brew House this Thursday (Dec 14) from 7pm and get your holiday merriment on!
The BAM team are excited to announce that for this edition we’re supported by the wonderful folks at Toon Boom and Animation Associates! We’ll also be hosting our first BAM raffle, where participants can be in with a chance to win some incredible prizes courtesy of Toon Boom and Aardman Animations.
All this and some seasonal surprises for those who show up early!
See you on the 14th!
INDUSTRY GUESTS
(NB: All industry one-to-one slots are now fully booked, but to be placed on a reserve list for any of our guest professionals you can email bristol.animation.
Harry Slinger-Thompson
Creative Director, Scribble Room Animation
Harry is the co-founder and creative director at Scribble Room Animation. He’s been in the industry for a decade, in that time he has bounced between London and Bristol as a freelance animator. He has worked on various commercials and TV series at well known studios such as Aardman, Passion Pictures, Nexus, Moth, Tiger Aspect, Blinkink and many more.
Over his career, Harry has worked his way up from a junior animator to animation director on series such as: Mr Bean, Simon’s Cat, Peppa Pig, Counterfeit Cat and Battleworld. His big break came in 2017 when he joined Funko Animation Studios in Bath as head of 2D animation. This was an important learning curve, gaining him the vital skills to take the tentative first steps into co-running his own studio. As a creative director at a small Bristol studio, he works closely with the animators, designers and board artists to pull together the creative vision for various projects.
Key discussion areas:
- Harry is keen to discuss first steps into the industry.
- Various career paths and what kind of portfolio/showreel you may need for them.
- Happy to look at showreels and offer feedback.
Erinn Lucas
Designer and Director, Sun & Moon
Erinn Lucas has worked within the animation industry for 4 years. Beginning life as an animator on BBC’s Jojo & Gran Gran, they then transitioned to freelancing on Games Workshop’s anthology series, Hammer and Bolter at Farside Features before joining sister studio Sun & Moon, where they currently reside as a multi-disciplinary artist, animating, storyboarding and designing on a variety of projects.
Key discussion areas:
- Erinn is available for portfolio and showreel reviews.
Suzy Fagan Parr
Animation Director, Aardman Animations
Suzy has worked in stop motion animation for almost 27 years. She graduated from UWE Bristol, having specialised in animation in 1996 and then won a sponsored place on Aardman Animation’s very first ‘Bristol Model Animation’ course run in conjunction with University of the West of England. She is now a veteran Aardman animator on projects such as Chicken Run, Curse of the Were Rabbit, Pirates and Robin Robin, to name a few. She has also worked as an animator on various projects for the BBC, Aargh Animations and on Laika’s feature Kubo and the Two Strings in Portland, Oregon.
Suzy made the leap into directing on Series 3 of Shaun the Sheep and then moved on children’s CG series Chuggington for the BBC. She later became an episode director for the Netflix series Adventures from Mossy Bottom. Suzy now alternates between animating and directing most recently credited as Additional Sequence Director and Lead Character Animator on Aardman’s latest feature Chicken Run- Dawn of the Nugget.
Key discussion areas:
- Suzy can help with animation advice- including performance, timing, style and show reel feedback.
- Working with directors, working as a lead member of the team and how to break into directing.
Joe Wood
Creative Director, Rumpus Animation
Joe began his career as a freelance animator in Bristol and further afield, often found working as part of the commercial and broadcast 2D animation team at Aardman.
In 2011 Joe co-founded Rumpus Animation. The studio began producing distinctive and colourful work that included music videos, short films, explainers and educational content across many sectors. He is involved in all Rumpus projects as director, animator, storyboarder or general nose sticker-inner.
Joe has directed a few short animations which have played at festivals around the world including the New York International Children’s Film Festival, Pictoplasma and Annecy. He also works as a mentor to students at the University of the West of England and Falmouth University.
Key discussion areas:
- Showreels, portfolios, getting a job, running a studio – anything animation industry!
Jess Brazier
Production Coordinator, A Productions
Jess has worked in the television industry for close to 5 years, starting out as a Post Production Runner at Films@59 just after graduating from Bath Spa, later joining A Productions in 2021 as a Production Assistant and eventually progressing to a Production Coordinator.
Recent projects Jess has worked on include the 30 minute HBO and Sesame Workshop special Sesame Street’s The Nutcracker: starring Elmo & Tango which won Best Animation at the Royal Television Society Awards 2023, 3x animated series for Sesame Street and Bea’s Block Series 1 (now on Sky Kids).
Working as a Production Coordinator, Jess is involved from beginning through to completion of each project, managing teams within different departments, problem solving and ultimately trying to keep the project on schedule.
Key discussion areas:
- Advice on getting into the industry.
- Any questions about television/animation Production or if anyone would like a general chat about roles within animation.