M&S day visit dates

I've just finished sending an e-mail to Becky Hunt at Mackinnon and Saunders to arrange a day for me to visit. Here's what I sent:

"Hello Becky,

This is Alistair. Now that things are more or less over with at my end I have had a chance to look at which days I would be able to make it down to visit you at M&S.

If its not too soon then I would be able to visit on either Tuesday 3rd, Wednesday 4th or Friday 6th of this week.

Each day I would be able to catch a train to Altrincham station and arrive there at roughly 11 o'clock. I then plan on catching a taxi to get to you.

To make sure I've got the correct address the one I have is;
148 Seamons Rd,
Altrincham,
Cheshire
WA14 4LJ

If its not right then please let me know.

To get back I would need to catch a train from Altrincham station at either 15:51 or 16:51. I have chosen these times based on how long I spent during my visit to Cosgrove Hall last year. There are earlier or later trains if needed.

If these dates are too soon for you then please let me know and I'll see about sorting something a little later on in the month. I need to be in Wrexham on the 10th and 11th because the external examiner will be coming in and we've been told he will want to see us all.

I hope to hear from you soon,

Alistair Stuart"

Hopefully one of these days will be suitable and I will be able to show them my work.

Final Year Animation

I completed my animation by the deadline of Wednesday the 21st last week. In the end I didn't get Kris Wilson to produce any music for me as I would have missed the deadline if I had. Instead I found some music from http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/ and found sound effects by using http://www.findsounds.com/. There were some sounds I couldn't find though and so recorded them myself. These sounds were the bucket clanking and Jack breathing. I feel that the sounds and music fit the animation very well and am very pleased with the final outcome.

carlogiovani.com

Today I visited a website mentioned to me by a fellow student. The site was carlogiovani.com.
The website showcases lots of paper models and graphic designs. The interesting part for me is that some of the paper models are used in stop-motion animation. Some examples can be seen under the "Motion" section, one of which appears to be an advert for Walkers crisps: http://carlogiovani.com/elma_chips/
I find this interesting as I would never have considered using paper models to animate with.

Animation Workshops

Today I recieved a phone call from my mum who had been in contact with my A-level art teacher, Mr John Connolly. Apparently my old secondary school has taken on an animator and Mr Connolly wanted to know, if once I had gained my animation qualification, whether I would be interested in giving a series of animation workshops to the students. Apparenlty I would earn roughly £100 each day that a workshop was run.
I have yet to get back to him as I have no contact number for him at the moment.

Mackinnon and Saunders Work

On Friday 9th May I recieved a phone call from David Jones, the workshop technician at NWSAD. He phoned to let me know that Nick Roberson wanted me to give him a call to talk about the rumoured work experience at Mackinnon and Saunders.
Apparently it is not work experience but actual job openings and Nick had put my name forward along with 3 students from De Montfort University.
I was given the e-mail and telephone contacts for Becky Hunt at Mackinnon and Saunders and told to e-mail her with some examples of my work. If she didn't reply then I should phone her. I never did here back as it turns out that Nick had given me an incorrect e-mail address so on the 14th I phoned her, had a chat and then re-e-mailed her with the correct address.
This is what I sent:

Hi Becky, I think I can see why my original e-mail never got through. The address I was given started with "b.hunt".
So, what shall I tell you? Nick said that I should give you a brief introduction of myself and attach pictures of some of my models. That sound ok?
During my time at university I have focussed on stop-motion animation from designing and building the puppets and sets to the actual filming and editing. I'm just coming to the end of filming my final project. Stop-motion is an area that I have always been very interested in and knew that I wanted to focus on before arriving at university. I have always been a very creative and curious person since I was very young when I would spend hours building plasticine models, drawing comics and constructing Kinder Egg toys. To this day I still collect the Beano comic. I think its great.
The photos I've attached show Artemis the mime, Lula the dog and AJ the boy from my last year's animation 'Mime Time', Jack and Jill from my current animation and some miscellaneous models I have made either for fun or for gifts. Tamika was made as a commission for a friend. If you want to have a look at my last years project, which was my first 'proper' attempt at stop-motion, you can have a look at it (and other animations) on my YouTube account: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Tp_mqld0w
I look forward to hearing from you again,
Alistair Stuart

I phoned her again today because I didn't hear back. Thankfully she had recieved the e-mail and apparently liked what she saw. She told me that getting the job opening was no sure thing and with what she was saying it seemed that I was at a disadvantage with living in Derbyshire when I finish the course, although she never actually said that.
By the end of the call we had agreed that I have to contact her again by e-mail to arrange a day in June when I can travel down to visit them and show off my models.

Work Experience?

I've been hearing talk of work experience at Mackinnon and Saunders for a few days now. I couldn't find any information on their website though so I e-mailed Nick Roberson instead. I just asked him if what I had been hearing was true and if it was, what my chances of nabbing a spot were.

Personal Animation Website

On the 22nd of September 2007 I set up a free website for myself at freewebs.com with the intention of using it to showcase my animation work. Today I finally got around to updating it with two of my animations. I plan to get all of my current work up by the end of the week.
My site address is http://stuvilleproductions.webs.com/index.htm
I have just finished looking at upgrading my site to a yearly subscription of between £25-£50 in order to ensure I have enough storage and bandwith to host and view my videos. If nobody can view them then there isn't much point in me having a site.

Use of Music

I got a reply from Kris Wilson today with regards to using his music and getting some custom made:

"As long as you give credit I have no problem. Show me if you can.
Depending on the type of music/quality we'd work something out. I keep it pretty cheap."

I sent this back:

"Cheers very much. The music I would be after would be on the classical side of things and my animation is basically a retelling of the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. I'll send you the animation when its done to see if you fancy doing anything for it and to see how much it would cost."

Animation Music

I have just finished contacting Kris Wilson on deviantART to ask if it would be ok to use some of his music on my showreel when I get one together and how much he would charge to create a piece of music for my current project. He mentioned some time ago that he would be willing to create music for people so I thought I should give it a go.

"Hello there Kris,
I'll get straight to the point.I was wondering if I could get your permission to use Colico on my animation showreel? If you agree I'd ensure you got credit on the end.
While I'm on the topic of music and animation I would also like to ask about your services as a musician. How much would you charge to create a piece of music for an animation lasting roughly 1 minute 30 seconds long?
Thanks and regards,
Alistair"

More contact with Nick Roberson

Yesterday I sent and email to Nick with some photos of my Jack and Jill puppets:

"Hi Nick,
Here are some pictures of my animation puppets now that they are 98% finished. Sorry the quality isn't that great. I'll try and get some better pics sent to you eventually, probably after I have created their mouths and eyelids. (Hence only being 98% done.)

I hand stitched all of their clothing and they are stuffed with wadding. The skin on their hands and arms is made from 'Tesco stretch fabric strapping'. It worked suprisingly well.

Alistair"

Pictures:

Today I got a reply:

"Hi Alistair,
They look great, it certainly is worth all that effort with the costumes. That is an area that lets a lot of people down. I wish you all the best with the animation, Have fun. I can't wait to see more which is the sign of good work. Keep in touch,
Nick."

I certainly will be keeping in touch!