To celebrate Gromit Unleashed - a trail of 80 five foot tall Gromit sculptures set loose on to the streets of Bristol - Watershed hosted a month long season of films featuring man's best friend. To accompany the series we programmed a month-long summer school as part of Cinékids. Aardman (the animation company who created Wallace & Gromit) hail from Bristol, so the scene was set for a stop-motion animation summer school to inspire Bristol's young people to get creative and learn some industry-standard skills.

Every Friday afternoon throughout August, kids aged 6-11 enjoyed one of our doggy films (chosen by Gromit himself), and a dog-themed stop motion animation workshop. There was a different focus each week, we sent plasticine dogs to summer camp with Snoopy, paraded fancily dressed hounds down our "dog-walk" with 101 dalmations, played doggy Consequences with Lassie, designed luxury dog-friendly houses for Marley & Me, and created our own doggy-packed action movies inspired by Tintin.

The resulting creations were screened the following Friday in the cinema before the film for everyone to see! There is nothing like seeing your work on the big screen. Watch the animations online here.

The series aimed to give children confidence with art materials and software, help them create something within a guided framework, and show them that animation is something that simply requires imagination and patience. A number of the children attended all five classes, and many became keen to pursue animation and filmmaking as a profession.

Related Links:
Gromit Unleashed
Rose Robbins - workshop leader

 

 

Posted on Sat 31 Aug 2013.

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