Ollie the Owl

An NFTS animation exercise!

In April 2019, the NFTS MA Directing Animation first years - i.e me, at the time - enjoyed the privilege of a stop-motion workshop with one of the U.K’s finest animators, Andy Symanowski. Having worked at Aardman for over 25 years, Andy has probably worked on a great many scenes you would recognise, and I learned a great deal about stop-motion from him over the course of the workshop.

The focus was on animation rather than camera or assembly, which meant that each day, we came in ready to simply animate. Focussing entirely on that, and the range of exercises Andy had us doing, was a really great way to learn more about my craft. At the end of the week, we each chose one of the amazing puppets that the NFTS Modelmaking students had created, animating a sequence of our own design to a simple brief; they open the box.

So, if you can look past the wobbly camera (god bless the floorboards in that room) and the foam box, please enjoy this little clip of Ollie the Owl - magnificently crafted by Jake Teal - doing his thing. No sound required, as there is none.