Summer Animation Academy

This summer, as part of Pembrokeshire County Council’s summer programme, Planet Sunday will be running a series of workshops to teach young people how to make animated films. They’ll teach you how to design your characters, create storyboards, animate, add sounds and edit your film. The workshops are open to children aged 8-14 and costs £5 per session. Times 10am-3pm.
Venues:
4th August – Fishguard Leisure Centre
11th August – Milford Haven Leisure Centre
17th August – TBC
18th August – Tenby Leisure Centre
19th August – Haverfordwest Leisure Centre
24th August – Pembroke Leisure Centre

Phone 01437 775461 to book a place.

For more information about Animation Academy go to www.planetsunday.com

2010 Films and Animations Now Online!

A HUGE thank you to all 20 schools that came to this year’s Film and Animation Awards. All of your movies have now been uploaded to your school pages and you can download a copy of the programme by clicking here. Here’s a list of this year’s award-winning schools who will be going forward to represent Pembrokeshire at the National Schools Film Awards:

Best Film or Animation Key Stage 1: Pennar Community School for “Wedi Mynd i Bysgota, Y Crocodeil Newynog a Caws yn y Gofod”
Best Film Key Stage 2: Sageston C.P. School for “The School Inspection” and Lamphey C.P. School for “Lamphey Ads”
Best Animation Key Stage 2: Manorbier V.C. School for “Food For Thought” and Templeton C.P. School for “Attack of the Recyclables”
Best Film or Animation Secondary: Ysgol Y Preseli with “The Tell Tale Heart” (by Danny Tose)
Best Newcomer: Pembroke School with “Bob The Blob” (by Liam Marshall)

2010 Film Festival Update

The festival is tomorrow (Thursday 8th July) at the Merlin Theatre, Haverfordwest and starts at 1pm. Schools can arrive from 12.30 for photo opportunities and interviews on the red carpet. The college refrectory will be selling refreshments but we will have no free drinks after the event (as in previous years) due to budget restrictions! Teachers please note that, unless you contacted Duncan Whitehurst before last Wednesday to request extra tickets, you  have 10 seats (please don’t bring any more than this or we’ll be in trouble). All of this year’s films will be up on the blog over the weekend – so keep an eye out for the announcement. Hope you are all looking forward to tomorrow. Thank you everyone for sending in your films and animations.

Animation Workshop

Here’s a video showing people at work during the recent animation workshop with Greg David from Planet Sunday. Check out the Animation Workshop page on the right to see some of the work produced on the day using Animation-ish for the first time. A big thank you to Greg for running the event which was a big success…and keep an eye on this page for news about Greg’s Animation Academy which will be running in the summer holidays.

2010 Film Festival

We are now accepting entries for the 2010 Film and Animation Festival. The deadline for entries is the 28th May – contact duncan.whitehurst@pgfl.org.uk (via the ePortal) if you are having trouble finishing in time. We will try to be flexible – we want your films! Click on the picture to download the information and entry form or click here: Film Festival 2010

School Video Equipment Guide

If you are looking to buy some new video equipment for your school, here are some suggestions for you ranging from sub £100 cameras to professional kit. This is equipment that has been tried and tested in Pembrokeshire schools and covers some of the latest equipment available like the Kodak Zi8 and the Canon FS200. The guide includes advice on microphones, software and everything you need to make a movie.

National Schools Film and Animation Awards 2009

Four Pembrokeshire schools were shortlisted for the National Schools Film and Animation Awards and made the trip to London on Monday for the award ceremony at the British Film Institute. The nominated schools were:
Tavernspite for How Night Came – shortlisted for Best Animation in Key Stage 1
Sageston for Flame – shortlisted for Best Film in Key Stage 2
Ysgol y Preseli for the Whisper of Time by Danny Tose – shortlisted for Best Animation in Key Stage 3
Portfield Special School for Gwynfor to the Rescue and Dewi and Dai the Dragon – animations shortlisted for the SEMERC Special Award.
We are delighted to announce that Ysgol y Preseli and Sageston (pictured) won in their categories and were presented with their awards by Floella Benjamin. Thank you to all of you dedicated and innovative children and teachers who support our local film festival. Keep up the good work – it could be you making the trip to London next year!

On The Push Workshop Video Live!

The video produced by all of the schools who attended the recent On The Push workshop is now live on the Undercurrents website. Thanks to everyone from Undercurrents for running an excellent day and thanks to Mathry, Fenton, Tenby Junior, Haverfordwest VC, Prendergast, Saundersfoot, St.Florence VC and Johnston schools for taking part and helping to make it a success. Click on the picture on the left to go to the On The Push website and watch your finished film. Keep an eye on the Film Festival blog for details of the next free workshop for schools.

On The Push Workshop: A Surfer’s Guide to the Environment

As part of National Film Week we are offering a free film-making workshop from Undercurrents at Neyland Teachers’ Centre on the 22nd October at 9.30am. The workshop will include a screening of On The Push: A Surfer’s Guide to the Environment and practical introduction to basic film making skills from the makers of the film. We are inviting one teacher and two children from each school to attend. Recommended for surfers and people interested in environmental issues and sustainbility. Places on the workshop are limited, so contact duncan.whitehurst@pgfl.org.uk via the Education Portal ASAP to book your place and get more information. Click on the picture to visit the On The Push website.

Film Festival Report From BBC Radio Wales

Below is a recording of the Radio Wales feature on the Film Festival that was on the evening news, click on the blue writing to listen to it. If you are from Angle, St. Francis, Templeton or Haverfordwest VC – your interviews made it to the broadcast!

Film Awards 2009