Fill your free time over the holiday season with some creative inspiration. We’ve pulled together 5 of our favourite Motion and Animation talks from the vast OFFSET archive. Put your feet up, get your notebook out and be inspired by some of the world’s best creatives from OFFSET Dublin since 2009. First up is Niamh Sharkey and Brown Bag Films discussing bringing the Hugglemonsters to life.
1. Brown Bag Films | Never Underestimate Your Audience.
Founded in 1994 and already fantastically successful, Brown Bag Films feels like it’s a company that still has its best days in front of it. They seemed to come from nowhere with a 2002 Oscar nomination for the charming, innocent short, Give Up Yer Auld Sins, but Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O’Connell had been grafting in commercial work for years before that. They’ve since garnered another Oscar nomination, as well as nods at the BAFTA and Emmy for their TV series, Octonauts. Last year, they launched Henry Hugglemonster on Disney Junior, a show based on Niamh Sharkey’s books. This is on top of their growing stable of work that includes Doc McStuffins, Peter Rabbit and Noddy in Toyland. They continue to work with the world’s biggest names in TV entertainment, and have offices in LA and Manchester and, of course, Dublin.
2. United Visual Artists | Everyone Should ‘Get’ It.
You can mumble something along the lines of light installations and visuals and things, or maybe something about merging existing structures and live performance, but that doesn’t really describe the astounding, soulful and awesome works that UVA produces. A collaborative approach that takes in disciplines as diverse as software engineering, fine art, communication design and architecture, has resulted in a unique and cohesive body of work often produced on an gigantic scale. Noted for collaborations with Massive Attack, Jay Z, U2, Chemical Brothers and Battles, they’ve also produced pieces for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, Madison Square Garden and Trafalgar Square. Say hello to Ash Nehru!
3. Johnny Kelly | Concept Is Really Interesting.
Johnny Kelly is an Irish director and designer based in London. He works across animation, graphic design and Illustration. He has worked with high profile clients such as Adobe, Coca-Cola and BMW, as well as taking on interactive commissions for Google and the V&A. Johnny has also won a pair of Grand Prix awards at Cannes for his two-minute film for Chipotle. He joined us on the main stage in 2012 since then he’s been wowing audiences world wide with work for Nexus.
4. Kyle Cooper | Film and Graphic Design Should Involve The Audience.
So apparently you’re not allowed to make a movie in Hollywood anymore unless Kyle Cooper is involved. Although his name might not leap immediately to mind as quickly as some of the directors, Cooper’s work has been credited as almost single handedly revitalising the main title sequences as an art form. Some of the sequences he’s produced have seared themselves into the public psyche – anyone remember Se7en? Thought so.
5. Cartoon Saloon | It Always Starts With Images.
Cartoon Saloon are somewhat the golden children of Irish animation at the moment. Hailing from Kilkenny, Producer Paul Young and Director Tomm Moore have been nominated for two Oscars, The Secret of Kells and the most recent, Song of the Sea. Cartoon Saloon has carved a special place in the international animation industry.