Sunday 24 February 2013

Acorns Wins 'Royal Television Society' Wales Centre Award for Undergraduate Animation!


On February 22nd 2013, my graduation film Acorns was awarded First Place in the Undergraduate Animation category from the Royal Television Society (Wales Centre Student Television Awards 2012). The award was presented at the Ffresh Student Moving Image Festival of Wales Awards Show taking place at Glyndwr University.

Although I had attended the festival and volunteered there this year, I sadly was unable to attend the awards show, but thankfully my fantastic friends Bryony Evans and Zara Williams (also nominated for the award) were able to collect the award for me (and surprise me with it at lunch the next day!), thanks guys! I was completely unaware I had even been nominated for this so it's such an incredible surprise!

The RTS Jury had this to say about Acorns on their website:
Acorns was also very accomplished and felt a very complete animation project. It was classy, enchanting and sophisticated, providing a captivating representation of the seasons through colour and it also featured a stunning piano score. Overall, Jury Members were unanimously impressed by its sophistication and high quality.
The first prize winner in each category will also be submitted for judging at the UK final of the RTS Student Television Awards, to be held in London during April.

For a full list and breakdown of the nominees for the award, please visit the Royal Television Society website.

I was absolutely astounded to have received this award for my film and am so thankful! Months and months of constant hard work and dedication went into realising it as well as the invaluable help of my crew without whom the film would never have been finished! 

As such, I give a huge thanks to Co-Writer and Colourist Emily Roberts, Lead Colorist/Additional Art Director Eleanor Roberts, a beautiful musical score by Ben Rusch, production scanning by Alex Huxley and Alex Brewer, additional compositing by Cosmo Wallace and Michael Alfred, my army of Clean-Up Artists and Digital Colourists, Nadine El Kheshen, Cassie Austin, Gemma Ursell, Ying Sun, Kojo Acquaah Harrison, Emmanuel Viscarra, Victoria Clark, Zara Williams, Nina Ashill, Sarah Huxley, Paul Littlefair, Eva Wagner and Stephanie Walker, my fellow film makers Rob Morgan, Jess Leslau, Zara Williams, Bryony Evans, Claire Spiller and Vikki Clark, my Uni lecturers for never-ending feedback and tutorials and of course my Mum & Dad, grandparents and friends & family for their unwavering love and support. <3

Without further ado, here are some pretty pictures! 





And then our family cat, Mila wanted to get in on the fun!



Thanks to my sister Emily for my fab photo!
Thanks everyone for this amazing award, I still cannot believe it! :)

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Acorns @ Mecal Festival!

Acorns as been selected for the Children's program screening at the 15th Mecal International Short Film and Animation Festival of Barcelona! The festival runs from 4th-28th April 2013, check it out if you are in the area!

For more information, check out Mecal's website here: Mecal International Short Film and Animation Festival of Barcelona 2013

I will post again with more screening information once the program comes through.

In the meantime, Acorns has joined the bandwagon of Facebook Pages! I know everyone's getting you to "Like" their pages left, right and centre, but this one is really awesome. ;)




But seriously, I'll be putting up the most recent updates and screenings and pictures on there, so head over to Acorns on Facebook and "Like" for updates! :)

And I've also got in with the Twitter kids and invented a # hashtag! It's #littleacornfilm for those who want to tweet about Acorns! :)

Thanks for your continued support! :D
-Gemma, Amber and the Spirit