RTS recognition for Teesside animators

Animators who made a film while studying at Teesside are in the running for a national award.

BA (Hons) Computer Character Animation graduates Lars Ellingbo, Lief Einar Eide and Ben Klimmek are behind Old Habits Die Hard, which has been nominated for a national accolade in the Royal Television Society (RTS) Student Television Awards.

The animated film, about an elderly woman in an electric wheelchair challenging a young motorcyclist at set of traffic lights, has already earned them a Regional RTS Student Television Award for Animation.

The RTS Student Television Awards are judged in four categories – Animation, Entertainment, Factual and Fiction. The team behind Old Habits Die Hard will be in London for the announcement of national winners of RTS Student Television Awards on Friday 7 May.

Their film was showcased among other work by students from the University’s School of Computing in the ExpoTees 2009 exhibition.

Since graduating from Teesside they have gone on to set up The Wishing Well animation studios, based in the University’s Institute of Digital Innovation in the Phoenix Building.

A great achievement Lars, 24, who is originally from Oslo, Norway, said: 'It’s a really great achievement for our film to be nominated for the national award, as winning the regional award has already helped to raise awareness of our work.'

He came to Teesside to study animation after spending two years at the Noroff Institute in Norway.

Lars said: 'It was the success of the international Animex Festival, held at Teesside University, which helped my decision to come here to study. The facilities and support available here at the IDI are very good and the opportunities here are great.'

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