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And the winner is . . .

04 February 2000

 

A chance for the North East to vote for the next Nick Park (Wallace & Gromit creator) or Tim Burton (James & the Giant Peach and Nightmare Before Christmas) is on offer, courtesy of the University of Teesside. For the Middlesbrough-based University is hosting the North East leg of the British Animation Awards 2000 from 17 to 18 February.

The awards are an opportunity for the public to vote for their favourite UK animation and to hear presentations from a number of specialists from the world of film and animation. Presenters include Peter Saunders, from computer animation company McKinnon and Saunders, whose commercial successes include adverts for Chewits and Dairylea; puppeteer and Academy Award nominee Barry Purves who worked on the Hollywood movie Mars Attack; Alex Parkinson, Senior Developer at Framestore, the company commissioned by the BBC for their ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ series and Camilla Deakin, Animation & Arts Commissioning Editor for Channel 4 TV.

Chris Williams, Senior Lecturer in Computer Graphics and Visualisation from the University’s School of Computing & Mathematics is one of the organisers of the event. He said: "The University is delighted to have been chosen to host these awards and to welcome presentations from some of the key players in the world of animation. We’re particularly pleased to welcome back Alex Parkinson from Framestore. He’s a former student from our award winning Computer Aided Graphical Technology Applications course and a great testimony to the commercial significance of the courses in the School of Computing & Maths. It’s also a great opportunity to showcase home-grown talent and expertise with presentations from our own students during the break."

Professor Steve Baskerville, Director of the School of Computing & Mathematics said: "The international success of ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ - involving two of our graduates now working for Framestore - has also brought well deserved recognition to my colleagues working in the School’s visualisation area.

"Animation 2000 will give people in the North East an excellent opportunity to see state-of-the-art computer graphics, and discover for themselves how the experience and expertise of the University of Teesside has helped lay the foundations for successful commercial projects of this kind."

The Public Choice screenings will run over a two-day period from Thursday 17 to Friday 18 February at the University Cinema, Europa Building, Woodlands Road, Middlesbrough starting at 7.00pm. The one day conference on 18 February starts at 9.00am. Entrance to Animation 2000 is by ticket only, available from Chris Williams, School of Computing & Mathematics on 01642 342638, or by email c.williams@tees.ac.uk or visit the Awards website http://wheelie.tees.ac.uk/animation2000


 
 
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