Bringing the magic of movies and games to Teesside’s Animex

Animation experts who have worked their magic on the likes of Doctor Who and How to Train Your Dragon are helping to launch a new era for a major animation festival.

Teesside University’s internationally-renowned Animex festival, now in its 21st year, is to be held online for the very first time with a celebration of animation, games and visual effects from 21 September to 2 October.

Animex is one of the world’s largest and longest running festivals of animation and computer games and has attracted guests such as Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, and visual effects legend Ray Harryhausen.

Among speakers already confirmed for this year is Teesside University alumni, animator Daniel Crook, who will be talking about his work which has included Doctor Who and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Now living in Spain, he is a 2D mid-animator with SPA Studios in Madrid and has also worked on Oscar nominated animated film Klaus.

Max Pears, level designer with CD PROJEKT RED, has worked on a wide variety of games titles, from mobile and indie, to augmented reality. He is currently working on this year’s most anticipated game Cyberpunk 2077 and will talk about understanding what makes a successful game level.

Professor Stuart Sumida, a palaeontologist with the California State University San Bernardino, will also be sharing insight into his work as a frequent anatomical consultant to the entertainment industry. His most recent work has included anatomy consultant for DreamWorks films Abominable and How to Train Your Dragon 3.

Also speaking will be Michael Gandham, co-founder of Arcus Animation Studios, which has produced work for UK broadcasters and international publishers, ranging from Cbeebies to E4, Sega and the NHS.

More recently he launched Hartlepool based Arcus Immersive. Michael will be talking about his company’s developments in fulldome, which are immersive dome-based environments which surround the audience with a video projection.

In 2018 Michael won an international award in the 'shared immersive' Fulldome medium for his adaptation of Olaf Stapledon’s seminal sci-fi novel Star Maker. Since then, and with support from the UK Government Audiences of the Future programme, he has led a team to develop Festoon, an innovative software tool for fulldome producers of all abilities.

Michael, who leads on writing, producing and company development, will be joined at Animex by Ruth Coalson and Philippa Day, who have both worked in fulldome for the past 15 years with the National Space Centre creative team.

Michael said: 'I want to introduce the Animex audience to fulldome, look into what it is and why I feel it can be a better storytelling experience than VR. I’ll also explore the creative possibilities of fulldome, looking at the current models and creative barriers within these models, along with the potential for new practitioners to experiment.

'The more practitioners we have creating work in the medium, the quicker we'll come to conclusions about what the medium can do.' Joanne Noble, Principal Lecturer in Teesside University’s School of Computing, Engineering & Digital Technologies and one of the Animex organisers, said: 'There really is something for everyone to enjoy at Animex, from serious gamers to fans of the many genres of animated films. It provides a unique opportunity to hear from industry experts and get behind the scenes insight.'

This year the Animex festival also launches an exciting new partnership with the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority, working together to use Animex’s reputation and profile to continue to development the Tees Valley’s burgeoning digital sector and establish the region as a hub for digital innovation, growth, enterprise and employability.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: 'These guests just show the calibre of talent nurtured by or working in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, as well as those global experts working in the field of animation on household names and massive games releases.

'These inspirational guests will keep our digital and creative agenda front-and-centre as we build on the expertise of our local businesses and the next generation of talent and recover our economy post-coronavirus.'

This year’s festival will be completely free and visitors can enjoy a whole host of online workshops, screenings, talks from experts working in the industry and games tournaments.

---