...balanced there » Felix Massie's blog and animated short films.

Celebratory Tom Cruise in Top Gun pumpkin head

2009-10-30T00:05:00.009Z

Finished the little Korean intro yesterday - it should be online somewhere soon. To celebrate I carved a Hallowe'en pumpkin in the style of Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

Everyone is just redesigning their website

2009-10-23T11:10:00.002+01:00

For the last few days I've been working on a little festival intro for when Sarah goes off to a festival in Korea in November. Been quite fun so far.

Nothing else has happened. Might have time to carve a pumpkin for Hallowe'en at this rate.

Lille festival international du courte metrage 2009

2009-10-13T16:10:00.007+01:00

Lille was very good. Sadly I only survived two hours of the neuf heure animation marathon but above is one of the posters, from my last post, in action at the event. Amazingly not only did they decorate the walls, they decorated the tables too:

I had to stand in front a crowd of French people (1,000 at one point) and talk English at them three times. This went ok for the first time, but the second time I thought it'd be silly to say the same thing as before so I tried to think of a second interesting thing to say. By the third time I didn't have anything very interesting to say at all. The moral of this story is that it's better to repeat yourself three times than to say sequentially less interesting different things.

Also worth noting is that when my film finished playing in front of the 1,000 strong crowd they started meowing - I assume because of le chat in my film but a small part of my brain was wondering whether people from primary school were back and mocking me for being called Felix; as in Felix the cat. I slept in the Fetal position that night.

A good festival if you get the chance to go.

Next up for The surprise demise of Francis Cooper's mother is the International Short Film Festival, Berlin at the beginning of November. Then it's in...
...here in Bristol in the middle of November.

With time off

2009-10-01T17:24:00.004+01:00

The last couple of weeks have been event free. Mostly I've just been bumbling around. Next week however I'll be bumbling around in a whole new country. I'm off to the fourth largest metropolitan area in France - that's right, Lille - for the Lille festival international du courte metrage. I think there is a competition screening somewhere on Friday 9th at 5pm and then nine hours of animation (?!) on Saturday from 9pm until 6am. Then there's a closing ceremony on Sunday. I will be around for all of those - probably gazing at the wonderful poster featuring Craig McKay from The surprise demise of Francis Cooper's mother:

developers developers developers developers

2009-09-24T15:51:00.002+01:00

I used to use that online graffiti thing a lot more. To avoid going out in the sun today I decided have doodle again. Here's Steve Ballmer.

Flash on the Beach

2009-09-22T18:06:00.003+01:00

Flash on the Beach is a design conference and isn't really on a beach - it is in Brighton though, which has a beach. Here's the title sequence I helped animate on...

Directed by garth+ginny. An Artillery production. Music by Meducktions.

Think it turned out great. More good stuff on garth + ginny's blogs.

Beeny's back. Property Ladder; Wednesday at 8, on 4.

2009-09-17T12:22:00.003+01:00

Popped the Property Ladder promo I worked on last year onto YouTube. I did the Flash animation for this one. Sarah Cox directed with Emma Lazenby. One of my favourite jobs.

Another horrible failure

2009-09-14T19:47:00.003+01:00

You may have heard a collected groan come from the direction of Bristol at about 3 o'clock this afternoon as a job fell through, was axed, canned, given the heave-ho and terminated.

Oh well. Above are some designs I did for it.

Francis Cooper in Encounters

2009-09-11T13:08:00.002+01:00

Have you always always really wanted to see 'The surprise demise of Francis Cooper's mother' in Bristol, the very city it was made? No? Well if you did then you can because it's made the official selection of Encounters Short Film Festival 2009 in November.

Heavy showers

2009-09-02T10:59:00.001+01:00

What has happened to the weather?

If you fancy brightening up your day you can watch the latest Arthur Cox showreel which was recently posted on YouTube.

Something that brightened up my day was learning that Keith Reynolds won Best International Dark Comedy Short (2008) at the New York Film and Video Festival last year without me knowing.

Until now.

IRN-BRU's Sir Swigs-a-lot on the Internet

2009-08-18T10:50:00.003+01:00

I've uploaded the final version of the IRN-BRU/Sir Swigs-a-lot/Mighty Glass television commercial I directed...

A Scottish exclusive and my first advert. Shown in-between Poirot - another first for me too.

Directed by Felix Massie
Animated by Felix Massie and Stephen Whittle
CG Animation by Matthew Walker
Composited by Jonathan Biggins
Produced by Hilary Light at Arthur Cox Ltd in collaboration with The Gate Films and The Leith for A G BARR.

Phenomenal®.

IRN-BRU's Sir Swigs-a-lot on TV

2009-08-10T18:11:00.007+01:00

Do you live in Scotland? Do you have a TV? Do you watch Jeremy Kyle, Emerdale, and/or Coronation Street? If you do, and subject to change, you can watch an IRN-BRU advert I directed at Arthur Cox. It'll be on ITV Scotland and Channel 4 Scotland.

Look for it tonight at 1945, 2055, 2115 and 2350 on ITV. Or half midnight on 4.

If you don't live in Scotland then don't worry; you can fly from Bristol I.A. to Edinburgh in less than an hour. Also I'll hopefully be able to put it online soon.

Rushes Soho Shorts 2009

2009-07-24T11:09:00.002+01:00

Am off to Rushes in London tonight for the Francis Cooper screening here. Hopefully some others during the weekend too.

Keith Reynolds is also being shown at Short and Sweet on Monday.

In case you were wondering - both have opted for the Oyster card over the day pass option.

Exclaim! festival review

2009-07-20T16:45:00.003+01:00

Robert Bell from Exclaim! has done a little write up of The surprise demise of Francis Cooper's mother after it played at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival in June:

"It seems that when people think of family, they immediately think of dysfunction, loss, disappointment and memories of better times, at least according to this grouping of short films. While probably most notable for the inclusion of a short Feist and Cillian Murphy, it's animation with car accidents and dead cats that proves most enjoyable...

...'The Surprise Demise of Francis Cooper's Mother' is the animated short that stands out. In it, a woman accidentally kills someone with her car, a man accidentally kills his cat and another man overanalyzes the death of his mother. It's clever, insightful and amusing all at once."

You can read the full festival review on the Exclaim! website. Glad he liked it.

La Revolució Dels Petits Gestos ha començat

2009-07-14T13:20:00.011+01:00

Have spent the last few weeks directing my first television commercial. Can't show anything yet but will do as soon as I can.

But I can show you this:

It's the commercial I animated on at Aardman during the end of May/beginning of June. The moral is something like "The revolution of small actions". Lovely. Directed by Tim Ruffle.

At the weekend I drew some pictures for my new film and worked on getting a first draft together too - still a long way off sadly. Also did some work on Emma Lazenby's film. A pregnant woman rocking on a Swiss Ball.

Francis Cooper is off to London

2009-07-08T11:50:00.005+01:00

Francis Cooper is going to London three times this summer. For Rushes Soho Shorts end of July, London International Animation Festival in August, and for a Short And Sweet screening next week.

All good news except he's now faced with the difficult decision of whether it would be cheaper to use his Oyster card or buy a day pass.

Cippi in... (again)

2009-07-03T20:23:00.004+01:00

Linked to these last year but found some nicer quality ones on YouTube. Some Italian gum adverts directed by Matthew Walker for Arthur Cox and Aardman. It is quite important to understand that when Cippi (that's the chipmunk) chews the gum it allows him to have icy farts (obviously). Here are two I animated on:

Say Freeze

Stuck On You

You can see more on YouTube or on the official Cippi website.

I once played football with an Italian man who found out I worked on these and he gave me a high five.

4mations EIFF highlights

2009-06-30T18:09:00.006+01:00

Here's a round up of The surprise demise of Francis Cooper’s mother from the 4mations blog:

"Alexei Sayle provides the voice over for this slice of life, as we follow three characters through break ups, accidents and pet death. This is funny and full of well observed details. The moments before and after events are well done. We get a good insight into who these people are from the little things they do. That said, maybe I’m missing something but there doesn’t seem to be any connection between the three characters. I’m left wondering why they share a film."

Some more nice things. To respond to the wondering: I used three characters because I was trying to show that people quite often react in similar ways to "disasters". That, often, people look for one specific moment as inspiration to change - which doesn't always happen and so in this film they each force an epiphany upon themselves and, because it's contrived, in the end they don't change at all. Having three characters with different stories, but following one format, where the only link is their "epiphany's" I thought would draw this out more. I suppose it didn't work that well.

Glad to see Rabbit Punch by Kristian Andrews was their favourite though. Mine too.

Screen International UK Stars of Tomorrow 2009

2009-06-28T17:53:00.014+01:00

"Massie's talent for making wryly amusing and morbidly deadpan animated shorts featuring stick figures has turned him into something of a film-festival star. His graduation short, Keith Reynolds can't make it tonight, about an office worker having a bad day, was an international festival hit last year. His latest, The surprise demise of Francis Cooper's mother, a technically and narratively more ambitious short about fate, is impressing audiences around the world, most recently at Annecy and Edinburgh. For now, Massie is happy to hone his storytelling skills in the short format. His next short, set in 1960s America, will be his first to include dialogue, and he is also developing a TV series for young adults with Arthur Cox animation studio."

Patricia Dobson; UK Stars of Tomorrow; Screen International issue 1694; June 26th, 2009; page 25.

What nice things to say. Find out if she's right tomorrow. Or maybe the day after.

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009 day 2

2009-06-21T20:58:00.004+01:00

Last nights screening went ok I think. I managed to not fall asleep once and I peered over at a mans audience ballot and saw he'd voted Francis Cooper as his second favourite. 2nd the best.

This morning I watched Brendan And The Secret Of Kells after having to miss it at Annecy. Was good. Then I went up Arthur's Seat and now I'm at the airport, and so, ending my trip to EIFF for 2009.

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009 day 1 part 2

2009-06-20T12:50:00.003+01:00

Have collected my delegates pack and am pleased to receive possibly the best filmmakers pass I've ever had (barcode, numbers, photo etc). Have also already bumped into one of the producers for my film which was a nice surprise. The 3.50am start to get my flight is taking it's toll though. Could fall asleep any second nzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009 day 1

2009-06-20T06:27:00.006+01:00

Decided at the last minute to go to Edinburgh! The surprise demise of Francis Cooper's mother is in the McLaren Animation 1 screening. It is on at 18:20 tonight in Filmhouse 2.

My husband and I are trying to lose weight

2009-06-18T15:52:00.004+01:00

Here's a Slimquick commercial/advert I animated on with Emma Lazenby. I was the husband*, she was the wife.

I also did all the pigeons** in this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRgo3k33zV4

...and Matthew Walker did the rest. I will keep an eye out for the 30 second one of that as it's good. Despite the "Extremely Stupid" title on YouTube.

*(and the wife in the packshot)
**(and the packshot!)

Annecy 2009 day 2, 3 and 4

2009-06-12T23:45:00.009+01:00

Managed to see Shorts 2 and 3. More delights being Rains/L'ondée by David Coquard-Dassault, Slaves/Slavar by Hanna Heilborn and David Aronowitsch, and The Spine by Chris Landreth.

I hope some of these I've been mentioning win things.

Day four of Annecy consisted of getting a taxi to Geneva and flying to a mysterious location to do exciting things. Am now back in Bristol. A short lived Annecy this year. Nevermind.

Annecy 2009 day 1

2009-06-08T23:35:00.003+01:00

Francis Cooper made his French premier last night. He didn't have subtitles and he can't speak French so I'm not sure how well people understood him but at least the cat went down well.

I saw Shorts Programme 1 too. Think my favourite was Krokodill by Kaspar Jancis.