One eskimO

This is the trailer for a very cool project I worked on some time ago. It was a whole bunch of promos for the UK-based band One eskimO. It was directed by Sam Cundall for Passion Pictures and is being released by Warner Premiere. I animated a couple of scenes of the little eskimo:

Front page on the Harrow Observer / Virgin Media Shorts website

I was interviewed by the Harrow Observer the other week about being shortlisted for the Virgin Media Shorts competition and when I went to the newsagents I found out they had put me on the front page! It was a funny experience. Then there was a one page article right on page 3. That was very generous of them. Here are both pages:

There is also an interview on the Virgin Media Shorts website. Here's the introduction:

'I’m fascinated by the influences and imaginings that lead each one to bring their own particular short to life. If you’re with me on that one, take a look at the interviews with Regan and Carlos in particular for a fascinating insight into how two great films came into being.'

Here's the link:

http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/feature/carlos-fraiha/

And you can also read it here:

Virgin Media Shorts

'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' has been shortlisted for Virgin Media Shorts! The 12 shortlisted films will be transferred to 35mm and shown all over the UK in over 200 cinemas for a year, which is pretty much the best prize I could ever think of.

One of the competition organisers told me during an interview I should be especially proud to have my first animated film making the shortlist, because many of the other film-makers are very well established people in the industry, having directed commercials, music videos, etc. for years, and that the UK Film Council helped choose these finalists based on how promising the film-makers were, and considering how successful they would be in future projects. It was quite amazing to hear that.

We recorded an interview the other day, there was a photo shoot with me sitting in a director's chair (which they gave me as a present afterwards!), and I was also interviewed for the Harrow Observer and will be featured there on Thursday the 20th of August.

A jury will decide which one of the film-makers will get funding for a new short film, and there is also a People's Choice award on the website, so if you can please go there and give me your vote and leave a comment!

http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/films/film/ceci-nest-pas-une-mouche-this-is-not-a-fly/



The film is also in the Portable Film Festival in Australia, so please vote for it on their website too if you have some time:

http://portablefilmfestival.com/video.php?video=1013


It is also part of the official selection of:

- Animation Attack! (USA, 2009)
- NextFrame (USA, 2009)
- Bitfilm Festival (Germany, 2009)
- Cartoon Club International Festival of Animation Cinema and Comics (Italy, 2009)
- Bornshorts International Film Festival (Denmark, 2009)
- Budapest Short Film Festival (Hungary, 2009)
- Giggleshorts International Comedy Short Film Festival (Canada, 2009)
- China International Animation and Digital Arts Festival (China, 2009)
- Festival d'Oise du Court (France, 2009)
- International Low & No Budget Short Film Festival (Germany, 2009)
- Animacam (Spain, 2009)

And the film will be featured in 3D World Magazine in September as one of the nominated films for the Bitfilm Awards!

Special Jury Award / Best Character Award!

Last week 'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' has won two awards in Italy! The first was the 'Best Character Award' at the International Animation Festival of Dervio, and the second was the 'Special Jury Award' in the Festival Internazionale del Cinema d'Arte. These are the other film-makers Susan, Ron and Nicolas, the festival organizer Anita and me after the awards ceremony:

Comic-Con / IMDB / Festivals: Canada, Scotland, Russia, South Africa, Italy and Brazil!

'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' is now part of the official selection of the:

- Toronto Animated Image Society Animation Showcase (at the NFB Cinema - what an honour!);
- Message to Man International Film Festival (St Petersburg, Russia);
- Durban International Film Festival (South Africa);
- and... COMIC-CON!!! The Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival will happen in San Diego as part of the massive conference. Wish I could be there for the screening!!

I have been contacted by organisers of other festivals that were present at some of the screenings and have now invited me to show the film in their events! These include:

- Festcine - Festival de Cinema Universitario (which happens in Brazil in my hometown Belo Horizonte and in Rio!);
- Animation Film Festival of Dervio;
- and ISCA - Istituto per lo Studio del Cinema di Animazione di Milano.

Continuing with the list, last week it was screened at the Leith Short Film Festival in Edinburgh. Beautiful city!

For those of you that speak German, the film has been featured on the 'Britspotting' website in their spotlight section, with a very funny description: http://de.britspotting.de/2009/05/13/spotlight-on-carlos-fraiha/

It finished its run as a semifinalist in the Yobi Film Contest, making the top 10, and it had almost 50,000 views on the website!

The film also has a page on IMDB now! Because of some of the festival screenings, I was invited by them to set up a page, and now it's up with a trailer and everything =) Check it out on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1439528/

Yobi Film Contest

'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' is only a few days from the finals in the Yobi Film Contest. The film has had 40855 views in the website! Please check it out in the link below and give me a vote if you can ;) Thank you!

http://yobi.tv/semifinalists/view/96

Festival News: Portugal, Greece, France and Italy!

'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' has recently been screened at the Algarve International Film Festival in Portugal!

I was invited by the festival to spend a few days there and it was great to meet other film-makers and watch such good films. The place itself was beautiful and the hosts were lovely and took very good care of us. The film was one of the 62 short films selected for the festival out of more than 3000 submissions!

The film is now part of the official selection of:

- The Athens Video Art Festival (Greece)
- Croq'Anime (France)
- Festival Internazionale del Cinema d'Arte (Italy)
- International Short Film Festival of Montecatini Terme (Italy, 2009)

It has been a lot of hard work, but it pays off in the end. I am thrilled that the film has been getting all this exposure.

Still in the subject of festival news but now about another project - 'As vezes num dia de chuva', the experimental video I made with some friends some time ago (there is more info on the film and the award it won below), will be screened at the Festival Pocket Films in Paris this summer!

Finalist in the Imagine Student Competition and Propeller TV Student Fest

'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' was one of the 10 finalists in the Imagine Student Competition 2008 and was screened at the Encounters Film Festival in Bristol late last year.

It is also among the finalists in the Propeller TV Student Fest, and will be broadcast on Propeller TV (Sky channel 195), on Sunday 22nd February at 23:10. It will be screened along with the other winning films at the Leeds Festival, Reading Festival, Latitude Festival and at the Hull International Short Film Festival.

'Time Out favourite' / Short film on the National Gallery website / Latest projects

During the DLA Film Festival in November/December, Time Out magazine had a few notes on the festival programme, and 'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' (This is not a fly) was mentioned as a 'Time Out favourite' in the shorts programme!

All the short films from the 'Transcriptions: Animation' project are now on the National Gallery website on http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/collection/transcriptions/new_animation/default.htm






























The project I worked on at Partizan Lab, a promo for the song 'Violent and Young' from the band Iglu & Hartly, is now out. I animated some of the smoke, bullets, muzzle fire, and also the shadows on the characters. This was done in Flash and After Effects, while the main animation was hand drawn:

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2008 Vivo arte.mov New Media Arts Festival!

'As vezes, num dia de chuva', the experimental video I created with Juliana Andrade e Rodrigo Moreira in 2007 has just won the Audience Award at the 2008 Vivo arte.mov New Media Arts Festival.

The short film mixes live action footage with excerpts from poems of celebrated Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa, and was initially one of the 39 shorts selected out of a total of 625 submitted works.

Statement about my film in Imagine magazine

The September/October issue of Imagine magazine had an article on the short films we did at Central Saint Martins for the National Gallery as our final projects.

There is an introduction on the project and statements from three animators, Rachel Thorn, Peter Kasim and myself. We are already in November, but I hope you can still find that issue of the magazine in book stores. If not, here is the first page with the introduction and my statement:

Semifinalist in the Yobi Film Contest!

My animation 'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' won the 6th weekly round of the Yobi Film Contest and is now one of the semifinalists in the competition. The final round will happen in April 2009. The link to my entry is: http://yobi.tv/yobifilm/contestants/view/853

Experimental video selected for the 2008 Vivo arte.mov New Media Arts Festival

Not exactly on the animation side of things but still great news, I have recently been informed that an experimental video I did in 2007 with two friends, Juliana Andrade and Rodrigo Moreira, is part of the official selection of the 2008 Vivo arte.mov New Media Arts Festival in Brazil.

The short 'As vezes, num dia de chuva', mixing live action footage with excerpts from poems of celebrated Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa, was one of the 39 shorts selected out of a total of 625 submitted works. The video can be seen on the festival website: http://www.artemov.net

Discovering Latin America Film Festival

The DLA Film Festival invited me to show my short film 'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' at 4 of their screenings in the beginning of December as part of their Local Talent selection! The screenings will happen at the Odeon Panton Street and at the Ritzy Picturehouse in London, preceding live action features. You can find all the details on: http://www.discoveringlatinamerica.com/dlaff/schedule/event.php?id=235


Last night there was a warm up party for the festival, and they showed 4 Brazilian short films, 3 of them animated. I noticed mine was the only project animated single-handedly, while the other ones had crews of 5 to 10 people, so I was really proud to be among that group. Another thing that made me smile was that they had an image from my short film on the invite for the event:

Aardman Talent Showcase

Had some very good news this week: I was invited to show my work at the Aardman Talent Showcase in November! I'm such a big fan of their work - it will be great to get to know some of the people from the studio. If anyone is coming to the event, it will be great to see you there! These are some parts of the panel I've prepared to present my work:

Latest animation work

I worked on this animation for the Charlotte Street Agency over 15 days. It was very intense, as it's about 2 minutes of animation. I really like the style and character designs they came up with. They provided the animatic and sound effects. Bill Elliot, who studied with me, did the editing, and I did all of the animation. Please check their website for a higher resolution version: http://www.thecharlottestreetagency.com

Festival news!

My short film 'Ceci n'est pas une mouche':

. was invited to be screened at the Discovering Latin America Film Festival in London!

. will be screened at the National Gallery, London, on 25 September;

. was selected for the Istanbul International Children's Film Festival;

. and in August I was also invited by Time Out to show the film at their event 'On the Up', of up and coming talents!

Final film | Ceci n'est pas une mouche (This is not a fly)

This is my final film, which was created in only 2 months, from initial concept to final product. It was a lot of work and not much sleeping, but it was still worth it:

Final project: concept / character design / final version

The first thing I though of when I saw the painting of 'Saint Catherine of Alexandria' by Carlo Crivelli was how it reminded me of Magritte's 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe' (this is not a pipe). Crivelli painted a real size fly next to a 30cm tall saint, and to me both of these artists were playing with the same ideas of reality and representation. That's where I got my title, 'Ceci n'est pas une mouche' (this is not a fly), which makes a reference to Magritte at the same time that it captures the playfull tone of the story. Here's a link to the painting by Crivelli at the National Gallery website: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=ng907.1


These are some of my tests for character designs. I tried everything, from tall and short, fat and thin, young and old. I tried several kinds of head shapes, legs, arms, hands, noses... I probably have more than a hundred versions. But at one point it all started going in one direction that I felt would be more suitable for how cartoony I wanted it to look, and it had to be a design that would work in 3D. I also explored some different situations and emotions along the way. These are a few of these tests:













This is my final character design in 3 different views:



And this is what it looks like in the final 3D version. I did the modeling, and my mentor, to whom I'll be eternally grateful, did the rigging for me.

Final project: Animatic

This is my second version of the animatic for my final project. The first version needed a few cuts and a quicker pace, so I came up with this one. The more finished drawings are the parts that I kept from the first try. A guy is at a gallery, sees something in a painting, then realizes it's just a fly painted on the surface. When he turns away, he starts hearing a buzz and every time he looks at the painting it stops. He starts doubting himself, but can't get too close to the painting because an angry cctv camera won't let him: