Kilogramme Talk Part 1

Kilogramme is an animation company located in Manchester that creates short animations, both corporate and not. they use a lot of 2D styles that I love - thick lines, simple shapes, and very fun.

Notes

Had been working at Cosgrove Hall Digital for a few years - more technical side. Slowly built Kilogramme up over these 10 years.
Do a lot of smaller briefs, keep practice going, can use these for trying new things. Think that it is easier to put life into 2D characters. Dr Who shorts - mix of 2D and 3D animation.  Some 2D work for Jim Carey's A Christmas Carol. Worked again with a lot of people who gave the briefs and who may have worked with them i.e doing the 3D parts.

Use of 3D cameras with 2D things. In 2011 felt meh about some of the stuff that they were producing. Though about doing more shorts - won awards for some, asked to make more from people who saw them which allowed them to make a sequel from their short.

"We've got a dry subject, can you do a funny film?" Try to keep up to date with tech - need to have a good story though (unless it is Transformers :P) Need to think how you can stand out. Even with good animation you need to be able to pull people in. Get idea first to build off - have a few people at Kilogramme work on them together. Time to make ideas depends on deadlines - 3 week deadline might mean only 1 day on ideas. 1 week maybe for a 2 month brief, which is what they often get. Storyboards etc have to be done very early on. Own projects - longer is fine. Started a film in 2002, took at least 7 years to do but then wanted something different anyway. They have gotten to the point now where they can turn people down. Might receive better jobs while working on one but mostly just work on one brief at a time. Pitching against other companies - like 30 - put a lot of work in but don't necessarily get a response. Companies sometimes ask to 'copy a style - but are they just trying to knock prices down from other places? Having a dialogue first w/the company is good but not always possible. Need to know what you're getting across - bounce ideas and pitch against other people to make sure interesting etc script - design - SBs -audio somewhere along here - animatic - animation - final render/post production.