S5S restructured

Sector5 Studios is undergoing a restructuring which will change quite a few elements of who we are and how we will work.  The idea of Sector5 Studios came to life almost 6 months ago with the company being launched in August.

However, we feel that a change needs to be made from everything we have learnt over the past 6 months. On reflection we believe it will be possible to run everything more effectively by being a collective of animators under the name of Sector5 Studios. This means we are able to work on our own projects whilst keeping our pool of talent as broad as possible for bigger contracts.

This also marks the end of this blog, whilst the animators of S5S focus on their own individual blog and identity. You can follow our blogs below:

If you enjoyed reading these blogs, you can follow my blog at:
http://ravimaheru.blogspot.com/

S5S animator Matt Ayris keeps his blog regularly updated with sketches and concept art:
http://doodlemation.blogspot.com/

Animator Spotlight: Alessandro Nicholas

As promised in a past blog update, here's the first of four spotlights on the animators of S5S. This week's spotlight is on S5S animator, Alessandro Nicholas:

Describe yourself as an animator?

"A 2d digital animator that's inspired by the traditional art of animation but trying to bring it into the digital age."

What are your thoughts on the UK animation industry?

"There's a lot of great talent in the UK and a lot of famous studios and production companies but it's extremely difficult for people to get into the industry when they're starting out. There is very limited resources to help people enter the animation industry, especially in this modern climate with budget cuts and cuts to funding that were there to help animators in the past."

Whats your thoughts on 2D in the world of animation?

"2d animation is unfortunately dying out due to the popularity of 3d animations and films. its still used often enough but unless the animation style is unique and never before seen 2d animation doesn't tend to get the recognition it should be obtaining."

What sparked your interest in animation?

"Games actually got me into animation. i love playing games and as a kid i loved to draw so the idea of being able to designs and animate my own character really sparked on my interest in animation, although in a perfect world i would preferably like to have more of a conceptual role in animations. i have always enjoyed creating characters and creatures, and having the freedom to draw whatever comes to mind, so being able to do that as my job would be a dream come true."

Having graduated earlier this year, what was your experience like as a student?

"University really helped me to understand what i wanted to do with my life and helped me get the skills I'd need to achieve those goals.  the community was great as well as the lecturer's, there was always something around making you want to push yourself harder and up your skills."



A still of his graduation film, Flake

"Developing Flake was a great way to develop my skills with 2d animation as everything i was doing was very new, and in a way i was experimenting with new techniques while trying to make the best of the software and skills i had at hand."

What advice would you give to current students?

"keep drawing, and obtain a great understanding of perspective and basic anatomy. the best skill an animator can have in their arsenal is to be able to draw a character in any position or at any perspective that the story calls for."

An interview at Animation Forum

Earlier this week we were interviewed at Animation Forum West Midlands (AFWM) by Jessica Allman, which is now available to read on the AFWM website:

http://www.animationforumwm.co.uk/post/2011/10/12/Sector-5-Studios-set-up-by-graduates-to-show-enterprising-within-animation-industry.aspx

We were delighted to have the opportunity to be interviewed and would like to give our thanks to the team at AFWM.

This week also saw Shorts on Walls hosted at the Lighthouse (by AFWM) on Thursday 13th October. Sector5 Studios were present as well as having animations from S5S screened (Caged and Overtime) which will be screened at FLIP festival later this month.

FLIP festival 2011 open shorts

With FLIP festival 2011 drawing closer, the open shorts list was revealed this week. We are pleased to announce that two of our animators have had their graduation films selected for the screenings.

Caged (Ravi Maheru) has been selected for Saturday's 1:30pm screenings which has had a dedicated blog post here in the past. Overtime (Gary Jones) has also been selected for the the 1:30pm screenings on the Saturday. This will be the debut screening of the animation and this weeks blog post will be dedicated to overtime.

A stressed worker is about to embark on a surreal journey

The stop motion film features an overstressed worker in her office. When the workload becomes too much she is transported to a world made of post it notes, as she encounters the the weird and wonderful.

Each post it note was animated individually on a wall over the time frame of five to six months by S5S animator, Gary, as well as fellow animators who believed in his vision and joined the production team. Actress, Sara Bracknell, was then added in post production interacting with the post it world.

"Just want to thank everyone involved with Overtime for their patience with me and their help throughout the making of the film. Wouldn't have been possible without you guys."  - Gary thanks everyone involved with the project



Meet office worker / diver

 Keep a look out for both films at FLIP festival 2011 on Saturday 29th October. We'll of course be there too.

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Our Gallery is now up and running on our site and will be updated regularly with more images for you to all check out.

Ringmaster Project Revealed

At last, it's time to reveal what the ringmaster project really is! (Drum roll please)



The screen is no longer censored as we reveal the project


As you can see from the screenshot we have been working on an entry for the FLIP sting competition that ends on October 1st. The animation is limited 10 seconds and must use at least one of the following:

1. FLIP logo
2. Sound files provided with the competition
3. the word or letters of FLIP

We've ticked two of the above with the use of their logo and using the sound files they've provided. The sound files shaped the vision for our entry featuring dark, carnival themed music and so the ringmaster came to life with his mysterious cart.



The Ringmaster leads the viewer towards FLIP logo

With the animation almost complete, we'll be sure to update this blog in a few days time with the final animation uploaded and entered into the competition on Vimeo.

Meet the Animators of S5S

It's time you were introduced to the animators of Sector5:

Matt Ayris says:

"I have a great passion for traditional drawing and contemporary illustration, I also incorperate these ideas into my 2D animations. I am the director of the studio and my greatest goal is to create fresh and impressive animations."

Gary Jones says:

"I'm an animator recently graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a strong passion for stop frame animation and using it in new and experimental ways. As well as a passion for stop frame I am also interested in many 2D and 3D animation techniques."

Ravi Maheru says:

"A huge fan of creating stories and to immerse the audience in the worlds I create. I specialise in 3D animation (Maya) and mixed media. I'm also in charge of the social media, which means that it's me speaking on this blog, twitter, facebook and so on"

Sandro Nicholas says:

"Having recently graduated from University of Wolverhampton, I specialise in digital 2D animation with a passion for conceptual art and actively learning Zbrush. My priorities in the studio are creating awareness of our brand and promoting the company"

In future blogs we'll have dedicated posts for each animator, so look forward to them.