Tuesday, 24 June 2008
D&AD Student awards 2008/HSI London
D&AD Student Awards 2008
TO EXPRESS ITS PERSONALITY
Animation
The Creation of a Character
Sponsored by HSI London
The brief
Create a character then portray it through an animation to express its personality.
Mandatory requirements
Your final entry will consist of two main parts; the creation and subsequent animation of your character,
submitted as follows:
• Creation: storyboards succinctly showing the process of how you created the character
• Animation: a finished piece (between 20 and 60 seconds)
Your character must be fully developed and the film should express his/her/its essential personality traits –
behaviour, appearance and interacting with surroundings.
We’d like to see new and innovative techniques as well as more traditional approaches. Ideally your entry will
demonstrate an aptitude for animation, the ability to bring personality to a static image, good design skills and the
ability to answer this brief with an engaging and creative overall concept.
Considerations
The brief can be interpreted literally or non-literally. The character could be yourself or someone you identify with, or
if you prefer, a completely fictional personality, or thing/creature.
Show your ability to animate a personality as opposed to just a character’s appearance. Observe carefully how
personality is expressed and try to achieve the same effect with animation. Think about your character’s quirks,
aspirations and dreams; its worst nightmare, political standpoint, dress-sense or lack of one, and so on; all the
things that make us individual. Then make sure that every detail of your animation expresses that personality.
Don’t over think or over develop your character in terms of design; whilst aesthetic forms an important and
engaging part of a character, the way in which personality is brought to life is just as important as making an
audience ‘believe’ in that character as a living, breathing entity. It is therefore essential to have a well-prepared
storyboard to ensure a good narrative structure for your animation (for example, to set the amount of scenes, shots
and also the composition).
Background
The Animation Division at HSI London represents directors with a variety of styles. We have no set house style and
look for work that is diverse and fresh; particularly styles that will work within the commercial and music industry.
We work with directors who are animators and artists themselves, so the talent is inherent to each director, not just
the team behind them.
The animation industry is becoming an ever expanding and popular platform for communication and entertainment,
and we are excited to be evolving and expanding with it. Creatively this is one industry where there genuinely are
no limits.
Further information
www.hsilondon.co.uk and www.dandad.org/studentawards08
Deliverables
Work mounted on no more than four A2 or A3 boards. Your finished film must adhere to the “Digital work
specification” available at the D&AD URL above.
Brief set by
Sam Hope and Juliette Stern, HSI London.