As part of the Cultural Olympiad, The World Shakespeare Festival set out to showcase the best of UK and international creative talent, through its celebration of Shakespeare as ‘the world’s playwright’.

The festival has certainly been capitalising on the wealth of creativity within UAL, and a collaboration with CSM MA Character Animation is the latest in a series of unique and mutually-enriching projects. Here we speak to MA Character Animation’s senior lecturer Steve Roberts and two students to get an insight into the animated film project, and take a look at some works-in-progress.

Steve Roberts

How did the MA Character Animation and World Shakespeare Festival relationship come about?
We are always keen for our students to work on live projects with excellent partners. The opportunity to work with the RSC came about through another collaboration they had underway with CSM – and we couldn’t resist!

What is the brief?
Our students were invited by the RSC to respond to one of the ‘shipwreck trilogy’ – which includes Twelfth Night and The Tempest. They each selected a passage that dealt with the theme of ‘Devices and Disguises’. Professor Shelley Page, Head of International Outreach at Dreamworks as well as CSM’s Visiting Professor of Animation, was involved with the project from the outset and came up with the theme. Her idea was for the short films to be inspired by a scene from one of the plays that involved a disguise or revelation. She started the project off by screening a programme of animated shorts on this theme and then went on to give each student feedback on the development of their initial ideas.

The students are now in the process of making a short one minute animated film inspired by this scripting device. These particular texts were chosen as the Company has the plays in production at London’s Roundhouse at the moment. They will be transferring to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in July this year. When they do so, our films will be broadcast on screens in various locations around the Theatre – which is fantastic.

In what ways have the students responded so far?
The students have come up with a very diverse selection of ideas. Some are literal, some are completely ‘out there’. In various ways, all have delighted, surprised or amused the Artistic Director of the RSC, Michael Boyd. Michael was extremely generous and spent a day with the students in May, responding to their films at a rough-cut interim crit. He approached each of the thirty films with a fresh critical eye, and gave every student insightful and measured feedback which really encouraged and supported them. I’m expecting to see a series of films which build on the feedback from Michael, the course tutors and peer review, and we won’t have too long to wait as they only have a couple of weeks left to finish – so plenty of late nights/early mornings!

What sorts of benefits and opportunities does an experience like this give to students?
Working with a real life internationally esteemed client. Working to a deadline. Coming up with ideas to pitch and to complete in a short time-scale. A showcase for their work at a prestigious venue, as well as some films being featured on the myShakespeare website. And a fantastic thing to put on their CVs – those are some pretty strong opportunities and benefits for our students.

Maxim Northover

What was your relationship with Shakespeare’s work like before you started this project?
By pure coincidence I was reading The Tempest for the first time when I began this course last October, so the opportunity to work on animation inspired by the same play was auspicious. Animating Shakespeare was also a satisfying prospect as it was the BBC’s animated version of The Twelfth Night that first made Shakespeare’s plays accessible to me at an early age. Ever since then I have enjoyed seeing Shakespeare in the theatre and reading his plays.

What was your initial reaction to the brief?
Because of my interest in Shakespeare I was delighted to have the chance to work with the RSC and enthusiastic to get stuck into the project. The brief detailed Shakespearean disguises and transformations, which was such a terrific starting point for a one-minute animation. When visiting lecturer Shelley Page set the brief she showed us a number of engaging short animations, including Aria by Pjotr Sapegin, which particularly ignited my imagination.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39ajY_ITD8Y&w=450&h=338]

Can you describe what you’re doing for this project – what angle did you choose to take and why?
This brief offered me the perfect opportunity to make a stop-motion puppet animation. I felt that by working with puppets it would be possible to emulate a strong theatrical feeling suitable for a Shakespeare-inspired short.

I also began researching Japanese Kabuki theatre and was struck by the many correlations between Kabuki and Shakespearean theatre. I was interested in the potential of retelling a scene from The Tempest through a Kabuki-inspired animation.

The college library has such a rich supply of books on Kabuki and enabled me to study the wigs, costumes, sets and the characteristic dances. I also learned about a rapid on-stage costume change known as hikinuki. As soon as I saw this I knew that was what I wanted it to be the main visual of my short animation. I chose to depict Ariel’s transformation into a harpy as a Kabuki style costume change. I made costumes from real kimono fabrics and miniature wigs for the two characters Ariel and Prospero.

What has your experience of working with the RSC been like so far?
The enthusiasm of the visiting members of the RSC was very encouraging. They offered some insightful feedback and responded imaginatively to the work in progress. I appreciated these opportunities to present my work at the various stages of production, the deadlines helped me to manage the relatively short time we had more effectively.

This collaboration has inspired some brilliant films from the other students, everyone on the course has worked hard and that has been really motivating. I’m looking forward to seeing all the finished films on show in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Where do you hope to take this relationship and/or this project in particular in the future?
The finished film is just one minute, so I can imagine developing a longer story with the same characters. However, the puppets would need a few essential repairs first! I’m quite pleased with the results of my first puppet animation, something I would like to put on my show-reel and enter into competitions over the summer.

Visit Maxim’s website

Ana García

What was your relationship with Shakespeare’s work like before you started this project?
I’m Spanish, so before this I hadn’t read much Shakespeare, to be honest (we are mostly taught about Spanish literature in school), but I knew who he was and had read pieces of plays in Literature classes. Shakespeare is such a big figure in literature and theatre that is very hard not to know at least the most famous references to his work (“To be or not to be…”).

What was your initial reaction to the brief?
The first reaction was to be a little afraid. I don’t consider myself a very good storyteller, so it was a challenge. That is why my idea doesn’t deviate too much from the play, although I tried to make it as ‘mine’ as I could.

Can you describe what you’re doing for this project – what angle did you choose to take and why?
My focus was partly motivated by a practical issue, I wanted to be safe and work within my limits to not try to take on more than I could handle. But also, if the idea didn’t appeal to me, I wasn’t going to be able to work on it fully. So I chose my favourite character (Feste) and started exploring from there. I had a couple of weeks in which I was just reading and brainstorming ideas into a notebook and some sketches.

I chose Feste’s relation to Olivia because I saw something not told in there. Maybe the film from 1996 influenced me on that. Feste’s character became much richer if he actually cared for Olivia and had a motive behind his jokes and teasing: he cared for her and wanted her to be happy. Olivia does behave a little like a stubborn teenager, so I tried to give them a sort of father/daughter or uncle/niece relationship.

What has your experience of working with the RSC been like so far?
So far the RSC has showed a lot of interest in us, which is nice because animation is hard work and it’s always good to know that the people you are working for have real interest on what you’re doing. Personally, the feedback I received (during the animatic crit) was the best one: I was presenting a draft of the story in images, giving them a rough timing and an approach to the style I wanted. They recognised all that and told me honestly where they saw I was having problems, especially regarding the story, if it was understandable or not (it wasn’t). With that feedback, I could rewrite and redraw and reorganise all in a better way. I had to push things in schedule, but it was better on the long run.

Any thing else to add?
If you are interested, I have this video of the whole process of animating a shot, from the keyframe stage ‘til the colour stage.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBU4yb1rawU&w=450&h=253]

Visit Ana’s Youtube channel for more animation

Find out more:
- MA Character Animation course page