Newcastle icons ready to get animated
The Newcastle International Animation Festival, which last year produced Daniel Johns’ official music video for his single Going on 16, is back with a new challenge to create a GIF of a Newcastle icon.
The GIF This City competition is set to inspire artists to create a short animation of a local icon in an attempt to playfully highlight the uniqueness of Newcastle. Think famous landmarks, people, places, buildings, moments in time or pop culture references.
Whether it’s the obelisk, the funny weatherman, the shark in Lake Mac, Nobby’s or that dreadlocked dog on Darby St, participants should GIF whatever they feel makes Newcastle awesome.
Entries will be judged by world-renowned agency Jacky Winter/Gif Horse and screened at the festival, providing a fantastic opportunity for upcoming professionals to have their work recognised in the industry.
Festival organiser and University of Newcastle (UON) lecturer in Visual Communication Design, Jane Shadbolt, said the event will be a great opportunity for the local community to experience seeing Newcastle in a whole new light.
“We’re excited not only to have some of the world’s most interesting animations come to Newcastle, but also to give our local creatives the chance to have some fun and take ownership of this gorgeous place that we live in.
“Creating a GIF and having it judged by some of the leaders in GIF creation is a once in a lifetime opportunity and something I’m so excited we have the chance to offer our students and local industry,” she said.
Ms Shadbolt and her animation students were the brains behind UON’s viral Taylor Swift Shake It Off animation, which made waves internationally in 2015. This year, the festival will include short animations from UON students Renee MacIntosh, Zoe Lawrence and Andrew White.
Mr White recently worked with animation studio Mighty Nice to help create the music video for Bury It by CHVRCHES featuring Hayley Williams, which has almost two million views on YouTube.
UON is working in partnership with local agency Guts Creative to bring the festival to fruition. Director of Guts, Kara Sullivan, said they are excited to be back on board for another year of quirky animation.
“There’s so much talent in this city and the festival is such a great thing to provide off-beat inspiration from around the globe. We hope the GIF This City comp, which has been made possible by Newcastle Now, gives a fun platform to our local creative community to help maintain Newcastle’s reputation as a thriving creative industry,” she said.
The Newcastle International Animation Festival will take place 26 – 27 August at Tower Cinemas, King Street. It will include 74 films from around the world, including the Australian premiere of animated series Prisoner Zero from Planet 55 studios.
The festival is part of the prestigious Melbourne International Animation Festival.
To study animation at UON in 2017, look into the Bachelor of Creative Industries
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