Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

This year's Animated Exeter festival features a big selection of short films made by people in Devon.

The festival - at venues around Exeter from 15-23 February - has workshops, exhibitions, talks, and screenings.

As well as some of the best international animated films, the event also has the British Animation Awards, and screenings of several films made by local people.

The Two Minnows by Coombeshead College

The ExAnimation scheme is open to schools and young people under the age of 18 in the South West, and of the 20 films selected for screening, eight of them are made in Devon.

Contributors are Dartmouth Community College, with two films, St David's Primary in Exeter, Isca College of Media Arts, and Coombeshead College in Newton Abbot.

Tom Ball, aged 15 from Barnstaple, has made a short film called Nacho and Salsa; Barnaby Walters from Buckfastleigh presents his short film, Anachronites; and three generations of a Devon family created a five minute film called The Everlasting Rose - you can see the film using the link on this page.

Tom made his film entirely at home: "It's a western based animation about the antics of a cowboy," said Tom. "He's a hapless cowboy called Nacho and he's got a hobbling horse called Salsa.

"I think of an idea for a short sketch, then design and develop the characters involved and do a storyboard.

"For Nacho and Salsa, I used Plasticene, and made the set at home. The trickiest thing is making the skeleton inside the Plasticene out of balsa wood and wire.

Nacho and Salsa by Tom Ball, aged 15

"The joints must be flexible so you can animate the models properly without them falling to pieces when they are moved hundreds of times.

"I used a digital camera and then ran it through my computer using an editing package. For a five minute film I would make about 4,500 digital photo frames."

Tom is hoping for a career in films: "I've done animated films before as a hobby, but this is my first proper one when I've been thinking about it. I'm entering competitions now, so it is more serious."

You can watch Nacho and Salsa by clicking onto the link on this page.

The Screen out Loud category at the festival features three films made by local people over the age of 18.

They are Death by Scrabble by Katie Steed from Hemyock; The Red Suitcase by Saul Freed from Crediton; and I'm Just An Ordinary Fly by Amanda Seymour from Exmouth.

One of the Quay Brothers puppets

And the festival's 90-second trailer, to be shown before every film screening during the event, has been made by 18-year-old Joe Shields from Dawlish. The trailer plays on the letters in the word Animation. Joe put together the short animation as part of the Was Project in Newton Abbot.

The locally made films can be viewed at the Best of the South West showcase at Exeter Picturehouse on 21 February at 2pm.

Other highlights of the festival include Dormitorium, a unique collection of sets, puppets and other creations by Bafta nominated twins The Quay Brothers.

The collection is on display at the University of Exeter from 17 January to 23 February, and there's a chance to chat with the Quay Brothers at Exeter Picturehouse on Saturday, 16 February.

Also on 16 February, Curtis Jobling will be at the Exeter Picturehouse to sign his book, Frankenstein's Cat. Curtis is best known as the character designer of Bob the Builder.

This year sees the launch of a new scheme, Young and Animated, which aims to get local young animators more directly involved in the festival.

Young people under-18 can work on projects for future Animated Exeter festivals, and can stage events during the rest of the year as well.

Anyone who is interested in taking part can attend the launch at Exeter Phoenix on 23 February.

For more information about Animated Exeter 2008, visit the website which is linked from this page.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Devon also hopes to showcase some of the locally made films from this page - watch this space.

Animated Exeter 2008
Various venues
15-23 February 2008
www.animatedexeter.co.uk