LIAF 2022: UK Animation Industry Event Session 6 – Getting Animation off the Screen: From Pixels to Products

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LIAF presents the 2022 UK Animation Industry Event – seven panels giving insider access to some of the hottest topics of the year. We’ve gathered together some of the most passionate, honest and insightful experts from a wide range of different areas and backgrounds who are ready to cover all manner of vital topics to give you much food for thought.

Animation doesn’t stand still; and debates and discussions with animators and creative experts are the best way to get in touch with what’s happening, whether it’s a look into the minds of some of the most creative forces making music videos in the 2020’s, a discussion on the career paths of women in the industry over the last decades, where AI Generated Imagery might be going, whether animation can be a viable and satisfying career for people who are neurodiverse, what the Metaverse might offer animators and can animation be a business as well as an artform.

For anyone currently working in the film and animation industry, thinking of working in the industry or just plain curious, these seven talks are indispensable.

The panels will be chaired by Saint John Walker, Dean/Director of Industry Engagement at Escape Studios, Julian Scott, animation consultant at Film London and Dara McGarry, Director of Outreach at DNEG Animation.

LIAF 2022: UK Animation Industry Event Session 6 – Getting Animation off the Screen: From Pixels to Products

Everyone dreams of income streams from animation related merchandise, or revenue and fan interest from tie-ins like blogs, miniatures or books, but getting your animated character or world OFF the screen and into peoples satchels or bedroom shelves isn’t easy, despite universal access to promotion through the internet and social media. We asked a group of animation experts to talk to us about the possibilities and challenges of getting your IP off the screen and into everyone’s hearts by turning pixels into plushies or giving them a life in the real world.

Panellists

Moderator: Saint John Walker, Dean/Director of Industry Engagement at Escape Studios

Saint is the author of the Core Skills of VFX Handbook and has designed and run VFX courses across the UK. He has been LIAF’s industry panel coordinator and chair for several years, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. At Escape he has chaired panel discussions for the annual VFX Festival, and has taken part in many Access:VFX activities online and in person.

Emma Calder

Emma studied Graphic Design at the London College of Printing and The Royal College of Art, which is where she began to experiment with animation. She directed various award winning pop videos in the 1980s including ‘Shame’ by the Eurythmics and ‘Close to the Edit’ by The Art of Noise. In 1989 she set up Pearly Oyster Productions with fellow animator Ged Haney, the pair co-directing the curious puppet animation children’s film ‘The Drummer’. Her film ‘The Queen’s Monastery’ (1998) was the first animated film to be funded by the National Lottery and received many prizes worldwide, was distributed in cinemas throughout the UK and in over fifty cinemas in North America. She has since directed several other films including her latest dark masterpiece ‘Beware of Trains’, currently doing the festival rounds.

Jo Redfern

Jo is a leader in children’s media with almost 2 decades’ experience in content strategy. She has worked on brands such as Peppa Pig, and at a variety of broadcasters and studios such as Disney and BBC’s Children’s and Education. Her passion is for developing content at the intersection of entertainment, education and technology, primarily across digital platforms such as YouTube, Roblox, TikTok & Fortnite, thus engaging young people where they spend most time. Of late, she is creating strategies for how young people will consume media in the ‘metaverse’ and using it to develop opportunities for new kids’ IP. Her passion is to create future-forward brands that make young people happy, that spark their imaginations and that make learning enjoyable.

Claire Underwood

Claire is an animated series director with over 25 years of industry experience.  She’s spent most of her career heading up BAFTA winning studio Pesky, alongside her partner David Hodgson.  As a company director, her experience and knowledge is deep and varied. She’s created and directed TV shows from concept, through all stages of production to licensing. She’s made websites and games, designed characters, logos and branding and produced style guides.  Claire created and directed ‘Boj’ on CBeebies – a property that went beyond TV and into licensed products, apps and a visitor attraction. More recently she’s worked at Blue Zoo, Lupus and Beakus, as well as lecturing at Brighton University.