Episode 89 'Measuring my Love of Star Wars'

  

This is a very belated Star Wars related (accidentally rhyming with excellent timing) piece of writing. I'm not going to delve into my own review, because I'm not a film critic and I'm certainly not capable of writing anything mildy serious. Instead, I'm going to write a few words as a Star Wars fan, a cinema goer and a twenty nine year old child.

I ******* loved it. I loved the film. I love Star Wars. I bloody love you. I went to the midnight viewing, opening night, with my good friend Daniel James after an evening of blue milk (courtesy of Aunt Beru), the Christmas Special (courtesy of bad taste) and watching the loveable BB-8 patrol the room (simply a courtesy). I was very nervous; I could feel my heart pounding the closer I got to screen 7. I honestly don't think I have ever felt so excited, scared and emotionally drained in such a hypnotic way. 

I have since watched it two more times, bringing the total to thrice. And if the Odeon cinema prices were a little more fanboy friendly it could easily have been double figures. I just found it so rewatchable. There were absolutely loads of easter eggs and nods to the original trilogy; I pointed out, in a flailing fashion, Luke's training remote, a box droid, the hologram chess set, Luke's lightsaber (which actually played a vital role in the film), the Empires' mouse droid, quotes from Obi-wan and Yoda and even a trash compactor reference (eep!). Here is my conclusion in the medium of video...

I've had rather an intense December, regarding Star Wars, due to the convention I attended early on in the month and, of course, the lead up to The Force Awakens. To summarise, I have had more Star Wars toys, costumes, books, comics, badges, limited editions, signed photographs, outtings, tshirts and socks than I did when I was a child. Being twenty nine at the moment, I have the same affiliation with toys in general to the ten year old Thomas. This puts things vaguely into perspective, roughly placing my peak of intelect and maturity at the age of twenty two (second year of University and career driven) and gives me a forecast into how my life might pan out. Thus speaking, I predict that my next peak of responsible obligation will be at the ripe age of forty eight. Here, I made a graph;

Regardless of such extensive calculations, there is certainly a pattern emerging. This is exactly why I'm so lucky to be working in the animation industry; everyone has toys, mascots, models and can quote from Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future and Indiana Jones (to say but a very few). You have to be a man child to work in a place like this!

So proud

 

So it's 2016 now, hey? Well, shit. I have already eaten several pounds of leftover cheese and not batted a chubby eyelid on exercising. But I have thought about my productivity in a creative sense, especially when I realised that I hadn't used my SLR camera for nion a whole bloody year. So I have a list of things I either need to finish or have wanted to make for god knows how long. Here we go...

• Stoppit & Tidyup sculpts (paint them!)
• Bird feeder for Nan and Grandad (assemble it fool!)
• Millenium Falcon and Tie Fighter Airfix (build, paint, admire)
• Finn & Jake Adventure Time toothbrush stand (incredibly belated Xmas present for Lucy)
• Helms Deep model [Warhammer scale] (what? Dream on!)
• Illustrate and paint my own card range 
• actually use my digital SLR camera

Ultimately, in light of a new year, one might consider an absolute new venture. And mine is the possibility of working abroad. I've already started to look at other studios in America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, some of which are rather big (*cough* LAIKA). This is nothing to do with my current work at Factory because, like Yamination Studios, it has made me the model maker I am today.

I am more than happy to stay here in Manchester, I absolutely love working at Factory, but when you hear that a fellow colleague has had job offers at both LAIKA and WETA Workshop, you can have the tendency to feel outrageously jealous. Jealous of YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE YOU LUCKY BASTARD!!! hehe *grits teeth*.

I haven't been idle. I have begun the ol' CV revamp, showreel updating and googling everything else. But with a new hope comes a phantom menace in the form of a very despairing electronic mail. It was from a chap called Nick from across the pond and from what I gather, the studio is no more...

 

It sounded very Hollywood; I actually imagined King Theodon's voice when reading Nick's email. But I shall quest on. If anything gives me more ambition in life, it's to keep the stop motion going. Or in true fashion of The Tribe it's to 'Keep The Dream Alive' (Have you seen The Tribe? It used to be on Channel5. It's really amazing, I have the DVD box sets of all five seasons if you want to borrow? I couldn't recommend it enough!).

Speaking of must see television, now that Scream Street has finally hit our screens, I do believe (whilst raising an eyebrow) that I am allowed (looks from left to right) to show a collection of my props and on set photographs! I do have an entire gallery, folders upon folders, but have selected a meagre handful to portray the goings on within the art department of Factory Create. You'll find out in the next blog post whether this has gotten me fired or not.

Yamination Studios. As I forementioned, this place has made me the model maker I am today, which is largely down to Drew Roper and Yossel Simpson. I firmly believe that I have kissed enough ass on this blog concerning these guys, so I'm going to hold back the praise. Sorry gentlemen! But this week was pretty huge for the studio and all those involved with Drew's animated film 'At-Issue'. It only bloody premiered on SkyArts! There is a fantastic article in the Birmingham Mail here which outlines the scale of production from start to finish. It also includes a stirling photograph of the original Yamination crew from days of old, where I am the proud owner of a new name. Tony Grainger anyone?!

There's been a fair few blog posts covering my time at Yaminations, so feel free to peruse. I remember starting out in the studio and helping Drew with the beginings of the 'street set', which is present for the majority of the film. This was back in September 2012 people; well over three years ago!

A few models of mine; and on set in Barts home.

The years have whizzed by since the start of this production, but nothing has gone to waste. From working with Drew, I have been a part of two other animated projects (advertisements for Coca Cola and Cravendale), met a huge amount of talent from within the industry and learnt a very particular set of skills that Liam Neeson would be jealous of. And for that I am eternally grateful.

So wherever I am in 2016, be it Manchester or a Galaxy, far far away... you can always find me on here! Or on Youtube doing things like this...