isn't this what having a blog is for?

Scenes from the TANDEM xmas party 2006...

fairy xmas

The last week before Christmas...... perfect timing to post our little Fairy job.
It's a 20 second commercial produced for London agency Grey, currently running on TV.
So if you need a dose of instant festive spirit, keep your eyes open for this one.

shots shows jon

Last night we went along to the SHOTS 'Evolutions' night which is a regular showcase for new directing talent. Jon Dunleavy's film The Technical Hitch was first to be shown and went down extremely well, scoring high on the laughometer. Thanks to everyone at SHOTS for the support. Here's where you can see the film: www.tandemfilms.com/jondunleavy

a 'timevine', if you will...

Dave Daniels has just finished directing the animation for a new spot for Radox, through agency WCRS. The agency was looking for an animated solution that would show the many herb flavours of the product while linking various live action testimonials. Dave came up with the concept of a 'timevine' travelling from left to right, continually growing and framing the live shots. Dodgy pun, great idea...

orange for christmas

London agency Wieden+Kennedy commissioned Tandem to produce a commercial for Orange in Romania, promoting SHARE airtime. The thirty second spot was directed by Tandem's Daniel Greaves who took a typically innovative approach to the production. Promoting the thought that you get more conversation for less, the spot shows two small paper cones which emit numerous paper cut-out symbols in synch with a distorted, semi-abstract two-way conversation. This meant animating around one hundred icons in 3D (in record time, I should say). Click here to view the spot or, if you're in Romania, see it on air...

encounters of the TANDEM kind

2 films by Tandem represented directors will appear at next week's 12th International Encounters Short Film Festival in Bristol.

Jonathan Dunleavy's The Technical Hitch (pictured above) will show in the UK Film Council’s Digital Generation Screening on Friday 24th November.

And... (as previously blogged here) Evo will show in the Best of British #1 Screening on Tuesday 21st November.

More details of these and other screenings can be found at the Encounters website.

evo in shameless vote grabbing bid!

In a shameless bid to win cash prizes, I'm asking Tandem blog readers to boost the ratings for the short film Evo over at www.aniBOOM.com. It's a kind of all-comers online animation competition (there are plenty of other short films to see there too!)

the thinker

Director Chris Gavin ponders a particularly tricky pitch.

Quick update before it all gets rather busy. We've got a whole bunch of stuff going on here, many exciting projects ranging from full-on stop-motion in the downstairs studio, to full-on CG upstairs. Tandem is a blur of set construction and render testing at the moment, but i'm sure we'll find time for a spot of blogging to keep you posted.

Heads down see you at Christmas!

Evo goes west

The short film Evo is to get another cinema outing as part of the Encounters Short Film Festival. The 'Best of British 1' programme is to screen at the Watershed in Bristol on Tuesday 21st November (6:15pm) and Thursday 23rd November (11:30am).
Find out more at the Encounters Festival website.

Mr Beaky

More animation for Amnesty International's SECRET POLICEMAN'S BALL!
We created 8 'Mr Beaky' animations, to be shown on the event itself and on Channel 4 the week after.
Mr Beaky is a lizard bird god, designed by James Jarvis.
He'll be the mascotte of the evening, appearing on screen to introduce the comedy sketches. Don't expect a lot of goodwill from his account though. He is easily bored and doesn't care if his tapdance routine will go down a storm.

Amnesty's monkeys

We've just finished a 2 min. shortfilm for Amnesty International's forthcoming SECRET POLICEMAN'S BALL. It stars the See No-, Hear No- and Speak No Evil monkeys in a James Bond style storyline. (obviously we wanted to call it 'Monkeypussy' but strangely enough that idea got scrapped) Jo Brand did the voice and the script was written by Robin Ince.
It's the first time Tandem's directors Nick and Jeroen collaborated and thanks to some technical wizardry from Chris Gavin and Mike Cook, the film was finished in record time we're all really happy with the result.
The Secret Policeman's Ball will be held at The Royal Albert Hall on october the 14th. As far as we know, tickets have been sold all ready. But don't despair, Channel 4 will broadcast the event a week later on october the 22nd.

Benny and Boil in the Pyrenees

We are at the CARTOON Forum in France this week, presenting our children's series concept Benny and Boil to broadcasters and distributors from all over Europe. Our presentation was yesterday and it went extremely well, with around 130 people attending. This is where the hard work really starts, however, as we pull together the various elements in order to fund the project. A really strong start though.

TANDEM Animation on DVD

If you are interested in UK animation, or just animation generally then you might want to invest in the British Animation Awards DVDs. There are six volumes spanning 1996-2006, as well as two volumes of British Animation Classsics.

If it is TANDEM's animation in particular that you wish to view they can be found on:

British Animation Classics Vol.2 - Manipulation, Daniel Greaves
British Animation Awards Vol.2 - Flatworld, Daniel Greaves
British Animation Awards Vol.4 - Rockin' & Rollin', Richard Jack and Daniel Greaves
British Animation Awards Vol.5 - Little Things, Daniel Greaves

For more information you can visit the website www.britishanimationawards.com.

Get meshed

The Channel Four Mesh scheme offers development and production funding to four animation directors every year. The deadline for those 3 minute film proposals is 22/09/06, so less than a week to go.

AmeCon 2006

Katamari Damacy. The winners of 'Best in Show'

AmeCon is a convention dedicated to the celebration of Japanese animation and comics. This year it took place between the 11th and 13th of August at Leicester University. Attended by over 1000 anime and manga fans it is one of the largest anime conventions in England, drawing fans from all over the British Isles and from abroad. I was fortunate to attend in the company of Manga Entertainment (distributors of such revered anime titles as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll) as well as the popular Manga TeamGo! girls. For 3 days the world of Japanese animation was explored through film screenings, industry panels, themed parties, karaoke and best of all (in my opinion) the Cosplay Masquerade. For those of you who don't know, 'cosplay' is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime and videogames.

new directors

We're excited to have TWO new animation directors joining TANDEM this month - Tony Mines and Jonathan Wood.

Tony Mines, with his company Spite Your Face Productions, is web-famous for his LEGO films, particularly Spider-Man: The Peril of Doc Ock which was funded by Sony/Marvel and LEGO to coincide with the release of Spider-Man 2. We've always loved these deceptively simple stop-frame films because of Tony's ability to combine lo-fi ingenuity with high production values - and we hadn't realised he was based just round the corner from us in Islington! We're delighted to be representing him for the first time as a commercials director. You can see the LEGO films at www.spiteyourface.co.uk/legofilms.php

Jonathan Wood is a new director who is best known for his graduation film Hurry Home, a rich and incredibly well-observed tribute to the print technique travel posters of the 40s - a real labour of love made entriely in CGI. We haven't before seen such a convincing film using this genre as reference. It's both authentic and very contemporary - and it's made even more impressive when you discover that Jonathan designed, animated and even composed the score himself. You can see the film at www.johnnywood.com/hurryhome

BBC music shorts competition

Only 3 days left to submit proposals for the BBC Music Shorts Competition There are six music tracks to choose from; the successful applicants get to make a short film in six weeks for a small budget! I've just mailed-in my form, does anyone else fancy having a go at this?

Evo gets another plugging ...

The London International Animation Festival schedule has been announced. The short film Evo will be screened in the 'British Panorama' event (a varied programme of recent UK shorts) at London's Curzon Cinema on Saturday August 26th at 9:00pm.

"will she no come back again?"

Best wishes to Sharon Colman, who did TANDEM proud this year gaining an Oscar nomination for her short Badgered, as she heads to LA and into the arms of another, namely Dreamworks Animation. Remember though Sharon, as the old Scottish proverb says, "Ane may like a haggis weel enough that wouldna like the bag bladded on his chafts". Or something like that.

Short-film 'Evo' gets plugged here ...

The recently-completed short film 'Evo' is to get several screenings this week at various venues around London as part of the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival. There are still a couple of days left of the festival, and screening details of the 'Animation Programme' which includes Evo can be found at The Rushes Soho Shorts Festival 2006

Evo is shortlisted in-competition for the Vue Cinemas Animation Award.

This film is now online at BBC Film Network

Ribena goes down well

Writing in Campaign's Private View section, Andy Sandoz from Agency Republic said of our new spot for Ribena, "there is clear creative effort... the darkness, energy and production of the ad is great". Cheers, Andy, a copy of our showreel is on its way to you...

We really should have a blog, shouldn't we?

Hi everyone. We think it's fair to say that we're pretty early adopters when it comes to all things animation but to our shame we have never had a blog devoted to our studio... until now, that is. So welcome to RANDOM TANDEM - a loose collection of random thoughts, random news and random images, giving an idea of what it's like to work at one of the UK's busiest and most creative animation studios. There'll most likely be a lot of talk about commercials (what we do most of the time), about short films (what we do in our spare time) and very possibly about evenings spent in the Florence pub (what we do in our spare time, some of the time). Enjoy!

Tandem produce the Ribena Blackcurrant's most action-packed adventure yet!

Following on from last year's Ribena 'Mud' and Ribena 'Liquidator', Tandem are proud to have finished production on Ribena's latest action-packed TV commercial. In Ribena 'Currant Affairs' the Blackcurrant faces its most perilous adventure yet. Featuring a voracious magpie, a jet-plane engine, flames, shotgun pellets and more - does the Blackcurrant make it this time?

Saatchi & Saatchi's New Director's Showcase

Further recognition for Sharon Colman's work comes this month from inclusion in Saatchi & Saatchi's New Directors' Showcase. Bob Isherwood, worldwide creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi and Saatchi's worldwide creative board have created a reel of the world's hottest new directing talent, including Sharon's Oscar™ nominated short film Badgered. The Saatchi & Saatchi New Director's Showcase is being shown today (22nd June) at the Grand Palais in Cannes.

Soon you will be able to get a fly-on-the-wall look at what life is like at Tandem. Director Chris Gavin is creating a number of short movies which will present a novel glimpse into a modern animation studio. To see these movies, go to the main website www.tandemfilms.com an then follow the links ABOUT > STUDIO TOUR.