Studio AKA Studio Visit

www.studiaka.co.uk

Studio AKA are a BAFTA Award winning animation production company based in London. They produce Commericals for LLyods TSB, Guiness and Bupa and Channel Idents for BBC 2, CBBC, Disney- Recycling and Nick Jnr Idents to name just a few. As well as this, following the success of the short animated film, 'Jo Jo In the Stars they have created the short film, Varmints.

Once arriving at Studio AKA, we were shown into a small seating area by one of the the member of staffs there and were shown a DVD of some their work. This was amazing to be in a studio where they create such beautiful animations in various different styles. One animation really stood out for me, which was the 'Sing Up' campaign which encourages children to become more involved with singing and music. The animation is really simple with lots of positive space around each musical note. The musical notes all had their own personality, including one who seemed to be too shy to sing in front of the others. With some encouragement from his peers, the musical notes joins in with the rest of them as they all sing in tune with each. I just felt the simplistic and humorous advert was beautifully animated and goes to show you don't need to be a technical expert to create a good piece of work.

After watching the various pieces of work on the DVD, we were told some important things about the company such as showreels and employment within the company. We were told to keep our show reels short with just the best pieces of work on it, this seemed to be a common theme throughout all the studio visits. We were also told that they employ students as runners to begin with, who get to learn all the software and technical side. If the runner is then successful in their 'training' period then they will be offered a job at the company. I found this very encouraging that even if you haven't got all the skills in the world, you can still have a chance at such a large company. Another thing that I found interesting about the company is that all the directors pitch against each other when coming to creating a project. I found this quite surprising but understand that if there is lots of competition inside the company, then it will bring the best ideas through.

We then were shown the DVD of Varmints, which is a short animation based on the award winning book. The film is about a create who struggles to preserve a world in danger. The film took over two years to create and I was amazed at the quality of the animtion. It was like a Pixar or Disney film! It was pleasing to see such as quality animation being produced by a relatively small company.

I really enjoyed our visit to Studio AKA, the work that comes out that place is amazing and inspiring to me. I would of liked to maybe be shown around the studio and have a look at the working environment but I understand how busy they are. On the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the visit.