elizabeth johnson
Stop Motion Model Maker
I am an enthusiastic model maker, keen to start a career in the animation industry. I am particularly interested in working within teams and like the idea of public facing roles, such as community projects that encourage interaction between the general public and puppetry. I have had a number of placements to help prepare me for graduation at production studios such as Aardman as well as the more specialist Rusty Squid . Over the past three years, I have dedicated my time to improving my skills in fabrication, creative writing and life drawing in order to best equip myself for the industry. Ideally I would like to spend some time working abroad, through attending animation festivals - either as a delegate or volunteer, or working at a production company as model maker or runner. I’m looking forward to continuing my skills development outside of univeristy, hopefully through professional studio environments.
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Skills
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an y, foam, sculpey, fabric cla rs tte po y, cla ing ell Sculpting in mod carboard ction Wire armature constru Plaster Mould Making - including 2 parts +
Casting in a variety of materials such as silicon, plaster and wax
Sewing by hand and machine Silicon sanding A good knowledge of lighting for under camera
Texturing and surfacing models
Organisation and file management
Collaboration and working within a team, supporting and motivating others Intermediate skills in Adob e Photoshop, InDesign an d After Effects and Stop Motio n Pro.
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Calm a Chameleon' Working in a team with Katrina Hood we won a competition to design a game based around a pre-exisiting product, in order to expand the clientel the product reaches and make it more interactive with customers.
Mocked up screen grabs of the game in play. >
< Background designs that I made on Adobe Photoshop, showing different times of day for the game to be set in.
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Guardian
Guardian was a team project from 2011. My main role within the team was the Gargoyle model maker. I also did the lighting and set up of the shots whilst giving support to the set and prop making. The team production was a great experience as it was the first time I had made a puppet from design through to fabrication. This is a shot that I animated in the film, in it the Gargoyle peers around a grave stone, eyeing up its prey. <
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Night Light
katrinaandelizabeth@blogspot.co.uk
Night Light is a modern day folk tale exploring why we have different phases of the moon, created by Katrina Hood and I.
Katie and I both had similar aims, wanting to develop our craft skills for stop motion as well as our knowledge of working on production, we decided that a short film would be the best way to achieve these aims.
< Puppet development.
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Puppet 1: Arabella
For the production, Katrina and I split the responsibilites by what we were most interested in. I did the puppet design and making and Katrina designed and made the sets.
< Stills of Arabella in the film, these are two scenes that I animated.
Puppet 2: Old Woman During production I made two different puppets; it pushed my making abilities greatly as I used new mehtods of fabrication and refined older skills too in order to succeed.
Early concept work and the final Old Woman puppet.
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Rusty Squid I worked with Rusty Squid over 2 months, doing varied tasks in the workshop area. I was mentored by Rosie, model maker and Co-Direcotor of Rusty Squid. Whilst on placement with her I learnt a bit about what it is like starting up your own company, as well as the craft skills needed of a model maker for a large scale performance piece. The project I helped on intergrated animatronics, robotics and a performance artist. My job roles included sanding, drilling, and materials testing.
< The Regenerator. An earlier piece of Rusty Squidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work, featured at the 2011 Bristol Festival of Puppetry.
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Aardman I was really fortunate to gain a two week placement on TV series Shaun the Sheep. Whilst working at Aardman I was taught many new fabrication processes and skills as well as getting an insight as to how a company operates whilst on production.
Skills I learnt on placement: -Silver Soldering -Silicone Sanding -Silicone Casting -Setting moulds -Fixing the sheep puppets together
< Me with Shirley, my favourite sheep.
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Encounters I volunteered at Animated Encounters, working in a team to provide help and information for the general public as well as delegates of the festival. I helped set up the exhibition space at the Arnolfini, that was showing some models made by Aardman. I also helped out in a model making workshop run by Jim Parkyn and finally, calculated the votes recieved for the competition screenings.
Aardman Models: The Rocket from a Grand Day Out and Gromit's greenhouse from Curse of the Wererabbit.
It was a really valuble experience as it gave me a much greater insight into the runnings of animation festivals. I hope to participate in many more animation festivals in the future.
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Blue Peter Blue Peter's BIG Animation
A one day paid placement with BBC's Blue Peter. We created a pixilation using painted carboard props and blue fabric for the sea. The animation was divided up between four of us, I focussed on the waves, fish and shark. The film can be seen online here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/ clips/p0139h2j
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elizabeth3johnson.weebly.com
Bristol School of Animation