Animation students at silver screen showcase

Seven films from graduating students as well as aselection from second year undergraduates were shown at the event that tookplace at the new Everyman Cinema in Leeds Trinity shopping centre.

Adam Kinghorn, who is due to graduate in July,premiered his stop-motion puppet animation entitled 'Job Satisfaction'.

He commented: "Stop-motion is where you use animatedobjects or puppets to make the film - like they do in the Wallace and Gromitfilms. One second of footage is the equivalent of twelve photos so it takes alot of time to make.

"'Job Satisfaction' is a dark comedy about a hit manwho doesn't like his line of work anymore and goes out to try other jobs. Thecharacters are made out of metal, foam and Plasticine and the animation is setin a film noir style."

Fellow undergraduate Rhys Jones did thecinematography, designing and lighting for 'Job Satisfaction'.

Student Gareth Gough created a traditional 2D hand-drawnanimation called 'The Hunt' which tackles the serious topic of the increasedlevels of animal extinction due to hunting and the use of animals in Chinesemedicines.

"The five-minute animation conveys quite a seriousmessage," he said. "There are three main characters: a leopard, a rabbit andthe hunter. The story shows the cycle of hunting as the leopard is hunting therabbit, while being pursued by the hunter."

Gareth's second year animation film '1:4' iscurrently doing well on the festival circuit.

Course Leader, Sarah Bowen, added: "The privatescreen at the Everyman Cinema was a fantastic location to showcase thestudents' films and celebrate their dedication and hard work. The standard ofanimation has been high and the films should do well at festivals."