Review of Panorama 3 at BAF 2011

Guest blogger: Zara Hussain, Bradford College Animation Student

I have to say, this year the Bradford Animation Festival team have really outdone themselves with the animations chosen for the Panorama screenings; full of exciting, heart warming, hilarious films which refuse to let your mind wander.



Sadly I missed Panorama 1 due to the Motion Capture Workshop, but I did get to see the Panoramas 2 and 3. I'll only be telling you about the third since my fellow bloggers from the College will be writing about the other two.



Panorama 3 went beyond my expectations. If allowed, I would have hugged that cinema screen!

My favourites from the screening would have to be The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling, On the Rails and Out on a Limb - traditional and beautifully animated - quite inspiring. Their stories are unique and manage to muddle your mind with so many feelings, you don't know where to start.

• The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling: I found this short clip incredibly humorous, but at the same time I felt somewhat sympathetic toward the old man and his fear of heights.
• Out on a Limb: By far the most original animation style. Leaving faint outlines everywhere the birds fly, creating a trail. Beautifully animated, also very funny.
• On the Rails - Very heart warming, watching the life of an old man as he travels on a train. Seeing his memories gives you a sense of his upsetting past.

Watch these films for yourself if you can.

Review of Panorama 2 at BAF 2011

Guest blogger: Alison Smith, Bradford College Animation Student

First of all, "hello". It's great to be writing for the National Media Museum Blog, so today I had an overall feeling of excitement, especially surrounded by people who have an interest in animation like me.

As I took my seat in Cubby Broccoli I was eager to set my eyes on the animations that were to be shown. As the lights went off and each of the short films finished, I thought to myself "Wow! I can't wait to go away and draw something." I was so inspired by what I'd watched on screen.

Out of the animations that screened, two were my favourite:

Princesse a stop motion animation directed by Frederick Tremblay. There was a genuinely unsettling feeling while watching the film. The camera angles used to capture the stop motion were the cherry on the top for me; such grim storytelling.



The wooden puppets seemed alive with emotion, even though their facial expressions stayed the same - the body language of the puppets was so strong. The especially scary part of the animation was when the wolf suddenly popped up, constantly banging and snarling outside the window trying to get inside to the woman. It just made me feel uneasy, so the animation was a success.

The other film that stuck with me was Las Palmas, an interesting mix of styles including stop motion, directed by Johannes Nyholm.



The setting was a hotel on a tropical island, where a real baby was dressed up as a middle aged woman on holiday with puppets, and it had the whole cinema roaring with laughter! I was even in tears; the baby's face, and how she stumbled around the bar set drinking (supposedly) alcohol and making a gigantic mess after partying too hard, was hilarious.

Once it finished, people couldn't stop giggling in the audience. I'd say that one was a success, to produce such a strong reaction.

Review of Panorama 1 at BAF 2011

Guest blogger: Ayesha Farooqui, Bradford College Animation Student

The cinema was filled with a healthy number of people - I had the right idea when I sat on the front row! Panorama 1 was an amazing collection of animations, all with various emotions and drawing techniques. It was enough to persuade me to watch the other Panoramas, the films were that inspiring.

A few of them really stood out for me.



The Saga of Biôrn, a 3D animation that is not only funny, but full of talent. A Viking is determined to get into the heaven of the Viking gods by heroic death. His attempts fail several times, for his enemies always end up killing themselves before he even touches them. My favourite technique in this animation is that it blends 3D animated characters with 2D backgrounds.



Another delightful animation is Ishihara, a simple animation made from coloured circles, telling the story of a boy who is colour blind, and later completely blind. David Lockard is the narrator, and his voice makes sense of the animation, even though it's a bunch of dots moving about. It really captured my attention and it was definitely an eye-opening and intelligent animation.



My eyes set upon a pretty lighthouse illustration with 'The Lighthouse' in a beautiful swirly typeface. This animation is made of flat browns, creams and cherry blossoms. The story is of parents supporting their children and making their children's dreams a reality.

A father and son live in a lighthouse and spend time together playing the piano. As the son grows up he spends less and less time with his father, and more time pursuing his dream. His father evidently gets older but is still happy his son has reached his goal.

When the father dies, the son with his wife and child continue the cycle, with the son supporting his family. This was an extremely emotional animation for me to watch, and I had tears in my eyes.

Motion Capture Workshop at BAF

Guest blogger: Zara Hussain, Bradford College Animation Student

Let the festival begin! It has been such a busy day so far... worth it though. This morning I attended the Motion Capture Workshop.

Thankfully I ran into the guy leading the workshop, Karl Abson. If it wasn't for him, I would have been running around Bradford trying to find the venue! I ended up getting to rummage through the workshop area and talk to Karl, and through this one to one and the workshop, I did learn a lot.

Did you know that all the equipment they were using is worth quarter of a million pounds?
That it was originally made for military defences?
And, that the motion capture suits are incredibly clingy?

I'm not that interested in motion capture, but after attending this workshop my mind was completely blown away! It was that good!

This is definitely a job you could never grow bored of.

Overall, the lecturers were incredibly friendly and enthusiastic about what they do and their presentation was definitely worth the time. Playing with swords in a practical session is AMAZING!

Karl is working on several projects including motion capture using animals. Have a look at his blog, you will not be disappointed.

www.karl-abson.com/blog.html

TV Heaven Welcomes TV's Most Famous Sheep

Blogger: Claire Hampton, Assistant Curator of Television

It's that time again - after the usual post-Christmas lull, the school holidays have kicked things up a notch. Assistant Curator of Television, Claire Hampton, has been busy preparing our TV galleries for half term visitors with a new addition to the display cabinets - television's most famous sheep.

"We've spent the last year celebrating the numerous soap anniversaries which took place in 2010: 50 years of Coronation Street in TV Heaven, a visit from the cast and crew of Hollyoaks, and there was even a display commemorating 25 years of EastEnders.

"Unfortunately the Museum's year of soap has come to an end. It's time to carefully pack up Arthur’s bench of tears, Bianca’s wedding dress and Sonia’s trumpet and return them to the EastEnders' prop and costume department. All the items will now be carefully returned to Elstree, where EastEnders is filmed.

“It will be sad to say goodbye to the Queen Vic bust and Pat Butcher’s earrings, but we're looking forward to seeing some old favourites from the National Television Collection back on display again - Zippy and George from Rainbow, the PlaySchool Toys and Gordon the Gopher all feature in the display. A selection of Gerry Anderson puppets has also been brought out of the archive to join the other children's favourites.

"I hope visitors will enjoy seeing a special item from the Collection which hasn’t been on public display before. I’m a huge fan of Shaun the Sheep and this character from the programme is a wonderful new addition to the Museum’s Animation Collection. The simple charm of the character and the attention to detail on the bail of hay are just typical of Aardman’s wonderful work."

We're dedicating half term to the wonderful world of animation - for a full list of family activities this week, visit the Families section of our website.

Nexus Retrospective - BAF 2010 Part 5

Professor Paul Wells sat in conversation with three of the Nexus team: Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes and Jim Le Feuvre, before which the audience were treated to a retrospective of their work, which includes (impressively), an Oscar nominated short, Grammy Nominated and MTV Award winning music videos, and Cannes Grand Prix, Gold Lions and Black D&AD pencil winning commercials.

The three talked about how they got into animation, and early successes during the Channel 4 animation boom. At this time, animation was embraced by the commercial market, and though there is an assumed schism between arts culture and commerce, the commercial world provides the necessary revenue to move individual talents forward.

Despite this, Nexus advocate choosing work wisely and trying out new styles wherever possible rather than returning to a comfort zone. All three are still very much exploring the craft of animation, remembering that 'form follows feasibility'.

When asked about the tension between old and new school animation styles, their resounding opinion is 'Digital Tools? Bring them on!". For Jim, sometimes the most satisfying thing is the context of the animation, not the visual finish - he cites as an example the Beefy and Lamby series of adverts.

An interesting discussion took place around the issue of archiving - obviously something that's very close to the Museum's heart. Adam, Alan and Jim say that they almost never think about it, though they recognise the importance of preserving their output for future generations, having experienced animation being exhibited alongside art which is generally considered as belonging to 'high culture'.

Somewhat surprisingly, according to the three, animators don't consider that their work is worth saving even though they realise the importance of other people's work.

Thanks to Adam, Alan and Jim, for their insight into animating for the commercial world, and their resounding passion for the art of 'making stuff move'.

Film and Events Highlights for August-September

We've some unmissable screenings and events coming your way in our August - September film programme.

To coincide with the release of Tamara Drewe, we will be welcoming her creator, Posy Simmonds, on Tuesday 28 September. Posy will be sitting in conversation with comics expert, Paul Gravett. A must for any comic strip fans.

If you love animation, you'll be delighted with The Illusionist, based on a script by Jacques Tati, and directed by Sylvain Chromet of Belleville Rendezvous fame. I asked our Film Programmer, Tom Vincent, to tell me his highlights for the month - and here's his expert opinion:

"The Illusionist is one of the loveliest films you'll see all year. An animated tale of an outmoded French entertainer in the Scotland of 1959, the film reminds us of one of the most enduring pleasures of cinema, of entertaining without words (and those who remember the same director's 2002 film Belleville Rendezvous will know what to expect). There aren't many films around currently that have the confidence to use image and sound so effectively in their storytelling, and it's always a refreshing delight to be enthralled in this way. The film opened this June's Edinburgh International Film Festival, with the Festival organisers laying on street performance outside the theatre that recreated characters, magicians and trapeze artists, from the film, which conjured up the pleasures of a bygone age.

"At an interview event in which he explained the process of making the film, director Sylvain Chomet spoke about his love for, and artistic debt to, Jacques Tati. It's Tati's unfilmed script from which the film was developed, and his influence is all over both of Chomet's features to date. The illusionist of the title was modelled on Monsieur Hulot, Tati's most famous creation, the script was written, poignantly, for Tati's own daughter, and in one glorious episode Chomet's character comes face to face with the ever-polite, ever-bumbling, celluloid Hulot in an Edinburgh cinema. In offering pleasures alternative to 99% of all new cinema, The Illusionist seems like an affirmation of the past, nostalgia made relevant.

"The Illusionist is also made with precisely the same comedic DNA as Tati's films. Tati's humour was pretty unusual (ITV's Mr. Bean offered an anaemic version of it); absurd visual gags were set up and left hanging, the humour coming not from punch lines but from the delicious situations themselves. An incident from Tati's schooling planted a seed for all this: In Tati's English class an enthusiastic teacher would encourage students to act out commands while repeating target phrases, in this case "I open the door, I close the door". Spotting the chance to make the class laugh, Tati volunteered, wandered over to the door, opened it ("I open the door"), stepped through and, ("I close the door") shut it behind him. Outside the classroom Tati wondered for a moment which would be funnier; to go back in and meet his peers' applause, or to hide in the toilets until the end of the class. In the end he simply snuck out of school entirely and spent the rest of the day at home, leaving his improvised joke hanging absurdly forever."

Speaking of animation, Bradford Animation Festival 2010 is upon us - find out more by visiting www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/baf/.

To celebrate the centenary of his birth, we bring you a season of Akira Kurosawa films, which begins with the epic Seven Samurai on Friday 20 August. See for yourself why he is known around the world as a master of his art.

And if that wasn't enough, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan will be in our midst, we look at the career of Sean Connery as the Scottish superstar turns 80, and Stephen Fry will appear live via satellite broadcast in The Fry Chronices.

Phew - it's going to be a busy month!

Find out more by visiting www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/filmandimax or downloading our new Film Guide (PDF 2.4MB).

If you want to be the first to find out about films and events at the National Media Museum, sign up to our e-newsletter.

Baf09 Day 5: BAF Awards

The penultimate highlight of BAF (Just before the party at the Midland Hotel) is the awards ceremony, were the best of the best get chosen both by the jury and, in the case of the audience award, well, the audience!

The show, hosted by Barry Purves, is always full of surprises and this year among the special guests and jury members that presented the awards was the one and only ‘Dangermouse’ who arrived to announce a winner! (Albeit in an accent slightly different to his usual one – perhaps he’s moved to Manchester since leaving our screens all those years ago?).

This year many excellent professional films fought for a gong; CGI charmer ‘French Roast’ won the award and those disappointed not to see highly-tipped ‘Alma’ win were happy to see it take away the Grand Prix instead.

Student films could easily give the professional films a run for their money and it was the quirky ‘Bruce’ that won the much deserved prize.

In the ‘Short Short’ film category it was snappy biopic ‘The Stupid Table’ which took away the prize, beating CGI numbers such as ‘The Pianographer’ and hand-drawn mini masterpieces like ‘Highly Overated’. The music video category was also filled with as much variation; in the end ‘Hey’ walked away the winner.



The commercials category was taken away by ‘Audi Unboxed’ and it was Russia’s high-action CGI film ‘Masha and the Bear – How They Met’ which won the TV Series category. Films for Children was won by Studio AKAs ‘Lost and Found’ which, I’m sure will stay in the memory of anyone who watches it.

After the awards it was on to the closing night party where high profile guests shared the fun with students from all over the country.

For more detail about al the award winners have a look at the BAF09 website.

BAF09 Day 5 : Tony Fish

There are many huge names in the animation industry that should have a lot to thank this year’s winner of the BAF Lifetime Achievement award 2009 for. Tony Fish has worked with such names as Bob Godfrey, Geoff Dunbar, Erica Russell and Suzie Templeton, among other luminaries in the animation field.

We held a screening of his work on Friday and the audience were treated to a documentary put together to commemorate his work with excerpts and full versions of his finest animation.

Even those who are not versed in the world of animated shorts will recognise Fish’s work on such epics as ‘Pink Floyd: The Wall’, and Sir Paul McCartney/Geoff Dunbar’s ‘Rupert and The Frog Song’ and ‘Tuesday’. Fans of Bob Godfrey were also thrilled to see ‘Great’,’Roobarb’ and ‘Henry’s Cat’.

The special documentary featured some charming stories from the man himself about his involvement in these productions as well as the many others he has played a key role in.

He spoke of the task of editing Suzie Templeton’s more recent ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and the attachment one particular animator had towards the character he was animating; the poor animator nearly had a nervous breakdown when he had to film the character’s demise!



The documentary helped us all understand the amount of effort Fish had to put into ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and having to match the film with the slightest change in music seemed no easy task.

Tony Fish didn’t have a great deal to say in person when he collected his award; he dedicated it to his mother and thanked everyone he had worked with over the years but cut out any unnecessary chit chat and stuck to the important things. Just like any fantastic editor.

BAF 09 Day 4: Priit Pärn

One of the best things about the Bradford Animation Festival is the way that special guests from all over the world get the kind of exposure that television and conventional cinemas in this country cannot offer. This gives the audience a chance to sample the work of artists that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy.

This year was no exception: delegates have been able to view the films of esteemed Estonian animator Priit Pärn and listen to him in conversation with Prof. Paul Wells, making the work of this animator more accessible to an audience of students and young animation fans.

Parn started his career as a biologist whilst creating cartoons and pictures as a sideline. Gradually, as interest in his more creative work increased his workload he managed to move into animation full time and made his first film ‘Is The Earth Round?’ in 1977. The film was subject to scandal as the producers, the state film department, used it for propaganda purposes, however, little did the state know that Parn made his own films without their knowledge using the resources earmarked for more propaganda.



Parn's cartoons and etchings have a unique style that would later translate over into his film work; “Every picture is a small film” (a direct quote of his) gives you an idea as to how this man's approach to his caricature work made the leap to film all the more successful.

Those viewing Pärn's style may seem familiar with it, indeed his work has been embraced by the creators of such animations as ‘Rugrats’ and ‘AAAHH! Real Monsters’; Pärn's colour pallet and approach to character design has clearly had an effect on the production of animation. Parn admitted to drawing all his ideas from his head, rather than from life or reference, something that has helped him develop his style in a most creative fashion, without many restrictions from outside sources.

Back in his home country Pärn is able to use his appeal in order to now create whatever he wishes. When a client approaches him for an advertisement he is able to create unhindered, a clear demonstration of the success of his style.

Before screening his films at BAF Pärn insisted that his animation has no symbolism and that he's only interested in telling the story. Additionally, he likes films to be cleverer than the person watching, so that the audience is kept guessing. These are two perspectives that any young students should take on board in the creation of their own films.

BAF 09 Day 3: Claire Jennings and Brian Van’t Hul

Halfway through BAF 09 and the atmosphere at the Museum is inspiring, as industry professionals rub shoulders with budding animators - many of whom attended our Speed Date the Animators event, giving them a rare opportunity to present their work and gain invaluable advice from industry insiders.

But before all that, we had the pleasure of showing Coraline in 3D to a packed out Pictureville cinema attended by BAF pass holders, Museum visitors and staff, including Director Colin Philpott.

Shortly before the film, I headed upstairs to watch a photo-shoot with three of the Coraline puppets, and two of our very special guests - Claire Jennings (Coraline Producer and Laika Inc’s President of Entertainment) and Brian Van’t Hul (Laika Inc’s Visual Effects Supervisor), while this year’s jury waited patiently outside to discuss the official selections.

On Saturday, Brian will be presenting an overview of the visual effects challenges of shooting Coraline, which is the first major stop-motion animated feature to be shot in stereoscopic 3D.

Earlier, Claire sat in conversation with Professor Paul Wells from the Animation Academy at Loughborough University, to discuss her career history and the making of Coraline.

Claire “fell into animation having worked in the music industry... [She] fell in love with it”, and considers her proficiency as a producer lies in bringing together the diverse skills of organisation, creativity and communication.

When asked if she thinks finding money is the hardest part of getting a film into production, Claire stressed that “money is obviously incredibly important, but you can kick start projects if you have a lot of passion.”

Claire spoke briefly about her experiences working on the popular animated series, Pingu, where she was invited to try and adapt the character for American audiences. However, “the essence of Pingu is what makes it successful...to water it down doesn’t always work. I think I’m best at maintaining that essence.”

Claire told us that she used to believe she’d become a successful producer when everything ran smoothly from beginning to end, but now realises that “it’s just about managing chaos.”

Of the current climate within the world of animation, Claire said that although budgets have decreased, and studios are having to employ clever marketing techniques to sell a film, big awards in America are starting to take notice of different looking films and there is now a maturity to the way animated films are being made - our opening night film Mary and Max is a terrific example.

Claire’s advice for potential producers is that they should be determined and have real belief in what they are trying to make, no matter whether it’s a small budget indie feature, or a major Hollywood player, because it is that belief in projects which eventually gets them off the ground. “At the end of the day, you want to look back over the years and think you’ve spent your time well.”

BAF 09 Day 2: Tuna Technologies

Day two of BAF 09 and I was fortunate enough to take part in a workshop delivered by Sarah Quick, an artist from the Sheffield-based animation studio Tuna Technologies. Sarah is currently working on the video game Cletus Clay in which the characters and scenery are made of clay.

We got an insight into the making of Cletus Clay and were able to ask for tips; Sarah explained that she makes the models, usually out of one colour, and then photographs them from several angles. The photographs are scanned in and then touched up in Photoshop.

Tuna Technologies decided to make models from clay and not from CGI as because they felt the technique and home-made quality of the end product produces admiration and respect from its audience.

Sarah expertly answered everyone’s animation queries; one of the attendees needed help with crafting shoes for their own project, at which point Sarah whipped off her trainer, put it on the table and the master class continued!

During the workshop Sarah showed how to create a sunflower and a crab models out of clay, two things she has included in the video game, as well techniques such as wood and tyre effects. She made her workshop accessible to all as she had a varied audience; from one person writing their dissertation on CGI and animation, to a boy with dreams of following in Sarah’s footsteps.

Sarah later told me that this is first time she has taught something like this and despite coming over cool and calm, she was nervous. However we noticed nothing, and we came away with a crab, a sunflower and an insight into the world of animation!

BAF 09 Day 1: The legend that is Ian Livingstone

Towards the end of an inspiring opening day at BAF 09, Ian Livingstone O.B.E takes to the stage – he’s a "legend within the British gaming industry".

Having begun his career as co-founder of Games Workshop in 1975, Livingstone is now Creative Director of Eidos, the company responsible for developing world famous gaming franchises Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Hitman. We’re in the presence of a pioneer in interactive entertainment.

Livingstone whets our appetite by regaling us with tales and images from his early career with Games Workshop, before launching in to the first lesson for this audience of budding games developers: Owning your own intellectual property allows you to control your destiny and increase the value of what you’re producing.

His secondly lesson is pithy: "the three most important things in gaming are game play, game play and game play". It does not matter how pretty or complex your game is; it must be compelling. This explains the popularity of games such as Pong (1972), Space Invaders (1978), Pac-Man (1980) and Lemmings (1991) et al.

The murmurs in the audience as each clip appears on the Pictureville cinema screen are palpable. This audience may be young, but these games are timeless classics.

Livingstone next takes us on the pictorial journey we have been waiting for – a look at Lara Croft through the years. Lara Croft is one of the most famous icons in gaming, and is certainly a lesson in how to market your character.

“Of course”, says Livingstone, “merchandising and licensing are ways of leveraging intellectual property, but Eidos wanted to maintain integrity…” before bombarding us with a barrage of Lara Croft merchandise, and even an audio clip of Lara Croft’s album (not released in this country, to the relief of some in the audience!).



There’s no avoiding that “gaming is such a huge industry which now dwarfs any other media”. We currently spend $50 billion per year on gaming, and this is expected to rise to $90 billion by 2015.

Livingstone attributes this to a constantly evolving market which now appeals to young, old, male and female, and finds itself moving into arenas such as social networking sites, mobile phones and websites. Livingstone even believes that gaming is currently the only media which vastly improves over time, while Film and Music are relatively static.

After a brief selection of trailers for new and upcoming games, it’s time for a quick Q&A.

The first audience member to raise their hand is interested in the changes that have taken place throughout the Tomb Raider games. Livingstone uses this as an example of one of the difficulties faced by developers; producing a compelling sequel. “You can’t please everybody all of the time, only most people most of the time. That’s what we’re trying to do at Eidos, to make the best games possible.”

Our next hopeful wants to know about the future of video games; Livingstone explains how we are moving from games being sold as a product to being sold as a service - World of Warcraft is one incredibly successful example - it is no longer the case that games are produced, marketed, sold and forgotten about.

Two audience members are concerned about some important issues faced by the media industry as a whole – piracy, personal intrusion and safety. Livingstone asserts that we should be tough on piracy, without which there would be no industry, and that with the saturation of gaming it is only a matter of time before a classification system (such as PEGI) comes into play for social networking and flash sites.

Finally, questioned about the development of 3D in the film industry, and whether he believes this will be matched in the gaming world, Livingstone admits he’s not too fond of gaming “with things on his nose”. However as his enlightening and entertaining talk has illustrated, we have in our midst a passionate gamer, whose career is punctuated with gaming success stories.

In his own words, “you never stop playing, you’re never too young to start and never too old to stop.”

Our new exhibitions are open

Update: See the bottom of this post for a new Making Of video.

We made it! As of today, Neeta Madahar: Bradford Fellowship in Photography 2008 - 09 is open to visitors in Gallery One, and Drawings That Move: The Art Of Joanna Quinn is ready for you in Gallery Two.

Having known these two exhibitions since they were glints in our curators' eyes, it's strange and exciting to see them there now as actual real-life galleries with actual real-life people inside them. They're both seriously fantastic exhibitions and I'd urge you to come along and see them.

And whether you get to visit or not, there's a ton of bonus material for you to get stuck into. It's all listed below.

Our official exhibition websites
http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/neetamadahar/
http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/joannaquinn/

Archive magazine with features about both artists
Archive page

Joanna Quinn resource page with video, sketchbooks and more
Joanna Quinn resources

This blog's 'Making of an Exhibition' series
Part one: Designer Rob Derbyshire talks graphics
Part two: Unboxing the Joanna Quinn objects
Part three: Behind the scenes at one of Neeta's Flora shoots
Part four: The condition checking process
Part five: Building the Joanna Quinn gallery
Part six: Building the Neeta Madahar gallery

NEW: Making Of video from opening night
Our media team created a brilliant Making Of video for the opening night party on Thursday -- you can take a look at it below. It takes you right through the process of creating an exhibition: you even get to see Neeta's reaction to the finished gallery.

The making of an exhibition: part four

Back to the upcoming Drawings That Move: The Art Of Joanna Quinn for a new instalment in our Making Of An Exhibition series.

This video, shot by our camera-wielding Media Developer Emma Shaw, lets you in on our condition checking process. It basically involves poring over the various drawings, sketches and animation cels we'll be exhibiting, and recording any imperfections -- but I'll stop there and let Exhibition Organiser Martyn Lenton explain things much more expertly in the video itself. You also get a sneak glimpse at some of the Joanna Quinn-related gems we'll have on display in October.

The making of an exhibition: part two

So earlier this week you saw a little of the work that's going into creating the graphics for our upcoming exhibition, Drawings That Move: The Art Of Joanna Quinn. Today, I've got some photos from the grand unboxing and unpacking procedure -- where the actual objects we'll be using in the gallery are ceremonially lifted from the boxes they arrived in.

Actually, I'm cheating a bit.

First, because as I write, the objects are still actually tucked away in their packaging. The pictures here are from a cursory initial check, prior to the actual full-on unboxing taking place later this month.

Second, because finding out what's in the boxes isn't that surprising -- after all, it was Museum staff (specifically Curator Of Cinematography Michael Harvey and Content Developer Dan Jackson) who travelled to Joanna's house in August to choose the objects and parcel them all up.

But we still got excited cutting open the boxes and unravelling the bubble wrap all the same.

Exhibition Organiser Martyn Lenton and one of Joanna's sketchbooks. We'll be exhibiting several of these in October, and scanning some of the pages for you to browse on the website.

Original sketches from Joanna's 1993 film, Britannia, a BAFTA-nominated satire of the British Empire.

Exhibitions Organiser Lucy Davison performs The Unwrapping Of The BAFTA. Joanna won this award for her short film The Wife Of Bath.

An actual real-life Emmy Award. The woman's wings represent art; the atom she's holding represents science; and it's a very heavy award (but not quite as heavy as the BAFTA, Lucy tells me). This is one of two Emmys that Joanna won for The Wife Of Bath.

The making of an exhibition: part one

If you've ever wanted to sneak into our offices, hide behind a potted plant, and spy on how we plan, develop and build one of our exhibitions -- it's your lucky day.

Starting today, I'll be bringing you a series of videos that take you behind the scenes of the making of Drawings That Move: The Art Of Joanna Quinn, one of two new National Media Museum exhibitions opening on October 16th. These little films build towards a longer making-of video that's being organised by our Cultural Events Organiser, Fozia Bano, and shown at the opening night party (and, eventually, on the web).

Just a quick film to start with: Rob Derbyshire, our Graphic Designer, takes delivery of the graphics we're using for the big titles in the gallery -- graphics hand-created by Joanna Quinn herself.

Much more to come: I'll show you the unboxing of some of the exhibits later this week, then things start getting really busy as the gallery floorplan is finalised, the opening night event takes shape, and we prepare for the flurry of activity that goes into dismantling the old exhibitions and constructing the new ones.

What's on this week: 10 - 16 Aug 2009

Two highly acclaimed films start their run at the Museum on Friday 14th August: the double-Oscar-nominated Frozen River, and the eerie sci-fi thriller Moon starring Sam Rockwell. Film page

This weekend is Family Film Funday weekend. Bring the children along to watch Studio Ghibli's captivating animated adventure Spirited Away on Saturday 15th or Sunday 16th August, and enjoy a whole day of family events and activities – all for just £1 per person.

And on Thursday 13th August, we're celebrating the 40th anniversary of Johnny Cash's performance at San Quentin prison with a special TV Heaven event. One of our TV Heaven staff will give you an introductory talk – then you can settle back and watch the 1969 documentary Johnny Cash In San Quentin in the comfort of our TV Heaven screening room.