Head of Animation Brings Stop Motion to Mumbai

Andy Joule, Head of Animation & Visual Effects, has been working with a private film school in Mumbai, India, introducing the basics of stop motion filmmaking and model-making.

Whistling Woods International is a CILECT school; part of the Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinema et de Television, an international group of the best film schools in the world (known in English as The International Association of Film and Television Schools).

Every two years, CILECT holds a congress. This year it was at Whistling Woods International (WWI) with a theme of ‘directing the future’; Andy presented a paper about directing attention to the arts. 

Following the congress, Whistling Woods’ head of animation invited Andy to return to the school to run a series of workshops and a talk on stop motion animation.

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Andy said: “[Their animation department] started as a 3D, computer animation course, then it expanded from 3D into 2D drawn animation. Their desire now is to continue expanding, branching out into stop motion."

“I showed them a variety of stop motion films and introduced the students to the delights of Wallace and Gromit” he told us. “It was interesting to see their reactions and useful for me to learn what they didn’t know as they’re coming from a completely different perspective.”

He continued: “Bollywood is massive, such a huge industry, it just dwarfs Hollywood. I think here, sitting in the West, we have a bit of a warped view of cinema, thinking it’s very much in the West. Forgetting things like Bollywood and Chinese cinema – massive industries.”

While running his talk on stop motion, Andy showed the students a selection of Falmouth’s student work, explaining how the process worked, “which went down really well.”

Andy was asked lots of questions about how our students created this “phenomenal work”. The WWI students were inspired by the variety of films and techniques; their reaction to the workshops was also incredibly positive and encouraging, showing a great enthusiasm for stop motion.

Going forward, Andy hopes to formalise the relationship between Falmouth University and Whistling Woods International, continuing the knowledge exchange and helping them to grow their stop motion provision.