Chris Shepherd's 'In And Out Of Love' music video for the illustrious Holly Johnson

We're delighted to announce the release of Film Club's Chris Shepherd's new music video for Holly Johnson's latest single 'In And Out Of Love'. To watch Holly performing with other characters in the video, click here. 

And here's Chris in his own words to talk about the project!

So, Chris what's the promo all about?

"I wanted to use the people getting their photos taken in a photome booth as metaphor for love. When you go into a photome booth you act differently. Its a heightened moment where you have a sneaky kiss, or argument. Its a place where we reveal a lot about ourselves, our hopes, fears and secret dreams. 

It was fun to work within limits. We had the booth as a one shot scenario with 35 actors. Each had their own character and back story. From the hen and stag party to the woman with altezhimers with her carer. All aspects of life and ages are in there. I had a few actors from my previous films in there, like Kay noone, dave Kent and Pricilla adae. So if you know my films keep an eye out. Everyone was amazing. Many many thanks to our casting director Lin Cordoray. Who has cast all of my dramas. 

I absolutely loved shooting the promo. As I always do. I could shoot all day long and all night and have a beamer on my face.  It was a joy to be working with Holly. I can't wait for his new album to be released at the end of the month. 

Credits

Director and Writer: Chris Shepherd
Producers: Alex Bedford and Rebecca Gravil
Director of Photography: Sarah Bartles-Smith 
Camera Assistants: Chole Winn and Imogen Woolley 
Studio Manager: James Partridge
Casting Director: Lin Cordoray 
Editor: Miikka Leskinen
Costumes: Kitty Bennett
Props and Art Direction:Kat Pang
Colourist: Danny Atkinson
 

Marcus Armitage receives 'honourable mention' at the Adobe® Design Achievement Awards!

It's been a great month for Film Club director Marcus Armitage, with two press features and now an 'Honourable Mention' for his film 'Over Dinner' at the Adobe® Design Achievement Awards.

The awards celebrate the most talented and promising student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, game developers and computer artists from the world's top institutions of higher education.

This is another outstanding recognition for Marcus and we're all excited to see what will be next for this talented director!

'Kiss the Water' named one of the 'Ten Best Documentaries Of The Year by BBC film critic, Mark Kermode!

BBC film critic Mark Kermode has named Kiss the Water as one of his top 10 documentaries of the year. Kiss the Water, with its' beautiful, hand painted animation by Film Club's Em Cooper was given the number 8 spot, with Kermode praising the film's 'beautiful use of animation.'

Mark Kermode's praises come off the back of several glowing reviews from, Empire Online, The Telegraph, Financial Times and Timeout Magazine. 

Congratulations Em, this is another fantastic review! Click here to see Mark's praise for Kiss the Water and check out the full top 10 list! 

Film Club welcomes new director Marcus Armitage!

Marcus Armitage is the latest director to join Film Club's growing roster of animation talent. Marcus has an expressive animation style that blends drawing, painting and mixed media, a style he mastered at the Royal College of Art.

Armitage considers his films to be 'documentary-fiction', pairing his imagination with personal experiences. Marcus draws a lot of inspiration from his 'eye-opening' move to London and the prejudices he's since witnessed or read about in the papers.

Despite being a young talent, Marcus' work has not gone un-noticed, having recently been featured in Directors Notes, where author El Vez personally flagged his film 'Over Dinner'  to watch first at this years 'Royal College of Art Animation Show and Tell.'

More recently, Marcus has been featured in Grafik, where he shares his inspirations, industry likes and dislikes and even offers an insight into his own animation process.

The team at Film Club are all extremely excited to welcome Marcus on board! Check out his work here.

Marcus' films will also feature at a number of upcoming events including:

• 'Over Dinner 'at the Smalls festival in Shoreditch and Encounters, both in September
• 'My Dad' will be screening at Aesthetica film festival in York and the London International Animation Festival

Film Club welcomes I.N.K

The very talented, 'I.N.K' have joined Film Club's illustrious roster of Directors. I.N.K are a particularly mysterious bunch and have offered up the below extract to give us all a peak inside what makes them tick.

'The world is full of experts who seem to have the answer to everything, or a formulae, a new technique or an ‘ism’ to cure all.  We at the Institute simply say, ‘We don’t know’ - a way to approach the Universe in a state of ‘not knowing’ and curiosity.

“To except anything as true means to incur the risk of error. If I limit myself to knowledge that I consider true beyond doubt, I minimise the risk of error but I maximise, at the same time, the risk of missing out on what may be the subtlest, most important and most rewarding things in life. St Thomas Aquinas, following the Aristotle, taught that, ’the slenderest knowledge that may be obtained of the highest things is more desirable than the most certain knowledge obtained of lesser things.’ ‘Slender’ knowledge is here put in opposition to ‘certain’ knowledge, and indicates uncertainty. Maybe it is necessarily so that the higher things cannot be known with the same degree of certainty as the lesser things can be known, in which case it would be a very great loss indeed if knowledge were limited to things beyond possibility of doubt.”

- E.F. Schumacher, 'A Guide For The Perplexed’"

We're certainly left intrigued and are extremely excited to be a part of this mysterious movement.

Film Club's David Anderson's 'Tongue of the Hidden' exhibition screening!

Tongue of the Hidden the short film by Film Club director David Anderson will be screened at the National Gallery of Art, Vilnius, Lithuania at the travelling exhibition “Typemotion: Type as Image in Motion”, from the 10th of October running through till the 9th of November, 2014.

The film will be screened at the exhibition display, in loop, 6 days per week.

Check out a preview of the short film here.

A busy week for Film Club's Chris Shepherd!

The past week has been an eventful one for Film Club's Chris Shepherd, having presented his work at two festivals back-to-back.

On Thursday night, Chris held a mini retrospective at Edge Hill University's Cake Festival, a week-long animation festival attended by both students and industry professionals.

The following night, Chris presented his film The Ringer at Latitude Festival's film arena. The Latitude Festival is an award-winning festival that showcases the very best in music, film and arts.

If you haven't seen it yet, catch a little glimpse of The Ringer for yourself here. Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled for Chris as he whizzes his way around the film circuit.

Film Club's Will Anderson wins top award at the 2014 Edinburugh International Film Festival!

Photo Copyright: Edinburugh International Film Festival 

Film Club's Will Anderson has won a top prize at the 2014 Edinburugh International Film Festival (EIFF) for his Film, Monkey Love Experiments. Will won the award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to a Short Film alongside Co-director and Screenwriter, Ainslie Henderson.

Monkey Love Experiments is a beautiful story inspired by love and follows a monkey who believes he is destined for the moon. The festival jurors had this to say of this film: "With fireworks of poetic ideas we have been shown within the deepest loneliness a heart-breaking love story... Being as stylish as it is simple, this animation and an animated hero with wind in his fluffy hair enters straight into the heart and to tears."

Film Club's Sue Loughlin was also at the festival to take part in an animation panel discussion and to present the 25th McLaren Award for Best New British Animation!

All in all it was a fantastic event! Congratulations Will!

Chris Shepherd's Directors Notes

Film Club's Chris Shepherd has given a comprehensive interview to online magazine Directors Notes about his new short film, The Ringer.

With Chris' film currently doing the rounds at International festivals - and with his first festival win at the Courtivore Film Festival only last week - Directors Notes investigated both the film-making process and Chris' insightful approach to film-making in general.

The article is very complimentary about Chris and The Ringer, even calling the film a 'contender for inclusion' for the 'classic' short film category. The magazine continues by describing the film as 'innovative, funny and distinctly British'.

It's always a pleasure to gain greater insight into any great film, and this article is definitely no exception.

What do you think: Has The Ringer persuaded Tom Cruise to sign up to Chris' next project?

To read the interview in full, you can follow the link here.

Film Club's Daniela Sherer's double success

Film Club's Daniela Sherer has won best animated film in her category at this years Stuttgart Festival of Animated film. The short, 'Shirley Temple', has also been officially selected for a handful of other European film festivals in the past few months since Daniela graduated from the prestigious Royal College of Art . 

In Daniela's own words, 'Shirley Temple is an abstract-narrative short about childhood and adulthood, escapism and sexuality'. To watch a glimpse of the film, click here.

We all love the film and are chuffed to bits for Daniela. Long may her festival run continue! 

Daniela has also just released her latest music video which has kindly been chosen as a Vimeo Staff Pick and has had a terrific write up in 'It's Nice That'. 

The track, 'As Luck Would Have It' by Tom Rosenthal, is given a Western-themed video in which It's Nice That describe as an 'audio-visual match made in heaven'. 

Click here for a link to the beautiful video. 

Congratulations, Daniela! 

The Annual SHOOT New Directors Showcase, Special Edition Featuring Film Club's own Em Cooper

SHOOT magazine released detailed coverage of the 12th Annual New Directors Showcase online yesterday.

The showcase, celebrated last Thursday at the DGA Theatre in New york pays tribute to the best up-and-coming talent in the industry, including Film Club's own Em Cooper.

SHOOT debuted their 12th Annual New Directors Showcase reel at the event reception which was followed by a panel discussion moderated by SHOOT publisher and editorial director Roberta Griefer.

Check out Film Club's Em Cooper feature spread in the special edition coverage here.

Film Club's Em Cooper selected for SHOOT Magazine's New Directors Showcase

The talented Em Cooper of Film Club has been selected out of hundreds of entries for SHOOT Magazine's New Directors Showcase. The event spotlights the best up-and-coming directors from all genres and backgrounds.

Already in its 12th year, the showcase is celebrated on May 22nd with a special screening, panel discussion and reception at the DGA Theatre in New York. Em Cooper was selected for her beautiful hand-painted animation style in a series of online spots for Biofinity contact lenses with New York agency TBWA Chiat Day.

This is yet another wonderful honour for Em Cooper who is making headlines at the moment for her animation talent within the BBC documentary feature, Kiss the Water. The documentary feature has received glowing reviews from the likes of The Guardian, Timeout Magazine, The Financial Times and more.

The full profiles of the New Directors Showcase roster and the reel will be available to view on Friday 23rd May here.

Kiss The Water, DVD release and yet more praise

Kiss the Water, with its' beautiful, hand painted animation by Film Club's Em Cooper has received yet another glowing review, this time from CineVue. The review pays particular attention to Coopers animation style, which is described as having an inherent 'compassion and warmth'. Read the complete review here.

The film has also recently been released on DVD, order your copy here.

Will Anderson's Latest Film: 'Big Dunc Loves Finder'

Still from Will Anderson's 'Big Dunc Loves Finder'

Will Anderson brings Big Dunc back to the screen for yet another sharp-witted and distinctive short film.

This time, Big Dunc and his pal discuss the merits of Finder: a new and exciting app for finding new birds. Unfortunately for Big Dunc, the app isn't effective as he makes out.

BAFTA Award Winner, Will Anderson Joins Film Club's Talented Roster of Directors!

Stills from Will Anderson's The Making of Longbird and TV Licensing 'Lethal Injection'

The multi-talented, award-winning director, Will Anderson has joined Film Club! 

Will Anderson, born in the Scottish Highlands is best known for his intelligent and heartfelt, short film The Making of Longbird. The talented filmmaker, created the 15-minute film for his final-year project during his studies at the prestigious Edinburgh College of Art. 

Will has spent the past year touring the festival scene, where The Making of Longbird received a slew of illustrious awards along the way, including the BAFTA for Best Short Animation and Best Animation at the British Academy Scotland Awards.

Will's specialties include, design and character animation for both film and television, working across anything from feature-length documentary films to short animation series for all ages. Will has big plans for his future with Film Club and we're all very excited to be a part of his journey!

Check out the trailer for Making of Longbird below, Will’s impressive portfolio of work can also be viewed here.

 

Film Club Signs Director Daniela Sherer

A big welcome to Daniela Sherer who has recently joined Film Club's talented roster of directors!

2013 Royal College of Art graduate, Daniela Shererʼs award winning films have been screened in many international festivals, including Annecy, Zagreb, Hiroshima, Clermont-Ferrand, and others.

Daniela's most recent film “The Shirley Temple” has recently won the student film Grand Prix at the 2014 Angers Film Festival, and Sherer was also a finalist at the 2014 British Animation Awards.

In addition to her own personal work, Daniela has illustrated a novel and has worked on a variety of animation projects that range from visual, music shorts and commissioned films, to animated sequences for documentary features.

Daniela's technique is 2D, hand-drawn, digital animation that uses minimal colour and geometric shapes alongside a strong narrative. Daniela focuses on the "movement and atmosphere" when preparing to tell a story, then mixes in abstract elements to create a "unique storytelling vibe".

To get a taste of Daniela's work, check out her film 'He Was a Sweet Man' below.

Film Club's Director Em Cooper Evokes Total Comfort with Stunning Animations for CooperVision® Biofinity® Contact Lenses

In four, new, 15-second online spots for CooperVision® Biofinity® contact lenses, director and animator Em Cooper of Film Club uses her evocative oil paint animation style to create a series of languid, dream-like animations meant to convey the supreme comfort of Biofinity contact lenses. Working with agency TBWA/Chiat/Day in New York, the Biofinity spots will be displayed in doctor’s offices and officially launched online on (March 17).

Check out the spot and credits below. If you’d like more information about the Biofinity spots and Film Club’s role in their creation, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Credits

Director: Em Cooper

Designer : Em Cooper

Animation: Em Cooper, Sharon Lui

Producer : Sue Loughlin, Andrea Torres

Agency: TBWA/Chiat/Day - New York

Creative Director: Jeff Williamson

Art Director: Christian Loos

Global Creative Director: James Cheung

Producer: Dan Bradbury

Account Supervisor: Jenai Domingo

Account Director: Bennet Kim

Sound Engineer: Rob McIver

Company: Sonic Union

Music Company: APM