Creativity unleashed at 48-hour animation comp

Teams of enthusiastic animators gathered at Murdoch University recently for a 48-hour marathon of creativity and endurance for the WamBam 2018 competition.

The event was organised by Murdoch School of Arts lecturer and ex-Pixar animator Simon Allen who has worked on award-winning films including Toy Story 3, Up, Wall-E, Cars 2, Ratatouille, Brave, The Matrix: Revolutions, Constantine, Blade II and Happy Feet.

The Games Art & Design lecturer who has been in the industry for over 20 years headed the event in collaboration with WAnimate – a group formed in 2006 that aims to nurture WA animation talent and help connect them with industry.

The competition attracted 40 budding animators in 13 teams, including a group of students from Murdoch. The teams were challenged to create short films inspired by three words drawn from a hat.

They then had just two days to create animations of up to two minutes, which, according to Mr Allen, makes it one of the most grueling and intense creative competitions in the world.

“It takes one animator a week to complete just four seconds of high quality animation under normal circumstances,” Mr Allen said.

“The competitors were faced with sound issues, edits that don't work, computers overheating, animation files missing but somehow they muster up enough energy to create something very special.

“The quality of work was extremely high given the time and technical constraints put on the teams.”

Team Classy Glasses took out first place in the competition with their stylised 2D animation about an old Sea Captain who crosses paths with his nemesis the Caramel Narwhal, having picked out the words ‘caramel’, ‘narwhal’ and ‘tense’ out of a hat.

“There’s a stylistic design change in the second half of the film which cleverly utilises techniques in anime fighting sequences to heighten the drama,” Mr Allen said. “It was a well-constructed piece with good use of music and sound effects.”

The Murdoch University student team Tam B delivered some 3D animations including a film noir-style detective piece, and a short film revolving around a traumatised peacock spider.

WamBam 2018 also featured Q&A sessions over Skype with Hollywood animators, including concept artist George Hull who has worked on over 35 films including Star Wars - The Last Jedi, Blade Runner 2049, Chappie and The Amazing Spider Man.

Dave Bogan, who was art director for The Walking Dead and Batman, and filmmaker Stu Maschwitz, CCO at Red Giant, also provided competitors with career advice.

View the winning videos below:

First place video – Caramel Narwhal

Second place video – Fish Out Mud

Third place video – Making A Friend