Primary Innovation
Liam Winter – Year 6
Simon Rippingale visits Emanuel
Simon Rippingale, a film animator and cinematographer, came to Emanuel School to share his digital and creative skills. He works for Animal Logic; a company that produces animated films. Simon has been involved with a number of award-winning projects at the Sydney Film Festival, Blue Mountains Film Festival and app design awards. He’s also worked on ebooks, documentaries and other films. Simon loves the animation in the 1920s King Kong movies.
Simon mainly talked about the process of making Jasper – the character that featured in the magazines Years K-8 students took home in Science Week. Jasper was created by a whole team of animators, designers and editors, consisting of about 30 people. He told us that storytelling is the number one skill someone in his position needs.
Simon talked to us about character development, how he uses storyboards and timelines and creates an animatic (an early edit of the movie which includes rough drawings). In his work he uses many resources to create these animations films including: miniature models, drawings, computers, dolls and puppets and 3D cameras. Simon told us that he likes to build things with his hands – he is a real Maker! He told us how he uses hot wire to cut polystyrene to make the base and collects branches that become trees in his miniature sets. Simon connects his hands-on making with technology by 3D printing some elements, using light to get realistic shadowing and green or blue screens. He also told us how he has started using game engine software to make animation in his films, including Unreal and Unity.
Following his talk, we were able to have a quick interview with Simon about what a typical day in the life of a Director might be like, and what are the essential skills he needs to do his job well.
Watch a preview of this interview here: https://tinyurl.com/IntSimonRippingale
A special thank you to Leigh Goldberg (Jonathon and Lara’s mum) for organising the Jasper magazines and this very special visit. If you’re interested in learning more about Simon’s work, go to his website: www.simonrippingale.com
Thank you to Natalie Chesler (Mia and Jake’s mum) for organising our special visit from Peter Overton a couple of weeks ago.
