Stop Motion Animation: Tim Allen

"I've been playing with dolls 'professionally' for some 13 years & stubbornly refuse to get a real job. For the most part, I can be found locked in a dark room with my puppet friends" Tim Allen was always fascinated by art, however he never quite knew what career path to take. This all changed when he went to an open day at University, he was enlightened by a course called animation; which he then went onto discover more about. This was then, the career path Tim chose to take, as it was exactly what he  wanted to do.  Tim is now a specialist in stop motion animation, which consists of a series of photographs in which each photograph will create an illusion of motion, to its viewers. Tim spoke about how he creates his work and he said that you need about 25 frames per second in order to provide that natural movement per each motion. This sounds like a fair bit, right? Tim is a very hard worker and said this can be highly time consuming, however he loves doing it, as its his work, his hobby. As it can be very time consuming to do so many frames per second, this is usually the reason, as to why the series of clips are of such a small duration. Stop motion is usually used within kid's TV programmes, to animate cartoons, this is where Tim Allen started his first project.  Tim did his first work experience here, after graduating. He worked on the famous kids series of Bob the Builder; where he had the role of animating the characters using the stop motion technique which he specialized in. In order to be recognized by employers and even to get a job you had to create a showreel of all of your best work. Tim said the work at the beginning of the showreel had to be excellent as its the first thing your employers will see. Likewise the work at the end of your showreel also had to be of the same standard as it will then, leave a good impression and therefore your work will be memorable in their eyes. This is why its vital to ensure you include all your best bits within the showreel. Building a strong portfolio within an art industry is a very important thing to have, as this is the key to getting noticed and getting a job.  Allen has gained alot of experience throughout his years within the animation firm. He now is a very good director and animator whose work is noticed by many practitioners out there as it has it's own sense of unique style. Tim Allen also animated for other well known kids series such as, Shaun the Sheep, Postman Pat, El Nombre and Fireman Sam. Tim told us how hard it can be to develop a character, his style, his set and everything else which comes along with animating a successful character. Tim also stressed the importance of over-casting shadows and bad positioning when it comes to animating your character. Although its not easy, Tim made a great impression from his work and that if you put your mind to it, you to, can do it! Overall the talk given by Tim Allen opened my eyes, giving me an deeper insight into the world of stop motion animation. I was shown some great work which Tim, himself animated. This greatly inspired me. Most of all I was inspired by Tim's dedication and hard work which enabled him to produce work of such high quality; not only that but he also had the great privilege of working for such well known companies and animating for famous kids TV series'. I greatly respected Tim's sense of humour as it showed through his animations and created that different element to it- which made the public laugh. I can say this as all of us in the lecture room laughed at one or two of his animations as they were so funny and cleverly done.