Adam and Aldrich invade Melbourne

If you’ve been up to date with us you’ll know that Arcade Trap has been selected to screen in a few film festivals. One of them happens to be right above us. Yes that’s right, heaven. No wait, it’s Melbourne! Realising this would be a great opportunity for us, me and Adam decided to visit this uncanny area Yes! Finally an opportunity to meet other fellow animators, see other animations, meet famous animators and celebrate animation in general….all with the help of special liquids.

We were only there for the weekend, the final days of screenings. And our story starts on Saturday morning, slightly hung over and exhausted, I ready myself and prepare for the plane ride to Melbourne. Luckily I soon recovered from my hangover after being fascinated how high we were, I pretended I was a giant mech looking down at people, hehe. Anyway we eventually arrived in Melbourne and our first stop was the place where we were staying, Briony’s sister’s apartment. After getting ready with our weapons (business cards and badges) and our looks (god-like), we headed forth to our destination.

The film festival was held at this arty place call Federation Square, an area surrounded with bizarre building designs and public art… it made Adam smile… it made me giggle. Firstly we headed to the counter to get our multi-pass, which were cards that had your name on it and what you do. I wanted to have “Ninja” as my name but my request was frowned upon and then they threw bits of paper at me.

Before the screenings there was a gathering of animators for lunch, a place for interacting and understanding. I was quite entertained meeting various animators, all with different backgrounds and views on animation. This lunch had free food and drinks for everyone, me being the sneaky ninja I am, destroyed the free drinks Then we went to our first screening called the Australian Panorama. There were lots of visually styled animations, some more abstract then others. And not forgetting the hilarious films they showed.

So after lunch we watched a screening of films we had missed throughout the week, again lots of variety, some more serious than others. We were invited to the Director’s Forum, a function where the audience is able to interact with the filmmakers, with talks on the films shown, peoples’ opinions, general animation mediums, YouTube and why there were no free drinks Finally to end the day we checked out the Late Night Bizarre, which had some of the most memorable films of the festival. One in particular involving bubble wrap.

Day two, woke up with another hangover, argh. Ready for another eventful day. After breakfast we went back to the festival and prepared ourselves for the next screening, where was Arcade Trap showing. Adam had a ticket with another screening at the same time, so we split up and walked our separate paths. Be happy to hear that Arcade Trap’s screening was a successful one. It was one out of two films that the audience clapped for. It was a tough crowd The day grew on and eventually lead to the forum with Chris Landreth, a very respected animator whose impact has made ripples all over the world through his ground-breaking animation style and story telling. It was a great interview that gave the audience an insight to his success in animation.

As the day drew on, my body started to deteriorate due to lack of healthier liquids. We had one final screening, it was The Best of the Fest. Lots of people attended. It was a good selection of winners, some being funnier then others, but the overall winner was Chris’ new film, “The Spine”. Which in my mind wasn’t very surprising. During the show, I slowly recovered control over my body and we went to the official after party. We met some awesome people there, all animators, that we could relate to very easily. It was fun talking about things I had no idea about. As the night drew on, the thought of another hang over the next day scared me. So calling it a night, we went to sleep, only to wake up 4 hours later for our plane trip. Argh!

Once on the plane, I tried to think of the memories I had forgotten due to the drinking, haha! But all in all it was an awesome trip and one I will never forget… most of it anyway. Once back in Tasmania, we headed straight to work. I passed out later that day. Jokes