Projects in categories: Artist Project and Video / Experimental

Synopsis

Smoke is used as a device to exploit extreme contrasts of light and dark. This theme of contrast echoes throughout the work as notions of presence and absence oscillate, and redundant, toxic waste is briefly transformed into a magnificent celebration of 'being' before gently dissipating into infinite time and space.

Synopsis

Francis is an account of the creation of a 9-year-old 'defective' animated character. As the draughtsman’s hand goes to work and Francis attains animated consciousness, his behaviour is observed and assessed by a child psychologist. The boy’s responses – initially slow and apparently flawed – develop in unusual comic directions as the examination progresses.
As his vocalisations begin to address the nature of his animated world and the psychologist continues to try and interpret his actions, it appears that Francis may ‘break out’ once and for all and become a ‘real’ animated character. Francis playfully addresses notions of construction and the role that language plays in interpreting, classifying and creating certain types. In an animated world populated by impressionable idiot figures, mischief-makers and oddballs with strange vocal mannerisms, Francis puts the cute but simple cartoon character into therapy for a case study of 'animated behaviour'.

Synopsis

I am a Horse
I am a horse was a sculpture by David Salkeld. Derived from Halysites and siderite fossilised corral, which is expressed in a delightful free flowing ocean like style in its sense of play and movement.

The project was to recreate the sculpture as something new - an experimental animation. Working with the sculptor to recreate I am a horse in 3D animation as close as possible to the original sculpture, where the allusion of complex interlocking shapes was created out of one solid piece of wood in a series of components forming the impression of a horse.

The animation depicts the the sculpture forming out of the coral and fossilised formations and sea, and will express the natural flow of the shapes and sense of fun of the original design, before dissolving back into the sea.

Synopsis

Passenger planes and tall buildings. A contemporary haunting. We are constantly reminded of the horrors of such real events in the recent past and are regularly forced to revisit them.

Landing Lights is more of a dream than a nightmare and as such could be read as something of an antidote to the prevailing politics of fear.

Synopsis

Several diverse characters recite part of a poem called Gold From the Stone written by Lemn Sissay. Each character is in a different location and time zone but the same country and the same City. We jump from one character to the next fragmenting their monologues further isolating them- are they real people?

Synopsis

The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries. All action takes place around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories, UC Berkeley, to recordings of space scientists describing their discoveries. Actual VLF audio recordings control the evolution of the fields as they delve into our inaudible surroundings, revealing recurrent 'whistlers' produced by fleeting electrons. Are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world?

Synopsis

A story of ritual, sexuality and relationships, through the life and work of one of the UK's most exciting dancers. Classically trained, Bharatanatyam in India and ballet in London, Mavin Khoo is a household name in many of the international opera houses and clubs of London through his diverse work.

Synopsis

Mental Block depicts the journey of a young freerunner (Ali) striving to find his own personal route through life using the discipline of parkour, but all motion stops when he reaches the inevitable mental block. Set within inner-city estates Ali discovers the hardest obstacles to overcome are in the mind.

Synopsis

North Circular - An experimental abstract animation by Michael Salkeld.

Utilising video 2d and 3d animation, as an experimental visual poem, interacting with an ambient improvised musical soundtrack.

Animation and music by Michael Salkeld

Synopsis

Based on the writings of Bruce Lee, Nunchaku explores the journey of a young urban warrior forced to face his demons.

Synopsis

Sourced from content from the Great North Run film archive, concentrating on the audience rather than the runner. Frame layers are arranged across the screen in the direction of the natural panning of the original shots, revealing a unique panoramic view of the content.

Synopsis

Psycho Ranger is based on actual events. Our story is set in the Derbyshire Peak District and is about a High Peak Ranger (Samuel Waring) who loses his mother to cancer. The Ranger slips into psychotic episodes, due to isolation, depression, a persistent poacher and 2 hikers who ridicule him. He kidnaps the poacher and hikers and psychologically tortures them before killing them.