18 May 2011

Hollywood star lends his voice to student's animation

Image shows Brian Cox's character, The Duke.

Not many student film-makers can attract top Hollywood talent, but a Dundee animator pulled off that very coup when she persuaded Brian Cox to star in her Degree Show piece.

Freya Hotson, a final year animation student at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, tells the story of a daring train heist with a twist in her two-minute animated short The Flying Duchess. University of Dundee rector Brian Cox provided the voice of ‘The Duke’, the villain of the piece.

The film will be exhibited, alongside other examples of Freya’s work, at this year’s Dundee Degree Show, which takes place at DJCAD, part of the University, from 21st to 29th May.

Twenty-two-year-old Freya, originally from Forres, made 'The Flying Duchess' as part of a group project with fellow animation students John Harkins and Kieran Baxter.

She explained that the trio decided to ask the Dundee-born star of The Bourne Identity and Troy to take part more out of hope than expectation.

'It came about as a result of us being opportunistic,' she said. 'We just thought, ‘well he definitely won’t take part unless we ask’ and got in touch with Brian through the Students Union and were absolutely thrilled when he replied to say he was happy to help because he was so perfect for the part.

'He’s obviously very busy when he comes back to Dundee but we got half an hour with Brian and he was just brilliant. He got it down perfectly, as you’d expect, and we’re so grateful that he agreed to help us out. He hasn’t seen the final version yet but he did see the pre-production artwork so has a good idea what it will look like.'

When Brian Cox does see the final piece he is likely to be impressed with the high standard of the film. Freya, Keiran and John collaborated with a composer and sound effect technician to ensure that the audio matched the professional quality of the visuals.

Freya worked on the character animation, using traditional hand-drawn techniques, and the group experimented with new approaches for using these drawings within a computer-generated, 3D environment, discovering innovative ways to achieve their aspirations as they did so.

The environmental design and live action effects were devised by Kieran, while John was responsible for scripting and directing the film as well as for 3D animation.

Freya continued, 'We used a trace technique employed by larger animation studios to retain accuracy in the hand-drawn animation when implementing difficult 3D camera movements upon a 2D character. It's a very labour intensive process involving the literal the tracing of every 25 frames to the second, but vastly improves the overall look of the animation.

'Hopefully this work showcases the breadth of our work in both 2D and 3D, and in specific areas of design. Our final pieces for the Degree Show have taken over our lives but there is a really great culture of collaboration here which helps.

'All students help their classmates by lending their specific skills within animation and this helps us all to further develop. Keiran and John were my main collaborators, but the list of credits show there were loads of other people who contributed and a whole host of second and third years also lent their time and abilities.'

More information about Freya and her work can be found at www.theflyingduchess.co.uk.

Almost 300 students from 11 disciplines are exhibiting at this year's Dundee Degree Show.

Notes to editors:

Dundee Degree Show
21st - 29th May 2011 (Preview May 20th)

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design
University of Dundee
13 Perth Road
Dundee DD1 4HT
T 01382 385330
E exhibitions@dundee.ac.uk
www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/degreeshow

Exhibition open:
Saturday, May 21st (10am-4pm)
Sunday, May 22nd (10am-4pm)
Monday, May 23rd (10am-8pm)
Tuesday, May 24th (10am-8pm)
Wednesday, May 25th (10am-8pm)
Thursday, May 26th (10am-8pm)
Friday, May 27th (10am-8pm)
Saturday, May 28th (10am-4pm)
Sunday, May 29th (10am-4pm)

Graduate work on display:
Animation
Art, Philosophy, Contemporary Practices
Digital Interaction Design
Fine Art
Graphic Design
Illustration
Interior Environmental Design
Jewellery & Metal Design
Product Design
Textile Design
Time Based Art & Digital Film

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277