28 January 2011

Oscar recognition for Animation graduates

More than 30 Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design graduates and staff members worked on The Illusionist, the Scottish animated film nominated for an Oscar earlier this week.

The Illusionist was part-developed at the South Tay Street studio of ink.digital. The company has long-standing links to DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee. The film will now go up against Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon in the Best Animated Feature category. The winner will be announced in Los Angeles on 27 February.

Inspired by French director Sylvain Chomet’s travels around Scotland, The Illusionist tells the story of a magician who moves from Paris to Edinburgh in search of work. ink.digital staff in Edinburgh and Dundee worked on the £14million movie, which took five years to complete.

A significant number of the company’s staff either graduated from or taught on the Animation programme at DJCAD, whilst others graduated from other courses as the college.

A total of 32 graduates and current or former members of staff worked on The Illusionist and filled a number and variety of roles. Dr John McGhee, Programme Director for Animation & Visualisation, expressed his delight at seeing so many DJCAD graduates involved in an Oscar-nominated film.

'It is great to see a company with a base in Dundee having a film they worked on nominated for an Oscar,' he said.

'It is another sign of the tremendous strengths the city has in animation, something we are very engaged with at the college. We are producing top-class graduates who are going on to work with top-class firms like ink.digital and The Mill, who are visiting Dundee this week.

'These graduates are now working on film production, commercial production and all sorts of other stuff, and doing it at a very high level.'

ink.digital owner Bob Last said, 'A great deal of the film was carried out by ink.digital on behalf of Django Films right here in the heart of Dundee’s cultural quarter by a youthful team led by Scottish graduates, many from Duncan of Jordanstone. ink.digital was not only responsible for the digitisation of all the drawings and colouring of all the characters, but also the inbetweening of the characters and some clean up.'

The Illusionist was released last summer to critical acclaim, and crowds flocked to see the film when it showed at Dundee Contemporary Arts. The DVD of the film will be released on 14th February.

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
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