New animation directors at Beakus – Leo Bridle & Matthias Hoegg
Beakus’ newest signing, the inimitable Leo Bridle, is fast becoming the talk of the studio, having poured out more ideas in the past few weeks than everyone else combined! He’s a veritable concept machine, an animated Heath Robinson, the Gromit to our Wallace...
Since graduating from Bournemouth with the fantastic short ‘Train of Thought’ Leo has popped up all over the place making YouTube smash virals for ‘The First Post’, speculative commercials for ‘Doritos’ and even an animated series for CBeebies ‘Skipper’ (part of ‘The Green Balloon Club’). His original short is a remarkable film where every frame has been laboured over – pixillated actors are printed on to card and scalpelled out, then placed in a 3D paper set and re-filmed one frame at a time. The story follows a poetic train journey, and the 3D turnaround as a paper train tears apart is majestic, bringing open- jawed amazement from all who see it.
Leo’s other hit was ‘Web 2.0’ for ‘The First Post’, which attracted the front page of YouTube and over a million hits. Amongst other things, the viral sees a slovenly creative order pizza through his printer and pull a tin of spam from his inbox through the actual computer screen...
So it’s no surprise that Beakus producer Steve Smith was so eager to sign Leo up to his growing studio roster. “At most studios there’d be a Leo-sized hole. But not at ours!” he says. Pitching in visual and conceptual ideas for projects including 10:10 and BBC History proved that Leo can turn his hand to anything, and it’s only a matter of time before the young director goes stratospheric – even if he has to make the rocket himself...
Read more about Leo HERE
Beakus producer Steve Smith didn’t wait for Matthias Hoegg to leave the Royal College of Art with his MA in Animation. He went and got him... “Talent like Matthias doesn’t waltz by every day,” says Smith. His eye-catching first year film ‘August’ showed a subtlety of narrative and precision of design that dug deep in to the producer’s psyche...
When Matthias finally graduated with the stylish futuristic film ‘Thursday’ he was put straight to work on a series pilot for Beakus and a short piece for 10:10. “It’s going to be hard to keep Matthias in the studio as his film gears up for the worldwide festival circuit,” complains Smith, “but I have a chain here somewhere...”
‘Thursday’ follows the relationship of a couple struggling with technology in a near-future world. They take a lift into space to experience weighlessness, and rail against remote-controlled blinds, all in a singularly smart design style that is inspired by digital patternation and malfunction.
Matthias has a sharp, distinct and original style that seamlessly mixes 2D and 3D animation. His films have a gentle pace that hides the purposeful build-up of plot-clues, drawing you in without selling you short. ‘The Reel’ recently made Matthias their ‘One To Watch’, so it’d be prudent to do just that!
Read more about Matthias HERE
Posted: on 20th July, 2010 at 10:15 AM
