One of the most rewarding things I do each year is coaching pitching at Animarkt in Lodz, Poland.Animarkt is unique because it focuses exclusively on stop-motion animation projects.
Teaching The Art Of Pitching
One of the most rewarding things I do each year is coaching pitching at Animarkt in Lodz, Poland.
Animarkt is unique because it focuses exclusively on stop-motion animation projects.My part of Animarkt as the pitching coach begins six weeks to a month before I meet any participants in person with one-on-one Zoom calls.The first Zoom meeting is to let each person know what information they need to be sure is included in their pitch, to get to know them and to assess how much work we are going to have to do to get them ready for their appearance on stage in Lodz.
The initial Zoom is followed by two or three more Zoom meetings depending upon how much help they need.By the time the participants get to Lodz, if all has gone as planned, their pitches are well-written and rehearsed.All we have to do is do a bit of fine-tuning and practicing.
Each project then gets an hour-long meeting with me.I also give extra sessions to anyone who needs it.A lot of my time in Lodz is spent reassuring them and helping people get over their nervousness.
The pitchers range from seasoned veterans to people who have never spoken in public before to a large audience.Also, for the majority of them, English is not their first language.I always remind them that everyone else has the same language problem and that usually Nik and I are the only two native English speakers in the room.
Of course, there are always some projects that appeal to me more than others, but it is like asking which of your children do you like the most, I want everyone to succeed.I am proud of them all so there is no way that I can single out one project.Nik is in charge of teaching stage presence and microphone technique.
Being on the stage to see where they will deliver their pitches and to work with the microphone helps the participants a great deal.They also have a chance to check out their visual material so that, hopefully, everything will run smoothly during their actual pitch.This year there were ten short film projects and eleven feature films, television series and specials pitched.
The competition to be selected to pitch at Animarkt is very stiff, so I consider everyone who is selected to come to Lodz a winner.This year there were 120 projects submitted from thirty-three countries throughout the world.All projects must have a minimum of 80% stop-motion animation.
Short films, up to twenty-five minutes, in development must have at least a first draft of the script.Feature films and television specials and series can be at any stage from early development to in-production.An important component of the selection process is that each project must include a sustainable production plan which is 10% of the entire project’s rating.
Along with a zł40,000 in-kind contribution (Polish Zloty, approximately €9,343) sponsored by the Wroclaw Feature Film Studio, pitchers vied for such valuable awards as Dragon Frame 5 software and the Animond Award which includes marketing, audience, and financing consultations.A complete list of all of the awarded projects is at the end of this article.Along with representatives from companies who donate services, there are producers, directors, and other people from the film industry so that even if someone doesn’t win a prize they still have a chance to be approached by a producer, director, or script doctor.
Along with the pitching Animarkt has Career Days, which features meetings with studios, creators, and professionals.It offers opportunities for participants to establish all-important contacts, learn about what it is like to work in a film studio, and what requirements need to be met when applying for a job at a studio.The five studios participating were Shadowmachine and Laika from the United States, Pangur Animation and Cornelius Films from Spain, and The United Kingdom’s Passion Pictures.
Two workshops were offered.In Alice Canovas’ three-day Puppet Design workshop participants received a solid understanding of how to construct their puppet.They focused on the basics of puppet construction, from body proportions to facial expressions.
Each participant brought their puppet design to work on.Alice Canovas began her professional career as a sculptor and model maker in her native Spain.In 2016 she moved to the UK where she worked on such productions as Wes Anderson’s and Guillermo del Toro’s In 2022 she moved to Bristol to work at Aardman Animation.
Currently, Alice is a lecturer at U-TAD University in Madrid.Director Chris Tichborne has over 25 years of experience of working in stop motion.After 14 years of animating on such well-known television shows at and , he moved on to films such as Tin Burton’s , Wes Anderson’s and Netflix’s His 3-day Character Animation Workshop focused on the core principles of character animation using stop motion techniques.
Participants learned how to pose puppets, create simple keyframes, and master basic body movement to convey acting motions and visual storytelling.The important areas of a puppet interacting with props and walk cycles were also covered.I was kept busy in my room with my one one-on-one pitching meetings, but I did get out to hear Will Becher speak at his masterclass. As the person responsible for all teaching, learning activities, and development relating to stop motion production, animation production for both internal animation talent and students studying at the prestigious Aardman Academy, Will is a busy person indeed.
He began his career at Aardman Animation, working a summer job, where he made clay wings for the first He later joined Aardman full time as an animator on the award-winning He was the Supervising Animator on Aardman’s latest filmwhich premiered on Christmas Day on BBC One as their Christmas Animation Special.The film is currently running on Netflix.His Master Class at Animarkt, was full of humor.
Being a big Shaun the Sheet fan, I thoroughly enjoyed Will’s presentation which gave the audience a unique behind-the-scenes look into life at Aardman.In addition to his work at the studio, Will also makes independent films, so he talked about the difference between working in a large, legendary studio and developing your projects.Each evening social events were planned for all of the participants at local bars.
One evening the group was treated to a screening of The delightful twenty-eight-minute puppet film is the story of eleven-year-old Lola who is a big sister to five-year-old Simon.Her little brother lives in a world of his own, displaying autistic behavior.Through her observations, Lola discovers that Simon is hypersensitive to the little sounds hidden within the surrounding cacophony of everyday life.
With the help of her friend Rolih, she decides to build a sound piano to communicate with Simon.is beautifully animated and tells a very sweet, sensitive story that the entire family can enjoy.It is an excellent film to make people, especially young people, understand that individuals who are autistic frequently suffer from rejection and exclusion.
The film is about inclusion and living together in our world.The film is directed by Augusto Zanovello.It had its premiere at Annecy 2024 where it was awarded the Jury Prize for a Television Special.
The film was co-produced by Momakin with Katarzyna Gromadzka as an Executive Producer.The film was shot in France but the puppets were made in Poland.Lodz is famous for its excellent specialists who create puppets.
Momakin, in cooperation with designer Dariusz Kalita, has introduced an innovative system of armatures that allows animators on movie sets to increase the mobility of the puppets and make them last longer.Their particular elements can be removed and replaced without any harm to the rest of the puppet.Momikin is so much more than just the producer of Animarkt.
It was founded by three energetic women who met at university.Paulina Zacharek focuses on animation aspects from a producer’s point of view.Prior to Momakin, she managed the Se-Ma-For Studio Museum for five years.
She is also the creator of Momakin’s StopMoLab training program.During the nine-month training program participants fill in the gaps between knowledge gained at university and the realities of working in a professional setting with modules led by specialists and professionals in various arms of animation such as line producing, lighting technicians, and puppet making.Agnieszka Kowalewska-Skowron founded Animarkt.
Last year she announced she was stepping down as its director to pursue other avenues.(Little did I guess that one of her important new projects was to become pregnant.) She left Animarkt in the very capable hands of Marianna Piskorz who did a wonderful job organizing the entire pitching program for the week.She also made sure that I had everything that I needed, even having lunch brought to my room when I didn’t have time for a break between my pitching participants.
The last original member of the trio is Katarzyra Gromadzka.She is an Executive Producer among the many other things that she does at Momakin.Currently living in Spain, she is back in Lodz frequently to continue her work at Momakin.
Lodz is a city that I have grown to love.It is known as “the Hollywood of Poland”, having been the center of film production since the beginning of cinematography.The Lodz Film School is one of the most widely recognized film schools world-wide. The city is also home to a Cinema Museum, the only one in Poland.
I have always wanted to visit it but have never had the chance to because I am always so busy when I am in Lodz.This year I was invited to give a presentation at Etiuda & Anima in Krakow on my new book, The festival began five days after Animarkt so I stayed two additional days in Lodz and finally had the opportunity to spend the entire day at the Cinema Museum. The museum was wonderful! The collection has over 50,000 exhibits that include a wide array of old film equipment, posters, photos, and memorabilia such as dresses worn in well-known films.
The most valuable exhibit is a photo-plasticon (stereoscope viewer) built around 1900 in the workshop of the inventor and constructor of the device, August Fuhrmann.It is his only photo-plasticon in Poland and one of five in existence in the world.The museum is housed in the magnificent former palace of Karol Scheibler, known as the King of Cotton.
Anmarkt provided accommodation for us at the lovely Hotel Pietryna located on Piotrkowska Street.It is 4.2 km long making it the longest promenade in Poland and one of the longest shopping streets in Europe.As you walk along the street there are beautiful old houses and bronze statutes honoring famous citizens of Lodz such as Artur Rubinstein seated at his piano, the poet Julian Tuwim sitting on a park bench and Wladyslaw Reymont, the novelist with his notebook sitting on his luggage.
Reymont won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1924.The street also has a Hollywood-style Walk of Fame that pays tribute to Poland’s rich cinema history.Gold stars honor such famous names as animator Zbigniew Rybczynski and director Roman Polanski along with actors, scriptwriters, cinematographers, and other people who have contributed to Polish cinema.
If you don’t feel like walking the entire street you can also take a bicycle rickshaw.After two relaxing days of adventuring in Lodz, I boarded the train for the three-hour trip to Krakow.It was a beautiful journey through birch forests with the leaves all shimmering gold.
I was met in Krakow by my good friend and Etiuda & Anima Guest host Konrad Glabek.I spent two lovely days with Konrad and his partner Emilia Gondek, but more about that in my next article.
