Like all good cities, Bristol, has many different attractions. Children play a big role in the city and Bristol’s science museum is top-notch. Explore@Bristol displays many of the usual characteristics of a science museum directed at kids, but have managed a key attraction which brings the young and not so young, flocking to their doors. A permanent exposition called Animate It organized in cooperation with Aardman, the company behind Wallace & Gromit and Morph to name a few. Aardman is based nearby, just across the river from @Bristol.
The exhibition explores the history of animation past, present and future through Aardman characters. It is a hands-on experience, with the possibility to create stories and characters in 2D and 3D animation. The idea is to free the inner animator that everyone carries inside. There are all types of props and different backgrounds to work with. The various animation stations allow up to a 30 frame piece to be produced, which translates to about 5 seconds of film sequence. There are also editing stations to add in sound effects, music, titles and credits. All the short clips can then be entered into an ongoing competition to select the best piece.
The experience doesn’t stop there. During the day, workshops are organized to teach children how to make figures from plasticine, how to create a storyboard or new characters on paper. There are original models of various Aardman characters as well as a complete set from Wallace & Gromit’s “A Matter of Loaf and Death”. It is possible to control the lighting of the set through a tactile screen, changing the scene from day to night and turning streets lamps and car headlights on. Morph is the protagonist in a giant praxinoscope, madly spinning around doing cartwheels.
After exploring and learning about animation, once at home, it is possible to continue with the process. By logging on to the @Bristol website, the editing process continues. The sort film can be tuned and watched as an animated souvenir of the exhibition. More than one adult will be editing at home, letting loose that inner animator.
