Studio AKA - Visit

Web Link - Studio AKA

Studio aka
30 Berwick St
London
W1F 8RH
UK
T +44(0)20 7434 3581
F +44(0)20 7437 2309
E: ren@studioaka.co.uk
E: sue@studioaka.co.uk

On Wednesday the 4th March, we visited Studio AKA in London. Studio AKA is a design studio, specializing in 3D animation for the purposes of advertisements, film and channel idents. The studio itself was stylish, warming and modern and I could feel that there was a friendly atmosphere between the staff. To look at the award case just made you realize that these guys mean business.

To begin the visit, we were shown clips, trailers and adverts of past Studio AKA projects, which I found incredible. They have worked on short films such as Lost and Found, the adverts for Barclay's Bank and even worked on independent films. I found 3D character design to be a common theme in their work. Here are a few examples that stood out to me -

Sing Up is a campaign to promote children to learn to sing more. The animation is directed by Steve Small. The techniques seem to be a blend of illustrator with 3D, taken down to its simplest form. The promotion is all about idea, which is these little music note characters learning to make music with each other. The idea is not only clever, but funny and heart warming.

Guinness Seconds to greatness is directed by Marc Craste. The advert was for during the time of the Rugby world cup. The black and white, epic theme keeps in context of the old Guinness campaign of the horses in the water.

The best part of the visit was the preview of the film Varmints, based on the children's book. The animation for this was incredible and really pulled at the heart strings. Even though there was no talking, the characters spoke with their eyes, they were so haunting and lost. It was incredible how the creation of the city ruined the whole peacefulness from the start of the film. What also creates the mood so perfectly is the music. As discussed with the group, people under estimate the importance of sounds and music in film.

This was a very enjoyable visit and inspiring. All the time I was watching I felt urges to jump into 3D and start creating aspects for my final major project. It was interesting to learn the stories behind the projects and people in the company and to see so much work from there portfolio. After we were shown the work, the lady apologised for it being so long, but I could of watched there work for hours.