Andreas Hykade, senior lecturer for animation at The Animation Institute of the Filmacademy Baden-Württemberg and lecturer of EFA master Class 12013: Animation Today, gave an interview for animationmagazine.eu.
EFA Master Classes, the training initiative of the European Film Academy, are courses on continuous training. They are held by highly acclaimed and internationally successful filmmakers who dedicate one week of intensive training to young talents coming from all over Europe, passing on their individual knowledge and personal experience. Rather than bare lecturing, the courses concentrate on the practical side of learning with at least half of the time spent with hands-on training.
What is the activity of The Animation Institute? What projects do you have?
The Animation Institute focusses on educating animation students of all kinds. The students work in different fields of animation: computer animation, graphic driven animation, VFX, stop motion, technical directing, interactive media, research & development, animation & effects producing. Our goal is to get these different fields to interact an realise projects together.
The projects are executed in 5 steps:
step 1: idea, where the students find their ideas.
step 2: development, where the students develop their idea and realise a project bible including story, description of the characters, visual concept, sound concept and storyboard.
step 3: preparation, where the students prepare their projects and establish a workflow for the production.
step 4: realisation, where, well, where they realise the thing.
step 5: finalisation, where they finish the production.
In your opinion, what is the solution for the development of European animation?
I think, there´s not only one solution, but a few steps that have to be made:
step 1: The production houses have to trust in the artists who work in unique fields. They have to trust in them and build them up, so they can come to full bloom. They should not squeeze them out for old fashioned short term purposes. They should create a property together, so you can be independant and plan and execute long term strategies.
step 2: The filmfunds should develop as much empathy as possible for the wide field of animation. They should keep an eye on the artistic quality and don´t go for the everyday product. This means the juries have to consist of people who have profound knowledge of animation.
step 3: The TV-stations have to start to see the enourmous potential of the art of animation.
step 4: The distributors – classical publishers, but also youtube & friends & every distributor in mobile communication – should cooperate and work together instead of seeing each other as enemies.
step 5: The banks should show some interest and discover the uniqueness of the medium aniamtion. They should start to see the potential of a property. And give the production houses the support they need, especially in the difficult times of development.