Press release from Sixty40
Sixty40’s Proto Ninja Award, running for the second year as part of the UTS: Sydney International Animation Festival, has announced Michael Burr the winner for his animated film The Secret: Cyberion Emissary.
Michael used John Green’s track "Lomo" to fuel a moody motion graphic about a computer-generated creature sent on a mysterious journey across the world. The film captures movement and rhythm and uses the animal’s flight within the expansive landscapes to draw the audience into this enigmatic world. In addition to a cash prize, Michael will undertake a mentorship with Sixty40 over two months as part of the award.
"We had a lot of good entries this year but thought Michael's film showed the best blend of staying on brief, execution, story and passion. We look forward to working with him on the film,” said Sixty40 Director Matt Taylor.
“The runners up demonstrated a range of techniques in their films which made the process of judging very difficult but exciting. Ultimately, we were going for how well the piece moved us and we saw that in The Secret: Cyberion Emissary,” said Sixty40 Director, Mark Simpson.
Entrants were required to create a new work of between 40 and 60 seconds length, following the theme ‘Secrets’ and incorporating one of four supplied music tracks. They could choose which production techniques to draw upon, from stop-frame, traditional 2D, motion graphics, 3D, photography, puppetry to film or video. The competition attracted entries from creative minds not necessarily in the industry, offering them the opportunity to work in a commercial animation environment.
“The Proto Ninja Award is not just about finding the most technically brilliant piece, but one that reaches a balance between technique and narrative. The restrictions on time, theme and the use of music really push entrants to be innovative and that’s what we saw in Michael’s entry,” continued Sixty40 Director Matt Taylor.
“The competition is about creating an open forum for expression that really gets down to the story behind the idea. It was great to see the entries embrace that this year,” added Sixty40 Director Mark Simpson.
To view Michael’s winning entry, see: http://www.vimeo.com/29243029
Sixty40 website: www.sixty40.com