Christopher Page (Animator)
What training have you received?
Most of my training came from reading books, studying drawing at Central Saint Martins College of Art and asking lots of questions while at Framestore. I then joined Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication and completed my BA Degree in Animation, and took a Diploma in Character Animation with the online animation course, ‘Animation Mentor’. What would you like to see more of in UK animation? To see more CG feature films made in the UK, as most of the industry is VFX based. I feel story, characters and design would need to have more time invested in them to be engaging.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given as an animator?
You can never know enough about what you are going to animate. Knowing as much as you can about your characters, shots and scenes will really aid you in giving the best performance required for your shots. Planning and shooting video reference is very important, as you can see how your animation will flow and whether it fits in with the time allocated for your shot. While watching the video reference you can then thumbnail out the key poses and start to work on timing it out. Oh, and get as much feedback as you can!
Most significant moment in your career so far?
To date, it has to be working on Framestore’s first CG feature film, The Tale Of Despereaux. I came onto the film mid to end of production, working as part of a small team who animated the crowd and background characters in the film and was asked to animate a few secondary hero shots.
You’ll die happy when…
As long as I can keep working in this industry, I’ll be content. I’d like to work on a few more quality productions and be given the opportunity to lead a group of animators and collectively work on a project that would inspire future artists.
