From
Oakfiends to Ironmen
Premiered at (17th July 2009)
Oakfield Day Service
Reviewed by
The Oakfield Day Service is a group in Liverpool that encourages people
with learning difficulties to become involved with various courses and
activities.
Jungle Jive was the first short animated film created by the group in
2004, which featured two brightly coloured figures dancing to jungle music.
In 2008 the group then made a new animated film using similar techniques
called From Oakfiends to Ironmen. The film tells the story of Dr. Who
(as well as three new assistants), travelling through various points of
time in Liverpool, from the docks in 1850 to Crosby beach in the present
day, battling the Daleks and new enemies the Oakfiends along the way.
The processes used to make this animation are the same used in the group’s
previous film, Jungle Jive, and although they are simple enough techniques,
they are effective. The group took photos of the locations in Liverpool
to be used in the film and then altered them with Adobe Photoshop. These
pictures, as well as photos of the group who were going to be made into
characters in the film, were then traced over to give them an animated
feel.
Every member of the group helped in one way or another during the filmmaking
process, which can be seen in a short documentary on the making of their
piece. For example, although Marcel Musset created the ominous score accompanying
the attack of the Daleks in the film, the group were recorded playing
percussive instruments over Musset’s piece so they could all add
their own individual touches.
Therefore although others helped the group with various technical aspects
along the way, it is very much the group’s own film. This could
certainly be felt at the recent premiere at FACT; from the excited atmosphere
it was clear how proud the group was to finally see their finished piece
on the big screen. Let’s hope that Oakfield Day Service carries
on its good work and that we can see more films from this group in the
future.
The short film can be viewed here:
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