The Interview - brought to you by The Animation Workshop

The Interview

The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark, is one of Europe's leading animation schools, perhaps the best English-language animation school outside of North America. It's a hugely creative place, packed with energy and life, full of talented students doing their best to learn animation and, in their final year, make their own mark on the industry with a stunning short film. This year is no exception.

One of this year's most successful films is Interview, a funny and surprising film with a delicious twist. Two of its creators, Mikkel Okholm and Mikkel Brons-Frandsen, talked to FLiP about how it came about.

The Amazing Double Life of Jorgen Klubien

Dane Jorgen Klubien has lived in two parallel career worlds going back to the 1970's: one as an animator and story man for studios such as Disney and Pixar, the other as a Danish pop star.  It's a safe bet to say he is the only one in the world with that distinction.  He took a little time out to talk to FLIP.

FLIP:  Can you tell us about your music career?

Jorgen: I began playing the drums in bands in Copenhagen as a boy in the early 1970's.  We were four pals from school and we played high schools dances, etc . I always thought of myself as an artist who would become a fine artist with playing music for fun on the side.

I enrolled in the Danish Design school at 17, and was then invited to attend CalArts two years later.   My music career was put on hold until I returned to Denmark after having assisted Glen Keane, Jerry Rees, and Randy Cartwright on The Fox and The Hound for a year.  Back in Denmark I began writing songs with friends and soon thereafter I was in another band, this time as the front man and lead singer. We had a few hits in the mid 80's in Denmark and we have continued to play for fun every so often.

I returned to the US in 1982 to work on a title sequence for the show Animation Around The World, one of the first shows on the newly formed Disney Channel.  It was produced by my friend and classmate from CalArts, Rick Heinrichs.  He's been a great supporter of me throughout the years, and  has pulled me unto such great productions as The Nightmare Before Christmas and lately, Frankenweenie.

Marc Stevenson on The Animation Workshop

The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark

Marc Stevenson is an animator with a huge wealth of experience in the visual effects industry, having worked on many successful films including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Moon, X-Men, and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

Marc recently took time out from VFX work  to teach at The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark, one of Europe's leading centres of animation excellence. In an interview with FLIP Marc talks about his new experience as an animation instructor.

How a Danish Animation Company Was Born

In 2010 Magnus Moller and Peter smith set up their own animation company, Tumblehead Animation, in Viborg, Denmark. Neither had much experience of working at professional studios, or much money. Two years on their company is not just alive, but growing and thriving. FLIP asked them the secret of their success.

Erik Schmidt introduces the Danish independent film Otto is a Rhino

Otto the Rhino breaks into the animated film market

Erik Schmidt is an animator with a vast experience of working in Los Angeles for studios such as Disney, DreamWorks and ILM. Recently he traded Hollywood for Copenhagen, working as animation director on the upcoming independent film Otto is a Rhino.

Space Stallions!

Another awesome student film from The Animation Workshop - the hilarious Space Stallions, produced by another talented crop of recently graduated Danish film-makers. I have been coming to teach at the Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark for many years now, and I always love coming back; the school has a terrific energy and has become one of the best places to study animation in Europe. All classes are conducted in English, and international students are welcomed. The school has recently added a CGA (computer graphics art) course with a strong emphasis on technical skills, and the CG artists work together with the animators in their third year to produce a "bachelor project" - a final year film which aims to combine excellent animation and story telling with a high level of technical skill. Every year the films seem to get better and better, and the recent results speak for themselves. Enjoy! - Alex

The Story of Animation

Another excellent new short film, this time directed by my old friend and former Blue Sky alumnus Dave Tart (we worked together on Chris Wedge's excellent Blue Sky Studios' release Robots).

Dave collaborated with the excellent Tumblehead Animation Studios in Viborg, Denmark to produce a short UPA-style film about the animation process - designed to help clients understand what actually goes in to the making of an animated project. It's short, funny, and very very well made. I'll be bookmarking it for the next time I need to explain things to a client, so I don't have to educate them at great length about what exactly is involved in the process of animation.

You can see The Story of Animation at Vimeo here:

...and you can see more about the up and coming Tumblehead Animation here:

Enjoy! - Alex

The Saga of Bjorn - bad pitch, great film

Now and again I teach animation classes at the wonderful Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark, a school which I think offers one of the very best English-speaking undergraduate animation courses in the world. The school has a great spirit, marvellous dedicated staff, and produces excellent work. A couple of years ago I was working there as an artist in residence when one of my students, Benjamin Kousholt, pitched me his idea for a student film. It was all about Vikings. "Oh no..." I thought, "here we go..."  Vikings? (yawn) Going to Valhalla? (double yawn). I thought: When will these Danes stop banging on about Vikings? It's like the Norwegians and their forest trolls - time to stop digging through the cultural attic in search of antique furniture and do something new.

How wrong I was. Benjamin and his team of animators and visual effects artists put together one of the best student films I have ever seen. It's beautifully designed, well animated, very funny, and has over a million hits on YouTube. I salute their hard work and a wonderful result. - Alex