Positions at Brown Bag Films

Brown Bag Films is looking for new talent!

Two time Academy Award™ nominated animation studio Brown Bag Films is recruiting talented animation and production professionals to work with us on a range of high profile computer animation television series.

If you would like to join the team behind shows like Olivia, Noddy and The Octonauts at our Dublin based studio, please check out the positions listed below.

If you are interested in applying for any of these roles please submit your CV and the relevant application form to jobs@brownbagfilms.com , clearly specifying which position you are applying for.

Current Positions:

 

In addition, we we are always looking for Story Board Artists and 2D Set Designers. Please submit your CV and showreel to jobs@brownbagfilms.com

Please note that every completed application form submitted will receive a response via email within 1-2weeks

Some application forms are in PDF format only. If you require a Word version, please request one from jobs@brownbagfilms.com

Positions at Brown Bag Films
23 June 2011

By Deirdre Rudden
Posted in Jobs, News
Comments (32)

Origin Teaser Trailer

Finally – we can share details and a trailer for the new short we’ve been producing.
Directed by James Stacey and produced by Souljacker, “Origin” has been in production since September. The film was scripted by Matthew Darragh and James Stacey, with an original score by Rónán Ó Snodaigh of Kíla.
A young man is on the brink of emigration, but as he races through the streets of Dublin he comes to realise the spirit he’s leaving behind.
Here’s the trailer ! -
<iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/24618889?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0″ width=”560″ height=”349″ frameborder=”0″></iframe>
“Origin” is being made under the Irish Film Board’s Short Shorts scheme and will premiere on July 9th at the Galway Film Fleadh 2011.
For anybody of a technical mindset, James gave some details on the production -
“Origin has been produced primarily using Maya, Mental Ray while also relying heavily on its compositing pipeline. The streets of Dublin have been captured using a combination still photographs and HD Footage. This data was then treated with good old fashioned background painting and complimented with 3D models and environments. A large number of shots have been composited employing projection mapping techniques.”
To check out James’s previous “Making Of” blogs – click HERE

James Stacey has been busy at work on his debut short film, ‘ORIGIN’. We’ve cut together a trailer and everyone is excited about the first screening in July at the Galway Film Fleadh!

 ’Origin’ features a young man who is on the brink of emigration, but comes to realise the spirit he’s leaving behind as he races through the streets of Dublin. Produced by Sean Smith at Souljacker, the film was scripted by Matthew Darragh and James Stacey, with an original score by Ronan O’Snodaigh of Kila. ‘Origin’ is being made under the Irish Film Board’s Short Short’s scheme.

Check it out HERE

 James gave some details on the pipeline and techniques he used on the short film:

“‘Origin’ has been produced primarily using Maya and Mental Ray while also relying heavily on its compositing pipeline. the streets of Dublin have been captured using a combination of still photographs and HD footage. This data was then brought into Maya for 3D short setup. From this, templates were output and then painted with good old fashioned Photoshop background painting. The templates were then projected back onto the 3D models and environments. The shorts were then brought into compositing with a large number of shots composited employing projecting mapping techniques”.

To check out James’s previous making of blogs, click HERE

Origin Teaser Trailer
8 June 2011

By Caoimhe
Posted in Animators, News
Comments (3)

23 Degrees 5 Minutes – Teaser Trailer

Darragh O’Connell has been blogging all through the production of his new short film, ‘23 Degrees 5 Minutes’, and now we can finally show you the teaser trailer!

‘23 Degrees 5 Minutes’ is Brown Bag’s first short film since Nicky Phelan’s ‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’, which earned Nicky and Darragh an Oscar nomination.

23Degrees5Minutes_WebStill

In the short film, an old explorer close to freezing in the Arctic re-lives the events that brought him there in the first place. He recalls his student days at Trinity College in Dublin when he studied under the enigmatic Professor Orit, the professor who was driven to madness by his obsessive pursuit of the unified theory.

Convinced that the answer somehow lay in the relationship between the numbers two, three and five, Professor Orit’s obsession started the journey which has led his former student to the top of the world.

Featuring the voice talents of John Hurt and Stuart Townsend, and produced by Colm Tyrrell, the film was scripted by Darragh O’Connell based on a short story by Austin Kenny. The film is being made with the support of the Frameworks short film scheme and will premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh this summer

23 Degrees 5 Minutes - Teaser Trailer
23 May 2011

By Colm Tyrrell
Posted in Animators
Comments (8)

The Octonauts Toys, Cakes & Costumes

Our Octonauts blog posts continue to receive comments every day from parents of Octonauts fans (and sometimes the kids themselves!), desperate for toys, DVDs and other goodies. We don’t have a DVD release date yet but promise we will let you know as soon as we hear. As for the official toys, stand by for the amazing Octonauts toy range coming this August from Fisher Price. We can’t wait to get our hands on an Octopod!

In the meantime; loads of mums, dads, grandparents, aunties and kids have been making their own Octonauts toys, costumes, art, cakes and goodies. We’ve been blown away by the incredible creativity shown by these talented fans. It’s been fantastic to read all about the Octonauts-themed birthday parties and homemade presents. A few Octo-fans have even transformed their bedrooms into underwater worlds!

Here are some of  the great home-made Octo-goodies that have been shared on Octonauts creators Meomi’s Octonauts Facebook and the Octonauts TV Facebook. We hope they inspire you to create your own cool toys while waiting for the official ones.

And please post them for us – they make our day! :)

OFA_01
more »

The Octonauts Toys, Cakes & Costumes
11 May 2011

By Jennie Stacey
Posted in Animators
Comments (3)

Storyboard Masterclass with Norton Virgien!

Brown Bag Films® in association with Pegbar.ie are hosting an evening with one of Hollywood’s leading animation directors, Norton Virgien (Rugrats) on May 19th from 6-7:30pm.

Update, Friday May 6th: we’ve had a fantastic response and all 50 places for the masterclass are now filled. We look forward to seeing you there, and hope this will be the first of many masterclasses we hold in association with Pegbar.ie

The event is aimed at aspiring storyboard artists who wish to understand the craft of storyboarding on international television series. Norton will discuss his extensive experience and go through examples of good (and not so good) storyboards, as well as showing episodic animatics of work in production. The event will cover the role of a storyboard artist, a retakes artist and storyboard supervisor as well as outline the expectations and standards set by US and European broadcasters.

Commenting on the master class, Brown Bag Films® Creative Director Darragh O’Connell said “Storyboard artists are one of the key hires on any TV series. To date we have struggled to find skilled board artists in Ireland that have the experience required by U.S. broadcasters, so we find ourselves having to source storyboard artists from the US and all over Europe.’

“Being able to draw is only part of the process; a good storyboard artist must understand story, editing, camera, timing and above all the audience. This is an opportunity for Irish talent to learn from the best in the business and hopefully be the first of many steps in identifying and developing a pool of Irish board artists.”

The master class is free and open to animation graduates and professionals who may be interested in becoming a storyboard artist or improving their storyboard skills. The event will be held in the screening room of our new annex studio in Smithfield.

Click here to apply and to read more information about Norton, Brown Bag Films and Pegbar.ie.

We look forward to seeing some of you at our studio next month!

Edit:  We’ve had a number of requests from people overseas asking if we can film Norton’s masterclass and post it online. Unfortunately this won’t be possible, as Norton may be discussing shows that are still in the middle of production. We will blog all about the masterclass, and if this one is a success we will aim to make the masterclasses a regular occurence at our studio.

Storyboard Masterclass with Norton Virgien!
20 April 2011

By Jennie Stacey
Posted in News
Comments (11)

Pegbar’s Animation Event in Dublin

Norton Virgien, director of Rugrats and Duckman, and currently directing Disney’s ‘Doc McStuffins’ here at Brown Bag, will be speaking at Pegbar’s animation event this Friday 15 April.

Pegbar is an animation networking group based in Dublin. Friday’s event takes place at the Science Gallery.

Pegbar & the Science Gallery will be hosting a series of short talks, giving an insight into the creativity and technology behind the animation that we see on our screens today. Our guest speakers will include, Norton Virgien (Director of Rugrats and Duckman), Jason Tammemägi (Director of Fluffy Gardens and Ballybraddan) and renowned multimedia artist Fergal Brennan. After our series of talks, ticketholders can reside to the Trinity Inn for a few drinks, animations on screen and a bit of social networking.

Watch Pegbar all this week on Twitter  and Facebook where we will be having an internet giveaway, & revealing the spot prizes we will have available on the night!

Tickets are €6 and entry is at 5:45.  Grab some tapas downstairs in the cafe from 5:30 beforehand if you’re hungry!

Hope to see you there!

Pegbar's Animation Event in Dublin
11 April 2011

By Jennie Stacey
Posted in Animators
Comments (1)

Origin – Making Of, Part 3

Thanks for all your comments on last week’s posts. Really appreciate them!

This week I wanted to talk a bit about the backgrounds for ‘Origin’.  

The film is a progression of the man’s attitude towards his environment and situation, and how that changes both physically and mentally. To help show this we plotted out how the colour would progress through a colour script. A colour script is a simple storyboard of the colour palette of the film and how it changes from shot to shot. The colour script informed the background painting and decisions on what colour and tones should be used for each sequence. I feel it is important that the mood of the background is aligned to the man’s thought process.

This image shows the 6 paintings from the first sequence of the film. At this point our hero’s mind set is supposed to be closed, frustrated and uninspired:

 

more »

Origin - Making Of, Part 3
16 March 2011

By James Stacey
Posted in Animators
Comments (3)

Cartoon Movie 2011

The Cartoon Movie took place on 2nd March in Lyon in France. For the first time Brown Bag Films attended and pitched our first animated feature film, NIGHTGLIDER.

Nightglider

Nightglider

I will leave it to another blog to give more information on Nightglider but for now,  here’s the pitch: Nightglider is about a squirrel who thinks he’s a superhero after discovering that he can fly. When his comic antics bring the wrath of owls down upon him & his misfit friends, he learns that real heroes finish what they start. more »

Cartoon Movie 2011
9 March 2011

By Darragh O'Connell
Posted in Animators
Comments (6)

Nicky Phelan invited to The White House

Yesterday wasn’t your average Monday for Granny O’Grimm director Nicky Phelan. It’s not every day you get an invite to the White House from ‘The President and Mrs Obama’!

Nicky initially thought it was a joke when a woman at the American Embassy  rang Brown Bag Films to give him a heads-up that an invite was on its way. But on Monday he received the following request to join the Obamas for the annual St Patrick’s Day reception in Washington on March 17th.

Nicky Phelan's White House Invitation

I’m sure Nicky will report back on whether Barack Obama is an animation fan!

Nicky Phelan's White House Invitation

Nicky Phelan invited to The White House
8 March 2011

By Jennie Stacey
Posted in Animators, News
Comments (2)

Origin: Making Of, Part 2

Thanks for your comments on the last ‘making of’ post for Origin. Here’s a look at how we’ve moved ahead with characters and locations.

Once we had finished the 2D character concepts and were happy with the overall look and feeling, it was time to get those concepts into a structured form.

These images, from character designer Barry O’Donoghue, are the first model sheet designs of the character:

click on all images to enlarge

Origin_Man_conceptInk

Origin_Deer_concept_ink

Using 2D model and gesture sheets is a great way to work out your characters’ head size, leg size, facial expressions etc before moving ahead into 3D. It’s important to troubleshoot these issues early on so the 3D artist doesn’t end up pushing and pulling in a 3D program which is a lot more time consuming then Photoshop or using a pencil.

I have also included the 3D models which were built by Lead 3D Artist Donnchadh Murphy once the model sheets were approved for 3D. more »

Origin: Making Of, Part 2
4 March 2011

By James Stacey
Posted in Animators
Comments (8)