Miguel Lopez Guerrero
Spiroad na Báistí is a short animation film about exploration and discovery of new things and the world around us, as Síofra, a little girl, overcomes her adversion to bad weather and has a walk through the forest where she discovers its wonders. It is stylistically influenced by other Irish animation, and Irish nature and cultural themes.
Spiorad na Baístí is a film with a heavy focus on aesthetically pleasing animation, and conveying a simple story in a clear and pleasant way. My objective in working in the film was to continue working mainly on traditional animation while also specialising in 2D rigging, which was essential in the elements of a number of shots.
When working on Spiorad na Baístí I improved on my traditional animation skills around character animation, and used 2D rigging in a major project for the first time, this allowed me to improve my skills in both, I also gained more experience working within a larger team in a larger scale production with more complex pipelines and schedules. I worked with the director to implement rigged elements wherever I saw they were appropriate, and made and animated them.
This thesis investigated the concrete ways in which the Irish Animation Industry and the style of its productions have been and are affected by their political and economic context, looking at its development from its dawn in the 1910's to today. Ireland, as a former colony, was unable to develop capitalism independently and fell into a semicolonial relationship with other western countries, while still becoming a developed capitalist nation. This dependence had a direct impact on the development of animation in the island. How this context affects Irish animation productions in their form and content were also considered
I am Miguel Lopez Guerrero, I am graduating from IADT and this year I have participated in the production of Spiorad na Báistí as the rigger and an animator. I have also animated in other projects of varying sizes over the years. I have mainly worked on traditional animations, but I am also specializing in 2D rigging as I find it's possibilities and advantages particularly interesting.
