Here at Littlenobody HQ Liam and myself are all smiles as we heard today we have been funded by Screen East and the UK Film Council for our next animated short I wish I were an Elephant through the New Cinema Digital Shorts scheme.  After 4 long months of script development with the lovely Tom William, Sam Burton & Julia Caithness we finally heard, we have the go ahead.

Here at LN HQ we are super happy to have been included in Issue 4 of Southends premiere local magizine Level4. Syd Moore editor in chief interviewed Liam and myself at the Railway for a few hours with plently of whiskey and hoegaarden and the 3 glossy pages are the result of our rambles.  Go get yourself a copy NOW.  Level 4 magazine seeks to promote arts & culture in and around Southend-on-Sea as the nexus for the different cultural threads that exist in our town.

What Cassandra Saw has been kindly invited by IMDb to have a title page, which we are both really pleased about. Ian Lumsden, continual champion of Littlenobody, has done us the honour of adding a review via the user comment section.

“A fantasy mix of animation and live action as strange occurrences disturb the sleep, 10/10 - Karen Penman and Liam Brazier are the creators of Littlenobody that officially became a collective in March of 2007. I first noticed their music video “Thou Shalt Always Kill” when I previewed the weekend’s BAF07. It was most professionally done. I was therefore impressed to discover it was produced by a fledgling studio. Also surprising is the diversity of work produced in a short period of time.

“What Cassandra Saw” was their first animated short intended as a showcase - they work in animation, visuals, graphic and web design. In fact the web link is to the first episode of three and most fascinating it is too. Look at the screen shot above and note the odd shadow: surely that’s a cat! Karen plays the lead character in a “lullaby” about shadow. We are given dictionary definitions and the narrator explains the organisation that governs shadows, in particular the Triplets running the Departments of Making, Mending and Resizing. Lately, we are told, mishaps have been happening. All this takes place in the dark hours when the young woman climbs into bed and has a strangely fragmented night’s sleep…………………….. Go see for yourself IMDb What Cassandra Saw

Weather Beaten, Littlenobody’s latest animated short, is a piece part funded by the Commonwealth Vision awards.  This competition supports the development of short film production, and is an opportunity for film-makers to raise awareness of crucial global issues and highlight the importance of individual action at the community level.  The theme for 2008 was ‘Global challenges and the new generation’ and Weather Beaten is an ecologically aware fantasy tale concerning weather.

We made Miss Blackman’s acquaintance via myspace, when she was the first person, in the known universe, to leave us a video comment. We have since seen her perform numerous times and fell for her talent and offered to make her a video. She once posted a picture of an eerie Teddy bears picnic, (see below) with cuddly toys nailed to logs with tea sets, that she had discovered in the woods. I knew then we were on the same wave length and set to work on an idea for Every time I close my Eyes.

The original concept for the video came about during the summer and was a long time in the making, mostly due to our packed schedule. It was worth the wait and we are again indebted to Greg Kitten for his beautiful stills and masterful way with the flash and animal elastic bands :) Watch our paper doll as she searches for her paper boy HERE

Here at LN HQ Liam and I are over the moon to have won the 4TALENT Animation Award for 2008, it feels like the perfect end to an amazing year for Littlenobody.

What we won - “First of all, you’re being judged by the people who could be commissioning you in future - you’ll be firmly on their radar. Secondly, besides a rather fetching trophy and champagne-fuelled awards ceremony, you’ll also receive a full-spread interview and photoshoot in the November issue of 4Talent magazine, and a nationwide press push backed by Channel 4.”  Thanks as ever to everyone for your continued support

Littlenobody has been invited to show some wares at this years ‘Village Green’ (Saturday 27th September), a free arts and entertainment one-day festival at Chalkwell Park, Southend-on-Sea. The guys at the White Bus and Metal have hand picked a few of our animations to project at some point during the day. Do pop-along.

“Projecting onto our 30 foot inflatable screen at Chalkwell Park, The White bus will contribute screenings of an electric mix of film to this all day arts and sports extravaganza marking the inauguration of the Cultural Olympiad. Movies shown will include award-winning French and British animation, a surreal short shot in the style of a silent film, archive shorts and locally produced films including footage of Southend in the 1950s. Free entry.”

Here’s hoping for nice weather! So far this year my festival experience has been more mud brown than village green. TWO TIMES, THREE TIMES - Music Video  YEAH, YOU CAN BE MY MUSE - Music Video Screening between 8 - 10 PM - Chalkwell Park @ 30ft inflatable screen :)