Plasticine Masterclass with Peter Lord

Last week, Animation & Visual Effects students had the opportunity to get personal feedback on their work from Peter Lord, Co-Founder of Aardman Studios and honorary Falmouth fellow.

Peter met with the students before providing a lecture on his career in animation – describing the creation and development of Aardman before hinting at the ground-breaking new techniques he's currently working on.

Third-year student Dominic Harlow said: "It was great to see how much youthful exuberance Peter still has for the industry. He's still really passionate and has clearly not lost his love for animation.

"He really cares about the characters he's created, especially old favourites like Morph, and wants to make sure they are well looked after."

Fellow student Lucy Gabenby said: "It was really inspiring to see how Peter and co-founder David Sproxton started off with such a small team and now have created their own mini empire! I was also inspired by how much they've done for their local community in Bristol, including creating dozens of giant Gromit sculptures that were auctioned off to raise millions for Bristol Children's Hospital."

Before the lecture, Peter took the time to meet all of the third-year students and watch their films. Drawing on 50 years of experience in the film industry, he was able to provide expert critique and suggestions on how to develop their work further.

Dominic said: "Peter asked lots of questions and showed real interest in our work. He also provided lots of helpful suggestions on how to bring more life to our characters."

Lucy added:

It was so good to receive that level of professional feedback from someone with such an amazing career and attention to detail. Peter brought in several figures to show us, and it was great to see how tiny and perfect they all are!"

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BA(Hons) Animation & Visual Effects