Issue 129 – Frameworks Works

admin | July 7, 2009

frameworks-works

Jennie McGinn on the continued success of the Irish Film Board’s animated shorts scheme.

Have you ever thought about crabs revolting against their status in the universe? Or the perils of being a badly-drawn cartoon in a straight-laced live-action world? Have you thought about the metaphysical implications of being absorbed in someone else’s memories? Or what happens to the losing snooker balls when they get potted?

These are some of the philosophically complex questions the world of animation throws up. Animated films can delve into topical and thematic depths impossible for a live-action story to convey. Animations can wrestle grandiose concepts and sublime stories and produce a visually gripping and highly entertaining narrative. Some of the key ingredients for the success of animation is this creative freedom and conceptually powerful stories. But why has Irish animation been thriving across the globe? The industry has been growing exponentially over the past ten years for myriad reasons, but undoubtedly a crucial facility for short animation has been the Frameworks scheme.

A history of Frameworks
Frameworks was established in 1997 and has been funding animated short films for 13 years. It is co-funded by the Arts Council, Radio Teilifís Éireann and BSÉ/IFB. The scheme funds an average of six films a year with a budget of up to €50,000 per film. The scheme is extremely popular and there is an average of 45 entries every year. Frameworks, as an animation strand, has been so successful in its output, its scope and its remit, that it remains essentially the same scheme today as it did in 1997. As Fran Keaveney, Short Film Executive with the Film Board, noted, the Film Board revamped all of its schemes in 2007 ‘but we really felt that Frameworks had been so successful that it really didn’t need to be changed.’

The impact of Frameworks
According to Keaveney, Frameworks ‘provides a vital platform and training opportunity for new talent.’ The scheme has nurtured a community of animators, artists, producers and directors and encourages them to take creative risks and innovate the sector. Rod Stoneman of the Huston Film School notes that it was designed to ‘widen the range, formats and genres of animation and strengthen aesthetics.’ The Frameworks scheme stipulates that recipients must work alongside an in-house Film Board executive in a kind of mentoring relationship. The successful applicants are paired with this industry professional to create long-lasting relationships after the film has been produced, to ensure directors are nurtured for the animation industry. Each year the scheme is launched at the Galway Film Fleadh and each film is distributed to 20 festivals, assigned a three-year distribution deal and showcased in an annual DVD. Derry O’Brien, distributor with Network Ireland TV, points out that the scheme is a unique vehicle for animation talent: ‘As far as I’m aware, there is no similarly supported animation strand in either the UK or Europe.’

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 129.