Animation Forum West Midlands

The Masterclass will run from 12.00 until 1.00pm on Thursday 15th May in the Exhibition Room of the Potteries Museum, and will be followed immediately by an Animation Forum WM Lunch for all your networking needs.

To attend the event, you'll need to buy a single or two-day festival pass to Stoke Your Fires. Festival passes for the Thursday or Friday of the festival are priced at £18 (£14 conc.) per day, or £30 for both industry days (£23 conc.). The weekend half of the festival is public access and free entry.

Call (44) 01782 232323 to book now.

Stoke Your Fires Highlights!

But one masterclass doth not make a festival and Stoke Your Fires is full of big-name industry speakers, insightful professional demonstrations and cracking screenings. Some of festivals highlights include:

• Screenings and showcase with Pat Gavin – BAFTA award winning director, animator and artist of some of the most well known title sequences and commercials ever seen. Pat's work includes titles for the South Bank show, Poirot, and commercials for Martell and Johnnie Walker.

• This year's BAFTA-award winning animated short, The Pearce Sisters, will be screened during an impressive Aardman Animation showcase which features a Q&A with two of its animators, Adam Cootes (Senior CGI animator) and Andy Lavery (Senior Light TD).

• Chris Bowden, Executive Producer at Mackinnon and Saunders will be giving an exclusive behind the scenes insight to the creation of such children's classics as Bob the Builder and Postman Pat, as well as Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! and The Corpse Bride. Chris will also elaborate on their current CBBC hit Frankenstein's Cat.

• Chapman Entertainment MD Greg Lynn will explain the company's extraordinary success in establishing animated brands such as Bob the Builder and Fifi and the Flowerpots, in his talk: How to Create a Leading Brand in a Pre-School Market.

Friday's festivities will be closed by an awards ceremony with nine hand-crafted porcelain awards up for grabs, followed by an after-show party.

Keep an eye on the Stoke Your Fires website for more details.