On Thursday 19 December we present another Playgrounds Session in collaboration with BNO IMG LAB and Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam. With three fantastic Dutch animators! They all have a unique style and create amazing work centered around detailed handmade sets, sculptures and drawings.
Vera van Wolferen
Vera van Wolferen is no stranger to the Playgrounds Family. She was one of the first Next talents in 2017. This ‘queen of cardboard’ creates intricate and meticulously-constructed scenes out of paper, cardboard and wood. As a playful escapist she creates ‘Story Objects’, mostly miniature sculptures that look like sets for animated films. Her dreamt-up architectural worlds are vehicles for the imagination. Vera divides her time between self-initiated projects and working for commercial clients. She has made papercraft set-designs, stop-motion animation and window displays for brands like Heineken, Facebook, Bosch and Ortec. Although she thinks she has the best job in the world, she wonders how she can keep deadlines, clients or sometimes her own thoughts from stealing away the fun. At this Session she’s going to share what she does to keep it fun.
Rogier van der Zwaag
Each of the works of Rogier van der Zwaag is a new step in his search for synergy between sound and image, reality and imagination. Like the scientists of old, he starts with nothing but a hypothesis – and a camera. As the experiments gather speed they take over his studio, his house and his life. Props pile up, hard drives are overloaded and showers become a distant memory. Yet all this is forgotten when he releases his creations, as time, shape and perspective are turned inside out to dance across our screens.
Hisko Hulsing
If you are an animator you must have lived under a rock if you have NOT heard about the astonishing accomplishment Dutch animation director Hisko Hulsing acquired with the animated TV series Undone for Amazon… Undone is a half-hour genre-bending animation series that explores the elastic nature of reality through its central character, Alma (Rosa Salazar), a 28-year-old living in San Antonio, Texas. After getting into a near fatal car accident, she discovers she has a new relationship with time and uses her ability to uncover the truth about the death of her father (Bob Odenkirk). Produced by Submarine. At this Session he will give an insight into the creative process of Undone and how he got involved as a director and production designer through his previous work.
Besides writing, directing, painting and animating for his animated films, Hisko composes the orchestral soundtracks for his own films. His films Harry Rents a Room, Seventeen and Junkyard were invited to numerous festivals, such as Annecy, Palm Springs Film Festival and the London Film Festival and won many awards, including the Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and the Audience Award at the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film. Both Seventeen and Junkyard were the official Dutch entry for the Oscars.
Hisko also made illustrations and storyboards for over 100 advertising- and production companies such as Saatchi & Saatchi and Czar. He directed and animated television leaders for MTV and Dutch broadcasting companies and creates comics which have been published in Eisner and Zone 5300.