Animation
Insects and other bugs are the most abundant animals on earth, both in terms of species numbers and biomass. So it’s hardly surprising that they crop up in so many forms of artistic expression. Animated films seem to be particularly well suited to insect imagery and symbolism.
These films were the result of a collaboration between BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation students (Manchester School of Art), composer Pete Byrom-Smith (Manchester Metropolitan University) and staff and collections here at the Museum.
Created by Emily Dobson, a BA Animation student of the Manchester School of Art at the Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016. Music composed by Peter Byrom-Smith and performed by the Guild Hall Collective, conducted by Rod Skipp.
The story is devoted to the relationship between humans and cockroaches. Cockroaches have lived alongside humans since cave dwelling and will live after we’ve long gone. They have a resilience to survive, thriving off our cast-offs, and as humans, we have unknowingly fostered the creatures.
Created by Eva Akesson, a BA Animation student of the Manchester School of Art at the Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016. Music composed by Peter Byrom-Smith and performed by the Guild Hall Collective, conducted by Rod Skipp.
The story is loosely based on an old folktale of the Yaqui people who inhabited a valley in northern Mexico about a Grasshopper and a Cricket that reap havoc at an Indian banquet. The insects were decided upon after visiting the Manchester Museum’s Entomology department and looking at grasshoppers and crickets native to Central America.
Created by Eifion Crane, a BA Animation student of the Manchester School of Art at the Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016. Music composed by Peter Byrom-Smith and performed by the Guild Hall Collective, conducted by Rod Skipp.
The story is based on the notion that in human dwellings, cockroaches hide in cracks/crevices and service ducting. If the environmental conditions (temperature, humidity and the presence of food) are suitable, cockroaches as pests cannot be eradicated, whether we like it or not.
Created by Gemma Kelly, a BA Animation student of the Manchester School of Art at the Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016. Music composed by Peter Byrom-Smith and performed by the Guild Hall Collective, conducted by Rod Skipp.
This animation is about the importance of butterflies to wild and urban ecosystems, and what the implications and effects their extinction might have on the world. The original idea was inspired by the author’s visit to the Manchester Museum’s Entomology Department, as well as by her own research into butterflies as pollinators.
Created by Melissa Goh, a BA Animation student of the Manchester School of Art at the Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016. Music composed by Peter Byrom-Smith and performed by the Guild Hall Collective, conducted by Rod Skipp.
The story is about an explorer, who sets out on a journey to find a cave full of lights, which he heard about from myths and legends. After three years of searching, he finally finds the cave. The story was inspired by the discovery of the Te Anu-au glow worm caves that were found by Lawson Burrows, a New Zealander explorer, in 1948.
Created by Chloe Gibbons, a BA Animation student of the Manchester School of Art at the Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016. Music composed by Peter Byrom-Smith and performed by the Guild Hall Collective, conducted by Rod Skipp.
The film is based around the author’s research into the Death Head Hawk moth (Acherontia atropos), which shares the species name atropos with one of the three Morai’s in Greek Mythology. This moth is symbolic of death in modern culture and Atropos was a member of the three Morai, who cuts the thread of life of all beings with her scissors.