March 7, 2010

VOL 27 NO 10

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Drawing on the best Irish talent

At Ballyfermot College of Further Education, excitement is at fever-pitch among staff and students, with four of its animation graduates on the shortlist for Oscar glory at tonight's Academy Awards. The college has also produced serious heavy hitters in the worlds of journalism, music and art. Claire Ryan goes to Ballyfermot to find out just what makes BCFE so special. Photographs by Mark Condren

A student practises her drawing

Principal Maureen Conway

Back to the drawing board

The new generation of 3D animation

Frances Connolly

Darragh Armstrong

Kevin Ryan

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This year's 82nd Academy Awards ceremony has been causing quite a stir on the campus of Ballyfermot College of Further Education. With an unprecedented four of its former animation graduates nominated for Oscars in three separate categories, the buzz is infectious. Hopes of academy glory run high for the Ballyfermot alumni tonight – and not without reason. One of the nominees, Richard Baneham, has already bagged a Bafta for his special effects work on Avatar and he's a favourite to win the statuette. Not to be outdone, Tomm Moore's Secret of Kells won a gong at the Iftas and is up for an Oscar in the animated feature film category. Then there's Darragh O'Connell and Nicky Phelan of Brown Bag Films, who are hoping that the academy will be kind to them, having been nominated for their short animated fairytale Granny O'Grimm.

It would be very easy to get carried away with all of the Hollywood hype and razzmatazz currently surrounding the school of animation but Maureen Conway, principal of BCFE, is determined to keep the serious business of educating the students on track (while allowing herself the odd moment of excitement). "It's been amazing, considering all the cutbacks we've had. It's been so great for the staff and the students' morale. You can feel the lightness and the enthusiasm in the college."

College pride was further enhanced recently when the Oscar nominees returned to Ballyfermot and gave a talk on their work to a packed auditorium. Conway however, is keen to play down the overall part the college had to play in the nominations. "Yes they got a good start with us and got the basic skills but we were just building on their talent that they had," she says.

The animation talent she mentions is nurtured in a rather austere-looking arts block on the Kylemore Road in Ballyfermot. This flat-roofed former school building dates back to the '60s and its shabby appearance is completely at odds with the flashiness of golden statuettes and big-budget animation. BCFE is set across three buildings, the first of which was opened in 1979 and located behind the Tesco store in the heart of Ballyfermot village. A new media building was built next door in 2004.

The school of animation shares the arts building with art, fashion and rock students and evidence of the students' innovative work hangs on every available space in the halls. While the animation students are enjoying their day in the sun at the moment, the college has been making an impact across its many faculties from day one. Well-known names like RTE sports journalists Ryle Nugent and Justin Treacy were among the first to complete the post Leaving Certificate course in media back in the 1980s and past students of the rock school, which is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, include Damien Dempsey, Mundy and more recently Meteor winner Wallace Bird.

To the untrained eye, BCFE students are a pretty low-key bunch as they hurry between classes in groups or grab a cigarette by the front steps outside the arts block. However, once you're in the know, Ballyfermot students are apparently easy to spot and have an unmistakably "arty look" according to Jeff Cummins, from the one-year portfolio preparation course. "You see people waiting at the bus top in town and you know straight off, just by the look of them, that they're going to Ballyfermot," he says.

There's little about the worn interior of the college that screams potential Oscar glory, apart from some recent press clippings pinned to notice boards and a large signed and framed poster of Avatar on the animation floor. It's as good a motivation as struggling animators are likely to get. Within the animation classrooms, the concentration is intense. Whether the students are labouring over slanted desks, sketching in 2D, or staring intently at computer screens perfecting their 3D animated characters, the painstaking process of honing their craft, which will see the majority of them stay at the college for five years, is not for the faint-hearted or someone who doesn't have a strong work ethic.

Chatting to young animators like Alana O'Brien, who is currently in her fourth year of animation, it's obvious that the recent success has given students a great boost and plenty of Oscar-inspired parties are in the pipeline for tonight. However, the hype has also pushed them to work even harder. "When you hear about the nominees, it gives you the extra drive and push to try and do better than you ever thought you could because you're hearing about these guys who were in this class a few years ago and they'll be sitting at the Oscars in LA – it's crazy," she says.

For Gareth Lee, the coordinator of the animation degree, one of the key things to come out of the nomination madness is not necessarily the promise of awards or accolades but the knowledge that the college is clearly getting something right, given the fact that all the nominees represent different eras of the college. "Richie and Darragh graduated in 1993, Tom graduated in 1999, and Nicky graduated in 2003, so they're spanning years, which is great and it suggests that the courses are being maintained and the standard is consistent," he says.

There is a quiet confidence about Ballyfermot College that seems to have existed long before Oscar came knocking and a remark by animation tutor Eddie Hallahan that "most major animation studios have a few Ballyfermot heads in there" isn't meant to be arrogant. It's in keeping with his experience, as one of the first batch of graduates from the course in the early '90s.

Hallahan went on to work for Universal in America and then freelance in the UK before returning to teach in Ballyfermot. Similarly Niall Laferty, a mature student, back in college to complete his final year of the degree course, has found the world to be a small place when it comes to the animation industry and Ballyfermot.

"The college has a great name and carries so well across the world. I worked in animation for 10 years in America and Germany and wherever I went I'd meet someone who had a connection to Ballyfermot."

Laferty accepted a job offer from animation studio Sullivan Bluth back in the mid-'90s rather than finish his final year the first time around. It's a choice he doesn't regret because of all the opportunities he subsequently enjoyed. "I spent 10 years working abroad in animation but came back a couple of years ago to Ireland, and decided that I wanted to get my full qualification and maybe teach. So here I am, for now anyway. I still have the travel bug."

The roots of the Irish animation industry date back to the arrival of Sullivan Bluth animation studios in 1987. Don Bluth, a former Disney animator, set up Sullivan Bluth with businessman Morris Francis Sullivan and with the help of various tax incentives, moved the studio from the US to Dublin.

With the arrival of the studio and the demand for qualified staff, the need to train Irish animators quickly became apparent. Jerome Morrissey, who was principal of Ballyfermot College at the time, spotted the opportunity and wasted no time in putting the college forward. The first course in animation was set up in Ballyfermot with students trained by the American animators from Sullivan Bluth.

While Diarmuid O'Brien, current joint deputy principal of BCFE, acknowledges that the Sullivan Bluth training and connection was invaluable in kick-starting the Irish animation industry, he says there is more to the story. When the studio closed in 1995, BCFE decided to carry on the Sullivan Bluth legacy and develop what had been started but take it in a more distinctly Irish direction. As a result, O'Brien explains, there was a concerted effort to move away from what he describes as "American animation in Ireland" to developing "Irish animation in Ireland" or "Celtic animation" as he calls it.

And it is this uniqueness, this use of traditional Irish storytelling through the medium of animation, says O'Brien, that is in part responsible for the growth in popularity of the industry and sets it apart from the rest of the world.

Whatever the reason for the current hype about Irish animation and fever-pitch excitement about the Ballyfermot lads at the Oscars, BCFE's hopes for the future are much more grounded in reality. "Graduates need jobs. That's the bottom line." says Eddie Hallahan. "This may a great year for Ballyfermot in terms of profile and being on the world's stage but we have yet to see what real opportunities will arise from it."

For now though, it's apparent that the college remains under-funded and over-subscribed. But no matter what happens in terms of the economy and regardless of the outcome of the Oscars, the one certainty is that Maureen Conway's mantra to graduating students will remain unchanged: "You are Ballyfermot graduates. Be proud."

Animation once again: the next generation of Ballyfermot greats

Frances Connolly

From: Cherry Orchard

Age: 25

Studying: 1st year – diploma in fibre textiles art

Inspiration: "Louise my tutor. She showed us some crochet designs she did when she worked for Lainey Keogh. Kate Moss actually modelled one of the outfits that Louise made and it was so gorgeous. I'd love to be able to do something like that."

Wants to do: "I came back to college after working for a few years because I want to get my BA and go on to work in set design and costume design. This course is great for me because it's teaching me how to do patterns properly and I'm learning how to use a sewing machine and be creative with it, which will be so important down the line."

Claire Meehan

From: Naas

Age: 24

Studying: 4th year animation.

Inspiration: James Baxter from Dreamworks. His animation is amazing. I love all the Disney and Pixar stuff as well. I was at one of their talks recently and that was incredible. Pete Docker (Monsters Inc) would be another person I admire.

Wants to do: I'd love to end up over in America working at one of the big studios like Pixar or Dreamworks. That would be my ultimate goal. It can be really tough at times because there's such a lot of work in animation but luckily I love it.

Daragh Armstrong

From: Celbridge

Age: 18

Studying: 1st year music performance (drummer)

Inspiration: Tony Royster Jr – a session drummer in America. He's playing since he was nine but even when he was nine, he was the best drummer ever.

Wants to do: Hopefully when I finish here I'll be performing regularly and if not I can fall back on music technology. I used to drive my parents crazy tapping on the dinner table. I'm playing drums for six different bands at the moment, so I'm getting plenty of practice.

Jeff Cummins

From: Glasnevin

Age: 19

Studying: portfolio preparation (one-year course)

Inspiration: My dad was always drawing at home and he'd buy books on Cezanne and other artists. I didn't always appreciate art fully but now after studying it, I realise all the emotions that go into it and that's made me want to pursue it properly.

Want to do: Maybe animation. I'm not sure yet. I've always wanted to do something with art, I could never see myself doing maths or studying marketing. This year is about getting my portfolio ready and improving my skills.

Kevin Ryan

From: Rathcoole

Age: 21

Studying: 4th year animation

Inspiration: I suppose in terms of the US, I like Blur Studios for their game visual effects and Pixar for animation. They'd be the two at the top of my list. I admire the work of Irish studios like Brown Bag as well.

Wants to do: I'd love to do animation for now and work my way into games eventually. There's plenty to learn online in terms of tutorials on games, which is great because I tend to be into more of the 3D stuff.