Jason Lynch worked as an assistant animator at Aardman Studios in the UK. Jason now lives and animates in Brisbane, Australia...

Who are you Jason? How did you get into animation?
I’d been working as a nurse and tinkering with illustration and 2d animation when I had a play with some plasticine and fell in love!
Since then I’ve been working as both a nurse and a Freelance animator and Illustrator based in Brisbane Australia.
I got my BA Animation QCA (QLD) in 2004 where I specialized in Stop motion animation, puppet and prop building.
Following a number of self-produced shorts, I moved over to England where I worked as an Assistant animator on Wallace and Gromit; The curse of the Were Rabbit.
I discovered Stop Motion Pro version 2 whilst at Uni. I had been previously using the stopmotion feature of Premiere, which had no live feed. So when I discovered Stop Motion Pro, it was like a revelation.
I made my current short (My Chair) with stopmotionpro 4 and Premiere 6, and have just begun to experiment with SMP-HD.

In total I have produced five stop motion shorts, animated several Cut-ins in various SBS docs, directed and animated Various TVC’s and web commercials.

What hardware do you use to make animation?
My current hardware set-up is a Laptop PC with SMP HD, Canon 350d (DSLR) the tripod head is a Manfrotto 410jr and the video reference camera is a Sony TRV16e MiniDV, which mounts off the back of the 410jr (see below).

How did you use SMP in the production - how did it help your workflow?
Using the Canon DSLR with Stop Motion Pro makes animating much easier and simplifies the workflow. I have more time to focus on the animation and not the technical gear.

I use the screen marking reference system (in conjunction with drawing over the screen) very frequently and the onion-skinning feature is invaluable when my cat decides to wrestle the tripod! I also use the looping and playback functions as well as the lipsync and preview features. The Stop Motion Pro set-up gives me professional results whilst keeping the costs down.

What is next for you and your animation?
With regards to what’s next, I’ve just finished negotiating the rights to a Nick Earls (Brisbane Author) short story and am currently finalizing the script and visual style guide. (hoping to begin production late 2007/early 2008)