Interview with UWE Animation graduate & RTS Craft award winner Hazel Boxall

2021 UWE Animation graduate Hazel Boxall recently won the RTS West of England Craft award for visual design, for her final year film ‘A Miraculous Midnight’, and is now working as a background artist for Whitebridge Productions.

Hazel won the award at the RTS West of England award ceremony, which took place on the 15th March at the Everyman in Bristol, ‘It was a wonderful night and lovely opportunity to catch up and network with other animators, as well as seeing my tutors again in real life.’

Animation tutor Julia Bracegirdle said, ‘Hazel’s hugely deserved award, and the work she’s doing now prove that a fantastic film can open doors.’

Boxall made ‘A Miraculous Midnight’ as a final year project. The idea began from wanting to tell a story about her and her gran, who loved the colour purple, which forms part of the film’s distinctive look. ‘I’ve always loved the art nouveau style, and was always making stories about creepy homes in woods that come alive at night.’

At a crewing event, Hazel ‘got some amazing artists on board to help with the film’, including Luzie Lillie, Nathan Johnson, Brandon Andika-Sunandar, Jack Churchill, Molly Milne, and Megan Cunnington.

Since graduating, Hazel’s film has been selected for festivals including ANMTN and Animafantasia, and is currently a semi-finalist for the Dumbo Film Festival. After completing a successful trial week, she began working for start-up animation and book publishing company Whitebridge Productions.

She is currently working on a short film for children at Whitebridge, as well as working with an art director in America, Kurt D’amour, creating concept illustrations for theme park attractions. ‘It’s a real mix of work that all focuses on what I’m passionate about, which is background design and visual development.’ She found the initial job listing for Whitebridge through animatedjobs.com.

Hazel’s advice for current students is to ‘start networking and applying for internships straight away! Collaborate on others’ work, try out new styles, and give yourself plenty of breaks to come back to the work with fresh eyes.’

Read more about Hazel’s work on her website here https://hazelbox.weebly.com/ and follow her at https://www.instagram.com/hazel_boxall/

Featured image by Jon Craig for RTS.