INSIDE Flipbook – Andrew Lord

INSIDE Flipbook is our web series promoting the talented individuals that make the studio so great. From artists to producers, every member of the team brings a unique personality and skillset.

In this edition, we spoke with Flipbook Studio’s Managing Director and Co-founder, Andrew Lord.

You haven’t always worked in VFX or animation, what inspired you to start a career in the creative industries?

I certainly took a fairly unconventional route. I completed a degree in Geology, followed by an MSc in Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and worked for an energy and utility consultancy up in Scotland for a number of years. I completed a fair amount of programming and visualizing of geological data for oil and utility companies. Sounds massively dull when you compare it to the creative industries, but I liked the analytical and technical side of it all. Surprisingly, the skills I honed in this job prepared me well for a career in animation and VFX, which is in itself, a very technical vocation. Combining that with my wild imagination, as well as a passion for film, animation and video games set me up quite nicely.

What instigated you and Ben to start up Flipbook studio?

I met Ben at Redvision, which was a BAFTA award-winning, Manchester & London based VFX facility. Redvision was my first foray into the world of VFX and animation – I started out as a production manager before moving into business development. I stayed in Biz Dev and went to work at Realtime UK focusing on advertising and video games content, all to broaden my knowledge. Ben had moved on to lead another studio at pretty much the same time as me – we kept in touch and both discovered we had a desire to go it alone. Ben’s hands-on creative and production skills and my knowledge and experience on the animation/VFX business side of things seemed like a good team combination. That was back in 2010 so something went right.

What is your day-to-day like?

As MD my role has continuously evolved over the years as we’ve got bigger. I’m less hands-on now when it comes to the running of productions and much more focused on the strategy, development and growth of the team and the business. I do miss the opportunities I got to direct or write but I still get involved in creative pitch work. I’m not an artist though and my day-to-day changes all the time, irrespective of the schedule I’ve devised for myself for the week. It’s normally filled with a combination of company admin, business development, marketing, accountancy, HR, pitch work and creative direction on productions.

What’s been your most memorable project at the company?

The projects I’m fond of are the ones that the whole team enjoyed working on. These are the productions that we’re all proud of in the studio and that stand-out the most in our portfolio. They’re often productions where we’ve had really good relationships with the client, where there’s been a mutual appreciation of what is required and how to go about doing it. I think this is true of most creative companies.

I’m proud of most of our work including those tougher jobs, which can be equally as memorable. Why don’t you check out our portfolio and decide which projects you think we enjoyed working on the most.

Flipbook Studio Video Games Reel 2020:

How has the industry changed since Flipbook Studio began? And how has Flipbook adapted to meet these changes?

It’s a very tech-focused industry, constant innovations in hardware and software mean that we’ve had to embrace a culture of continuous learning and development. VFX and animation are mediums more readily available and accessible to everyone nowadays. There are a plethora of different courses one can study at college and university now, which was something that wasn’t available back in the early days when it was all much more specialist and you learnt on the job. Back then, budgets were massive, reflecting this new specialism. Over time, and with increased competition, these have dropped somewhat and studios now have to find new ways of delivering quality work that makes them stand out more than the competition. The good news is that the demand for engaging content has increased exponentially and where there’s a demand for content there’s a demand for our services.

Embracing the evolution in tech and learning how to produce outstanding creative content on these new platforms and channels is imperative for studios like ours to thrive. That’s what we’ve been doing as a studio to remain relevant and in demand.

Where do you see the future of Flipbook Studio?

We’ll continue to entertain the TV, Film, Brand/advertising and video games industries providing engaging, innovative and high-quality content. With the increasing demand for content across streaming, mobile platforms, social media, immersive and interactive experiences, we’re well-positioned to grow our services in all of our target markets.

We’re already producing content using realtime game engines such as Unity and Unreal and we’re investing in Virtual production technologies as well. An exciting new chapter is about to be written in the world of VFX and animation and we very much plan to be at the forefront.