Osbert Parker

London, England, United Kingdom

STATEMENT OF ARTIST PRACTICE

With over 30 years of experience working in the creative arts industries, I balance my personal work in film with freelancing, delivering masterclasses and animation workshops. My process always originates from play, experimentation and creative investigation, because my interests lie in experimental mixed media animation to represent the mind’s eye. In that way I can explore emotional, psychological and abstract ideas at the same time. I play and use a blend of mostly analogue and some digital techniques to move seamlessly between worlds of imagination, reality, and fantasy.

Outcomes vary from exhibitions, installations and short films showcasing a range of animated styles and techniques. These often combine 2D cut-out collages with physical objects in-camera, by using innovative stop motion techniques. Committed to helping new generations of filmmakers and artists, I am a (SFHEA) Senior Fellow of The Higher Education Academy and a regular visiting animation lecturer at several Universities including (NFTS) The National Film & Television School in the UK.

ARTIST BIO

Three times BAFTA nominated and award winning Osbert Parker, is perhaps best known for using innovative film and collage techniques, that combine photo cut-out animation with objects and live action to create one-of-a-kind imaginary landscapes in mixed media short films, commercials, TV entertainment and online content. His latest film is the 2021 Clio winning, main title sequence for Stephen King’s LISEY’S STORY Apple TV+. Executive Producers Stephen King, J.J. Abrams, Julianne Moore, Pablo Larrain, Juan De Dios Larrain and Ben Stephenson. Parker designed and directed the main titles in collaboration with Imaginary Forces.

Parker has created animated collages for Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim) MTV’s ident and directed TIMELINE – an artist film loop for the Migration Museum exhibition, DEPARTURES. TIMELINE won the 2022 (BAA) British Animation Wild Card Award, 2021 Creative Circle award, and was Cannes Lion shortlised for Screen & Events. Parker has directed short films for the hit Channel 4 series, MISFITS and Sir John Lubbock’s Pet Wasp (2018) based on Untold Stories commissioned by animate projects and Anim18. LIFE ON THE MOVE won the 2019 (AHRC) Arts and Humanities Research Council Best Social Media Award and was nominated for the Inspiration Award.

Parker is a freelance director who consistently works on a wide range of industry and personal projects. His independent short animated films continue to receive great acclaim on the international film festival circuit. FILM NOIR was nominated for best short animated film by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in 2006 and also was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. YOURS TRULY best short animated film winner at the British Animation Awards was also nominated for a BAFTA in 2008 and selected for Sundance. Both films have been screened at the Telluride Film Festival.

Parker’s award winning commercial credits include such clients as Coca-Cola, Nike, Budweiser, Orange, The World Wildlife Fund and Gatorade. TV clients inc. Apple TV+, Disney+, BBC, Channel 4, ITV and MTV.

CONTACT

osbertparker.com

EMAIL | VIMEO | INSTAGRAM | LINKEDIN

Examples of Collage in Motion

FILM NOIR

FILM NOIR is an experimental mixed media animated collage. Shot entirely on a Bolex 16mm camera in B&W and color, the film uses innovative in-camera stop motion techniques to combine found objects with hundreds of photo cut-outs from classic cinema. The result plays with noir archetypes and iconography, while proposing a fresh structure and style of storytelling that recalls the spirit of classic noir thrillers in surprising ways.

Animated, Directed & Produced by Osbert Parker.

WATCH HERE

Sir John Lubbock’s Pet Wasp

Sir John Lubbock’s Pet Wasp is a classic tale of English eccentricity, a stop-motion collage rendition of a 19th-century aristocrat’s bizarre choice of pet, not just eating off his hand, but learning to read, paint and play the piano. Sir John Lubbock’s true story and his scientific writings on Ants, Bees & Wasps stood out as contemporary for the co-directors, Osbert Parker & Laurue Hill who worked in collaboration on the commissioned film by animate projects and Anim18. Themes of cultural displacement, civilisations and environmental concerns were found in their interpretation of Lubbock’s story still relevant today. A diverse range of techniques from, stop-motion, 2D paper cut-out’s and digital animation are elegantly collaged to tell a bizarre but beautiful love story with a sting in its tale.

Directed by Osbert Parker & Laurie Hill
Produced by animate projects.

WATCH HERE

TIMELINE

Created for The Migration Museum, TIMELINE is an experimental collage film that explores patterns of “abstract lines within the natural world” to evoke meaning; suggesting epic voyage & connected narratives of emigration over long histories.

Evolving as animated pathways through time, successive patterns of lines change form specifically through the use of mixed media, investigating personal narratives behind life-changing events that triggered 400 years of migration from Britain.

Selected materials emphasize fragility & human endeavor. The multi-layered collage captures a powerful range of emotional experiences across continents & 400 years of emigration between 1620-2020.

Animated, Directed & Produced by Osbert Parker.

WATCH HERE