During the Easter Holidays I worked on a research document on the history of the Irish animation industry, looking at their early days of working for commercial work and the Irish animation studio called Cartoon Saloon. My peers were impressed with my work, so much so that I could simply rest while they processed the info into the poster. When we learned that we sould focus on a single animation studio in Ireland, I proposed to focus on Cartoon Saloon, the studio behind the Folklore Trilogy consisting of the Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea and the Wolfwalkers.
So that was what I focused on. I made another research document focusing on the history of Cartoon Saloon and then put that document into our group Discord for the rest of our group to use.
I did research into the history of Irish animation first, writing up an extensive document on the general history of Irish animation from the early days of working alongside Don Bluth for many of his projects such as the Secret of Nimh and the Land Before Time, to the modern day having worked on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and DC Super Hero Girls.
Upon learning we should focus only on one studio of Irish animation, I chose to research the history of Cartoon Saloon, such as its founding and exactly who founded it and their background, such as how Tom Moore, alongside two colleagues, originally being part of another animation group called Young Irish Film Makers, and overheard two adult members talk about Irish folklore legends, giving the idea of creating original stories that were inspired by these Irish legends.
Interacting with my peers was easily done through Discord, and we were able to show progress on the poster we were making through it. I contributed by putting up pictures of the films that Cartoon Saloon worked on, such as The Secret of Kells, the Wolfwalkers and the Song of the Sea.
Bibliography:
Cartoon Saloon and the New Golden Age of Animation | The New Yorker
A Brief History of Irish Animation from TMNT to Land Before Time (collider.com)
https://www.ireland.ie/en/expo/ourprogramme/irish-animation/