Meet Tim - a funny looking pink creature who made his film "debut" at the 2005 Animated Exeter Festival.

Tim is the creation of 14-year-old Harry Willmott from Exeter, whose first film got a great reception at the festival.

Harry (he prefers it to his name, Harrison) goes to St Peter's School in the city.

When he first came up with the idea of the five minute film, the Exeter Phoenix Animation Bursary was so impressed, that they backed his bid for funding from First Light - a body which distributes lottery money.

Harry received £4,000 of grant money towards making the film.

Harry explains what the story's about: "It's all about a creature called Tim who sleepwalks out of his world into the studio where his animation is being made; he has a short adventure but gets home safely.

"It's kind of confusing if you think about it too much.

"Tim is made out of a polystyrene ball for his head and insulated wire covered with metal tubing for his arms and legs, apart from his joints.

Harry Willmott

"His feet had large blobs of Miliputt with magnets at the bottom - we devised a set which had a hollow middle so we could have magnets underneath and magnets on Tim's feet to stop him from falling over.

"All the other characters are made out of plasticine, pencils and tea-spoons.

"The film is just about five minutes long and took nine days, doing 8-9 hours a day, not including some pre and post production days from September to November."

"I haven't heard of any other animation festivals around the UK, so Animated Exeter is so important for all the people who have made films in the area but can't show them anywhere - and to people who want advertise their films or companies.

"Animated Exeter is also important to most of the younger generation of animators like me. Without the festival I probably would not have even made Tim's Big Adventure.

"Animated Exeter is amazing."

Harry hopes to embark on a career in animation and intends to study the subject at university.

He has been encouraged by the response to Tim's Big Adventure: "There was a really good response at Animated Exeter. And I met quite a lot of people in the industry.

"I enjoy it and I'd like to get into animated films as a career."

Article published: 30th March 2005