LIONS
EIFF Premiere
Directed by Stephen Warne and Julian Krubasik
Produced by Edinburgh College of Art.
‘Lions’ is a music video for a band from Oxford called Jonquil. The film is about a man, a machine and some invisible Lions.
The lyrics of the song have a surreal quality. They suggest a post-apocolyptic world which the film makers tried to reflect in the visuals. They decided to create a loose narrative which the audience can choose to interpret however they wish. The song (and the band’s music in general) has an organic vibe to it, so Steve and Julian wanted to keep the whole thing as hand crafted as possible. That’s what influenced the techniques more than anything else.
Julian usually works in live-action, and Steve works with stop-motion animation, so they decided to combine the two mediums, with the added element of traditional drawn animation. Printing off each frame of footage, drawn animation was added to about a third of them which were then photographed on a rostrum. As time-consuming as this was, the method kept the look of the film visually consistent. Steve and Julian both study at Edinburgh College of Art, and the animation department in particular is very traditional, so it helped having access to equipment like the rostrum camera and lights. Being in that environment also encouraged them to think up solutions to problems which don’t necessarily involve a computer.
The directors are glad to be screened in the McLaren programme alongside filmmakers such as Matthew Walker who they are already fans of.
Stephen and Julian are both approaching their final year at college so they have a lot of work to do planning and producing their graduation films. In between all of that, Julian is off to Africa to make a documentary film this Summer and Steve is half-way through a short stop-motion film about two mountaineers in a tent, which Julian is also helping out on with lighting and camera. They like to keep busy!
THE OWL HOUSE
Directed by Jessica Cope
Produced by Edinburgh College of Art.
The Owl House is about an old woman longing for her past, her youth and a lost love. It is situated on the borderland between life and death and it journeys through the woman’s final moments.
When Jessica Cope was a kid in South Africa, she visited a place called The Owl House in Nieu-Bethesda, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was once the home of an artist called Helen Martins, who made sculptures out of anything and everything. Her entire house was magical. She crushed glass and painted the walls with it and her garden was like an enchanted place with moons and stars and creatures that she had made including Owls covering every square inch. Helen Martins ended up going blind, taking her life at 73 by drinking caustic soda, olive oil and crushed glass. Helen’s story stayed with Jessica and she wanted to apply the same feeling she felt from her childhood in her film. Jessica wants to leave people with the same strange feeling after watching the Owl House.
Jessica has always wanted to be a stop-motion film maker. She has always loved making things and found she was pretty good at creating a scene and tone. Jessica learnt a lot about model making and set design at Edinburgh College of Art. Tutors Donald Holwill and Neil Kempsell walked Jessica through the process of armature building, model making (including using liquid latex and expandable foam) and set building. Due to the many skills and techniques required to make The Owl House it became a steep learning curve for Jessica.
The Owl House was nominated for the RTS Awards and Scottish BAFTA New Talent Award. It also gained Jessica a nomination for the 4talent awards
Jessica is currently working with fellow eca graduate Simon Cartwright on a short stop-motion film for the digital short scheme run by 4mations. The film is called the Astronomers Sun and you can check the progress out on their blog
THE HAPPY DUCKLING
Directed by Gili Dolev
Produced by ink digital
The Happy Duckling is a 9-minute animated adventure following the antics of a reluctant young boy and the relentlessly happy duck who trails him. It is set in a delightful and surprising pop-up book world where anything can, and does happen.
Gili Dolev’s wife bought a small illustration one day, featuring a man on a bike and behind him a dog, a cat and a duck. It gave him an idea to do something about a duck “adopting” a boy (the way chicks think the first living thing they see is their mum). About a year later, when Gili decided to make another short, he started developing this very basic idea to see where it might go. The Happy Duckling came out very differently from his initial idea but the basic premise of a duck relentlessly following a boy stuck.
Happy Duckling was made in collaboration with students from Duncan of Jordanstone and Abertay in Dundee, which was a great success for all involved. Chris Seed, a recent graduate from Duncan of Jordanstone says ‘The Happy Duckling gave a huge boost to my animation experience and really helped me understand character performance.’ Jere Virta, an exchange student from Finland studying at Abertay adds ‘Besides the understanding of how a slightly bigger project actually works, working on the Happy Duckling also showed me the huge importance of group dynamics, at the same time revealing the immense pressure built upon the directors shoulders during a project. Also, being able to polish my animation while getting constant feedback from a director who knows the ropes, and seeing how much good planning saves time in the actual animation process, has already shown me huge benefits outside this project.’ The standard of the final film bears testimony to the success of the collective contribution of all the students.
Music plays a major role in The Happy Duckling. One of the mature students at DJCAD, Karn David, passed the script onto Mick Cooke of Belle and Sebastian, and Gili was absolutely thrilled when Mick agreed to compose the score. Mick’s score has a tremendous impact on how effective the film seems to be with children and adult audiences.
In April, the Happy Duckling won Best Short Film at Cartoons on the Bay “for its clever storytelling and unique animation style”. In May a Children Jury awarded the film “Best Children Animation” at the Stuttgart International Animation Festival. It was a special privilege for the film to be chosen by the kids themselves over all the other wonderful films in the competition.
Gili Dolev has moved with his family back to Israel where he works as head of content development for a Tel Aviv based company called Primus Design and Animation. They produce a mixture of commissioned and IP work, and are busy developing a slate of exciting new projects.
Mick Cooke is currently composing for film and TV. He curated the children’s album ‘Colours are Brighter’, released on Rough Trade in 2006, and is currently developing a pre-school animated series with Dandy Productions and Sweetworld TV.
SCREENING DETAILS
McLaren 1 at the Filmhouse. 20th June 18.20