Watersprite Nominations

I'm excited to announce that The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling has been nominated for two awards at Watersprite International Student Film Festival in Cambridge, UK. The film was shortlisted a few weeks back for 'Best Animation' and 'Best Original Soundtrack' for the film's fantastic score by Kit Wilson. The film made it through the second round of judging by industry professionals in London and is now in the final nominations for the two categories. This is really exciting for several reasons, one being that this is the first nomination for the film's music. James Nee, director of Ffresh Festival in Wales described the score as 'great' and 'perfectly suited to the story and style of animation'.

Kit and I have been friends since we were very small and used to make films together on a black and white video camera in our parents living rooms. In the last few years as each of us has developed our work we have worked on four projects together including animation and theatre. For Afraid of Falling I wanted the music to feel like a silent film score, and we worked together on the way the music could tell the story with the visuals, reflect the emotions of the character and punctuate moments in the animation. Here's a bit about Kit's practice;

Kit Wilson is a composer based in London, currently studying for an MMus at TrinityLaban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. The majority of his work is studio-based, with a particular emphasis on synthesising disparate styles around complex grooves. His music draws heavily on the rhythmic ideas of contemporary jazz and metal, and explored how to introduce these ideas into a number of contrasting genres.

You can hear some more of Kit's music on his Soundcloud and you can watch the other films Kit and I have collaborated on here: Curiouser and Curiouser (2007), The Scientist and the Omnipotence of Dream (2008). Since the beginning of 2012, The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling has been selected for six more festivals and has been shortlisted for eight awards, a huge reward after all the hard work and I'm thrilled that the film will be seen by more audiences around the world.

New Year

 

 I'm pleased to announce that The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling has been selected to screen at One Voice festival in Bournemouth and Animated Exeter in february and also Athens Animfest in March (details on the screenings page). I went to Animated Exeter back in 2008 with composer Kit Wilson after finishing Curiouser and Curiouser. That year the festival had a brilliant exhibition by the Brothers Quay entitled Dormitorium. The Quay's work has always been an inspiration to me and I have written about their work in several essays over the last few years. Here's a picture of a tailer puppet from Street of Crocodiles (1986) in one of the intricate sets.

Tailor puppet from Street of Crocodiles (Atelier Koninck, 1986)

This year the festival programme looks equally exciting and I'm particularly looking forward to seeing the talk 'Crossing the Celluloid Divide' by multi media theatre company Forkbeard Fantasy. I recently saw a brilliant exhibition of their work at the Southbank Centre in London, a rare chance to see the 37 year history of such a vibrant and experimental theatre company. On display were puppets, drawings and designs, interactive sculptures, costumes, videos of performances and photographs.

Theatre of Animation Exhibition, Southbank Centre 2011-12, Img: BBC

Animfest will mark the films first screening in Greece, I'm happy it's reaching all these different places. The last time I was in Athens I woke up on the roof of a building... I'd love to visit again.