Who?
Directed by: Christine Hooper
Voice Over: Susan Calman
Woman At Door: Jayne Edwards
Sound Design: Tom Lock Griffiths
Written by: Christine Hooper and Victoria Manifold
Additional Animation: Jen Cardno, Ana Stefaniak and Alice Dunseath
What?
Four in the morning, crapped out, yawning.
Why?
‘On Loop’ started life when I came across an interesting quote from film critic Bill Nichols which I found whilst writing my dissertation; ‘Every film is a documentary’. He argues that every film, even the most whimsical of fictions, gives evidence of it’s director. From the culture they were brought up in to their personal experiences, it is played out within their work. So I decided to make a film drawing on my personal experiences – to give a feel of authenticity but not be restrained by the documentary format. One thing I had a lot of experience of was insomnia, so I chose that as the theme.
The aesthetic was inspired by David Hockney‘s photomontages. I explored using split visuals within my BA work and wished to develop this technique further. I wanted to give a cubist feel, to have both a layering of time and to create a visual representation of fractured thoughts.
How?
It took a long time! I consumed my body weight in chocolate brioche, got through two glue guns and spent the majority of a year cooped up in a dank basement at the Royal College of Art within a bedroom set, lit to feel like 4 o’clock in the morning.
I built the set in the RCA basement with the aid of the woodwork technician Ricky and a lot of reggae. It was important to me that the visuals and voice over worked together to tell the story, neither working independently. Everything, from the flowers to the pictures was carefully created or picked with this in mind.
Susan Calman (BBC Have I Got News For You, QI, Channel 4 Fresh Meat) was my first choice for the voice over. I had read many articles she had written about struggling with insomnia and knew she would give the film a sense of authenticity and much needed humour. Luckily she said yes and was happy to be paid in tea and biscuits.
Shooting took around 3 months. With the complex nature of the edit (some scenes contain 9 separate shots combined to make one picture) I filmed and edited simultaneously, relying heavily on Dragon Stop Motion to shoot and then using pretty much every programme in the Adobe package to piece it all together.
Sound design was done in one day collaborating with the talented Tom Lock Griffiths. I was fortunate to meet him in the first year when he was studying at the NFTS and I thoroughly enjoyed working together adding subtle sounds to give the film an extra lift.
From actually beginning to write the script to finishing the edit the film took me approximately 6 months to make.
Next Project?
For my dissertation I explored what animation can add to documentary film making that live action can’t capture. I am developing a couple of animated documentary projects which put this research into practice.
Thank you Christine….we shan’t sleep a wink until your next release. -Dragon
Awards:
Winner of Conran Foundation Award 2013.
Semi-finalist Adobe Awards 2013.
Part of British Animation Awards Public Choice Selection 2014.
Winner of New Talent Award at Animated Exeter 2014.
Official selection London International Animation Festival 2013.
Official selection Animasyros International Animation Festival 2013.
Official selection Chitrakatha International Animation Festival 2013.
Official selection Etiuda Anima Festival 2013.
Panorama Bradford Animation Festival 2013.
Official selection London Short Film Festival 2014.
Official selection Animated Exeter 2014.
Official selection Rencontres Audiovisuelles Lille 2014.
Blog written by Vera Long