The Aardman director takes us behind the scenes of his “beautifully ugly film” honored at more than 20 festivals and 2008 BAFTA winner for Best Animated Short.

FEED: Where did you find such a splendidly gloomy story and what attracted you to it?

The original story came from a book of short stories by Mick Jackson called “Ten Sorry Tales” which I was immediately drawn to because of the atmosphere and the terrible weather and these grim, ugly, twisted sisters who lived together on this horrible, scrappy bit of austere land. And I thought this is a fantastic story, we should turn this into a short film – so we did.

Aardman Animations is known for Plasticene and stop motion and Wallace & Gromit and happy films, and I wanted to do the antithesis of this. And so graphically, it made sense to me not to go anywhere near models or Plasticene and make the film with computers and hand-drawn 2D animation. I wanted to evoke a natural, hand drawn, scruffy, naïve, outsider art quality; a beautifully ugly film.

FEED: Can you describe the production process required to create “The Pearce Sisters”?

We animated all of the shots in the computer and then printed out every frame of the 3D animation and drew the expressions in 2D over the top of it. We then scanned all of that back into the computer and laid it back over the top of the 3D animation. It was very much an experiment - we hadn’t done it before.

Despite the whole process being quite loose, it held together okay – everything was very scrappy and dirty and scratchy and scribbly and so the looseness of the 2D and 3D actually helped. I was trying to give a sense that the film itself could have been washed up by the sea.

The editing and sound in particular were worked out well before we even started animating. Dan Williamson, my editor, and I edited to sound; I was very keen for there to be very little music and no dialogue - mainly to enhance that feeling of bleak austerity.

FEED: During the production of “The Pearce Sisters”, what was your favorite creative moment? What are you most proud of in the film?

My favorite moment occurred early on in the process when we did the first tests, putting 3D CGI and 2D together. It had a strange rooted reality to it; subtle but exciting. The test that was purely in 2D, in contrast, felt floaty and insubstantial. I’m also pleased that everything in the film, including the minimal and harsh sound design, worked towards created an overall miserable, austere and bleak energy. It’s a pared down story, every shot is there for a reason - there is no fat. I also like the amount of reverse shots that on some level negate the audience and create breathing space. So there are lots of things I like, but mostly it’s in the tone of the story.

FEED: You started as a more tactile artist but you evolved to CG. What do you like about the medium? What do you not like about it?

I like that it’s so easy to change, it’s very malleable. It’s not linear and it’s not like stop frame. Aesthetically, I’m often not so keen on the final result; it always seems to look like CG. I prefer something with a human hand in there - more awkward, idiosyncratic - more personal. Roughing it up, mixing it up with other things seemed to be the way to go. Having said that, CGI was perfect for “The Pearce Sisters” because it had weight, dimension, flexibility, and then we could scribble over the top and bugger it up.

FEED: Give us some examples of creative experimentation in the film.

Well, it was all an experiment really; 2D on 3D was an experiment. We also put animating textures physically onto the 3D models and blasted texture through the models. We took lighting passes from the 3D and ran drawn textures through them. Each shot was slightly different in the way it was put together. The challenge was to make it look like the original designs, to make it feel seamless and let the technique enhance, not overshadow the story.

FEED: What is your professional and educational background?

I did an M.A. in animation at the Royal College of Art in London. I then worked as an illustrator, then worked at the BBC and then in 1995 moved to Aardman. I still paint paintings when I can (I have a 4-year-old daughter though, so not as often as I would like).

FEED: If your artistry were to have a personality, what would it be?

Grotesque, a bit camp. Grumpy, unsavory with a comic edge. My friend Steve Harding Hill (another Aardman director) has just said I’m ‘Picasso meets Alf Garnet with a dash of Charles Hawtrey’. What the hell does that mean?

FEED: What would be your ideal creative challenge?

A longer form narrative would be a huge challenge. Convincing and layered characters with a complex and emotionally engaging narrative.

FEED: Any final thoughts?

The film seems to have gone down really well – to my surprise people get that it’s a funny film and not just horrible. I showed it to my daughter and her reaction was, “urghh” and then she immediately ran off and started drawing me some pictures of fairies and princesses and told me that’s how I should be drawing.

Watch “The Pierce Sisters”.

Check the Aardman site here.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 1:37 pm and is filed under The Interview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.