Written & Directed by Baz Sells
How will you feel "When All of This is Over?"
This incredible stop motion animation takes you on the claustrophobic journey through lockdown and a hopeful look towards the future. This poetry film, visualises Anthony Anaxagorou's poem 'Squib'. Commissioned by Bradford Literature Festival (UK), the poem was written in response to the post-lockdown provocation 'When All of This is Over'.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE FILMMAKER
Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
Hi, I’m Baz - director at One6th Animation Studio. I began creating stop-motion short films at film school, with our producer, Ben. As live-action filmmakers back then, stop-motion appealed to us thanks to the likes of Suzie Templeton and Tim Burton but also because it seemed like a good way to create imaginative visuals, on a small student budget.
Twelve years later, here we are. We’ve taken slightly different paths since film school - I’ve had various roles within commercials and film and Ben has been busy developing his business portfolio. In 2018 we established One6th Animation Studio where we create short films, commercials and commissions such as Squib.
So the film was commissioned by Bradford Literature Festival. What can you share with us about that process?
Recently, the BLF commissioned a series of poems which were written in response to lockdown and the provocation “When All of This is Over”.
We were approached by the BLF about collaborating with Anthony Anaxagorou. Anthony is a poet with great cadence, so I thought about building the film around a typewriter, which operates with a certain rhythmic quality. Also, being an old technology, it seemed to capture the restrictions and nostalgia we’ve all experienced during lockdown. Initially, the idea of creating a paper puppet for Anthony was a side note in our treatment - mainly because it would be (and was) extremely challenging to build and animate within the tight deadline.
One of the great things about a poem like Squib is that it really gets you thinking. Most people will interpret it differently, so we tried to let the poem speak for itself. From an animation point of view, we focused more broadly on creating Anthony’s environment and building a narrative to capture the emotion of the poem and the claustrophobic journey through lockdown.
We were fortunate that the BLF and Anthony really got behind our ideas and gave us the freedom to run with them. In the end, we delivered the film just 4 weeks after we started animating which is credit to our brilliant crew. I should also mention that the film only features the second Stanza of Anthony’s original poem, so there’s more Squib out there for poetry fans to look forward to.
How has lockdown affected your process as a filmmaker?
As a studio, the start of lockdown was a time for reflection. Given the financial impact, we had to drop certain projects and focus on those we are most passionate about. Refining our work load really improved our enjoyment of the creative process and in hindsight, has been the biggest revelation for us over the past year.
Any hacks or tips for making a stop motion animation?
If you haven’t tried stop-motion, I’d recommend searching for free apps on your smartphone and having a go! There really is something special about bringing inanimate objects to life. If you want to develop further, research the 12 principles of animation and practise movement exercises. I’d also encourage anyone interested to seek out creators in the stop-motion community and join in with social media groups and forums - they are full of supportive people who share work and exchange advice.
What's your favourite part of the filmmaking process?
For me, it’s all about collaboration and seeing ideas come to fruition - whether that’s seeing the puppet on set for the first time, or an animator finishing a great piece of action. Those are my favourite moments because you see how much work goes into them.
On Squib, one of our animators was working a night shift and a few hours into the shot the shoulder joint inside the puppet snapped. The animator then spent the next couple of hours opening up the puppet, replacing the joint and then positioned the puppet exactly in place to continue animating for hours more. That level of persistence and problem solving is so important.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences.
The film was first released online by Bradford Film Festival and then later on our website and social media - so far the response has been great. We have plans to submit to film festivals in the coming year and really appreciate Kino being the first to share it with their audience!
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
‘Sound of Metal’ would be a great choice for those returning to cinemas right now!