The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling – Director Interview

At Show Me The Animation we have been a long term admirer of Joseph Wallace’s graduate film “The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling” having screened it at a number of our animation nights. Naturally we were delighted to see it come online last week a quickly rack up thousands of views within the creative community, and we were even more delighted that when Joseph took the time to tell us about the making of the film and his future animation plans.

Hi, Joseph can you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a bit about yourself?
My name’s Joseph Wallace and I’m a freelance film and theatre director based in Bristol. I mostly make stop motion animations, independently and on a commercial basis. I work with puppets a lot on stage and screen and I also make live action films as well as animation. My main passion is telling stories and I tend to think visually about the work I make, everything starts with drawing.

Where did the idea for the film come from?
The idea came from thinking about old people and fragility and finding the courage to confront our fears. Travelling around Italy and the landscapes, architecture and colours of the country inspired the world of the film.

Can you tell us about the process of making the film?
The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling is my graduation short from Newport Film School in Wales. It was made over a period of eight months from concept to completion and there were only two of us on the project full time, myself and my classmate Emma-Rose Dade who helped make the models and was DOP and compositor. The film is made in hand crafted stop motion animation and nearly everything in the film, apart from the puppet, is made from cardboard. We used recycled materials to build all the sets and props in the film and it was shot with a Canon 5D and Dragonframe software.

Is there anything you would change about the film?
There are lots of things I learnt from making the film and lots of things I will do differently next time. Each film I make and each project I work on is a learning curve, I tend to be massively ambitious and throw myself in at the deep end. I’m now itching to start work on my next big animation project.

Did you always want to become an animator?
Other than a brief flirtation with archaeology, via Indiana Jones, yes it was always my ambition from an early age. These days I tend to work more as a writer, director and designer than animator specifically but I did animate Afraid of Falling. There’s something about animation, and stop motion particularly, that’s just pure magic. It’s a combination of so many things I love; painting, sculpture, light, photography, performance, music, cinema. When you see your creations come to life and inhabit a world that is built from scratch it’s a pretty unique feeling.

Where does your inspiration come from?
When I visit animated film festivals I come away feeling motivated and excited about the possibilities of the medium but I tend to find more inspiration in other art forms. I love visiting museums and art galleries seeing theatre and performance and deriving ideas from these mediums and thinking about how you might take a similar sentiment into animation. Afraid of Falling was inspired by classical paintings by artists such as Cezanne and Paul Klee as well as illustrators and sculptors and there were a lot of comic books that inspired the visual language in the piece and the use of thought bubbles.

What words of advice would you give for aspiring current students studying animation?
University is a tool. I’d always advise taking time out before embarking on a degree, do an art foundation or take some courses, read loads, see lots of things, travel, work out what you’re about and what you want to say in your work. Then you can really utilise the time at university and treat every project as a chance to make a film and develop your craft. We learn by making mistakes and we have more potential to make mistakes by taking risks. I think this is so important and university is one of the only chances we get to really take risks and simply play.

What projects are you working on at the moment?
I’ve been working as Puppetry Associate on Bristol Old Vic’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ with the puppet company who made ‘War Horse’. We go on tour to America in about three weeks so I’m going to be there most of the summer. After that I’m moving to Montpellier in France to start my own film and animation studio with a few colleagues who I trained with on a European Animation Production course called Animation Sans Frontières. We’ll be starting to share our new work in September and I’ll be posting updates on my twitter @josephwallaceuk.

What was your earliest memory of animation?
My folks tell me that when I was three I sat transfixed and watched Wallace and Gromit’s A Grand Day Out and after told them that was what I wanted to do. My parents are both artists and so knew what animation was and how it worked and I was hooked. So I have Nick Park to thank for sleepless nights and endless hours spent in a dark room playing with dolls!

What animated film do you wish you could have made?
Tough question, there are so many I admire. It’s probably Belleville Rendez-vous. 2D animation is rather alien to me and I absolutely love the world of the film and they way the story is told with images.

You can keep up with Joseph over on his personal website http://www.joseph-wallace.co.uk/