Interview with Drew Roper – Yamination Studios
Back at the beginning of January Yamination Studios widely anticipated short film, directed by Drew Roper, At-issue, had it’s TV Premiere broadcasting on Sky Arts. After a whirlwind month we caught up with Drew to discuss Yamination and “At-Issue”
Hello, can you introduce yourself to our readers?
Yeah sure, hello, I’m Drew (Roper) an animation director/producer from the (wild) West Midlands currently running Yamination Studios in Birmingham.
What is your role at Yamination Studios?
I run the studio, so predominantly focussing on director/producer roles.
How did ‘Yamination Studios’ start?
Many moons ago it seems! The studio was set up in 2009, in Wolverhampton at Light House Media Centre, where in-between working freelance as an animator/model maker I used to work on small projects developing promotional videos for various clients working with one or two other professionals. In 2011, the studio moved to The Custard Factory in Birmingham, continuing the same ethos until 2012, where I was awarded an arts scholarship grant from (what is now) Sky Academy through it’s Arts Scholarship Scheme (which is now open to UK artists until 10th March by the way).
This enabled me to bring more industry personnel into the studio, first and foremost, creating At-issue, our short innovative film, now being broadcast on demand and on Sky Arts HD. During this amazing time, we’ve worked on several promo videos (as a collective) amongst working on a couple of commercial projects too, for brands such as Cravendale and Coca-cola. To date, we’ve moved to another larger studio, still within the Custard Factory estate, but now, functioning the top floor of an art deco building, which, is fitting with the studios reasoning for existence (I’ve always been an admirer of the great Walt Disney and that period). The past three years have been a real rollercoaster, but an exhilarating ride which – even with it’s extremes, you cannot but want more of!
Can you tell us about your latest project ‘At-Issue’?
At-issue is a short (10 minute) film which juxtaposes the three main mediums of animation, stop-motion, 2d and CGI all through the art of…sneezing. We follow Bartholomew, a struggling thirty something puppet, who dreams of becoming a Hollywood Star just like his old man. In a last ditch effort to achieve his life-time goal, he seizes an opportunity to audition for his perfect job, but his dream is threatened. Unlike the others in Bart’s world, he’s totally different. Not only are they 2D, but they are also cool, calm and confident, unlike Bartholomew who is clumsy, awkward and…a puppet.
In order to succeed he takes the liberty of changing his appearance to give him an added boost to fit in…which has disastrous consequences. It’s a comedic story with heart, and Bartholomew shows he has perseverance and determination, but that ultimately he must learn in order to achieve his dreams he must be himself, and the dream will follow him. It’s an innovative short, and a challenging one! But…it’s finally complete now! What a journey.
What’s the key message behind At-Issue?
To Never Give Up. Persevere and Be Yourself. We’ve all been in situations where we feel like the odd one out, up against a struggle or obstacle that requires us to keep going…no matter what and to believe in yourself! This story is – just that!
What inspired ‘At-Issue’?
Initially a trip to Annecy Animation Festival in 2009. Seeing all the different types of films on screen, I found myself thinking…”I wonder if…wouldn’t it be great if…no one has done this before…” after a (very hungover) train journey with friends back to the UK, we put our heads together about what haven’t we seen, that we’d like to see, and for me, it was mixing the mediums together in a way that supports the narrative, rather then just for aesthetics.
So, I began to develop the idea, with those friends, one of the friends in particular, Adam Oliver, now a lead animator at Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick. General inspirations are taken from old classic slap stick films and heart-felt tales – from The Looney Tunes, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin stories, to “It’s a Wonderful Life” “Play it Again Sam” and “Casa Blanca”
How did the opportunity with Sky Arts arise?
Well, in 2012, as I’ve mentioned previously I was graciously awarded the glorious opportunity to be a Sky Academy Arts Scholar. This involved a bursary of £30k to put towards your chosen arts project and also some incredible mentoring from not only a member at Sky (John Cassy, our hero, and co-founder of Sky Arts/Sky 3D) but an artistic mentor too (the incredible Suzie Templeton, Peter and The Wolf and Dog).
As I could see the film (slowly) unfolding before me, I knew, I had to get this to the screens! So, I set my sights on enquiring whether this would be possible at Sky. Initially, it was not in the agreement, however, like At-issue’s morals of “perseverance” and “never giving up” – neither did I. After constant requests, and a lot of support from the great team at Sky, and in particular, my mentor John Cassy (thanks John) I had the opportunity to show the complete film to the Director of Sky Arts, Philip Edgar-Jones. “PEJ” as he’s known, became our hero also. He loved the film and was thrilled to get this aired on Sky Arts HD and so it was in August 2015, that we went about negotiations for a broadcasting deal! It is now On Demand, via Sky Arts HD, Sky Go, Virgin Media, TiVo and NOW TV for two-years.
It’s been the sheer cherry on top of this massive cake and a tribute to all the amazing hard work that we’ve all put in to get this finished!
Whats the relationship with Sky Arts been like?
Well, from the previous answer, I hope it’s quite obvious that it’s an over-whelming one. The support has been truly great, they were more then fourth-coming to work on the best deal for both parties and over the past several months, the bond began to solidify more so and long may it continue for future projects!
You also turned to crowdfunding during the production of At-Issue, what made you want to use crowdfunding?
Well, it took me a while to realise just how fantastic crowd-funding can be to co-finance film/animation. It really opened my eyes. Not only is it a great platform to raise finances, but you also connect with a wider range of audience – enthusiasts, fans and the industry! It’s a great way of gaining more exposure about the projects you’re working on, and need support with! And every penny (pound) really does make the difference!
What do you think crowdfunding brings to independent filmmaking?
Opportunity. And well, exposure, in a nut-shell.
When you’re stuck in a dark studio for hours on end, although you believe in what you’re doing…you sadly still have emotions that no-one else will share this passion to get it finished. Crowd-funding opens up doors to share this with people and so with the right platform strategy, the idea becomes more real.
While predominantly stop-motion, their is a mixed-medium approach to At-Issue, can you tell us a bit about the process of pulling it together?
Yeah, having a brilliant crew 🙂 This may get wordy….
It’s quite difficult to translate a vision that’s in your head, when a) you’ve never done it before and b) there’s not much reference for this type of vision.
I guess, trust was a huge part and I’d like to say “testing” – but we generally didn’t have enough time to test. As soon as Sky Academy green-lit the project, I just got stuck straight into it as initially the deadline was within an 18 month period.
From the expertise and experiences of what you learn from other projects and with collaborating with those talented souls that are involved with the production, you are constantly throwing ideas of how it could be done together (mainly over several beers…) and sometimes, even moments before an (2d/CG/StopMo) animator, model maker, rigger begins…something comes to your attention and a tweak will be made even seconds before they start. Although last minute changes happened, it took A LOT of planning.
Trying to figure out which (2d) character should be on which part of the set at what point, and whether it needed to interact with the stop-motion side of things was carefully prepped. Once the storyboards and animatic were complete, Sai Smith (DOP/Editor) would go through it all with me (and perhaps one of the animators) to figure out what would need to be animated (perspectively if it was 2D or CG) and also what we would need to build so that only what would be seen would only be built (for time and budget reasons). From this, we took “plates” – which are background images of the sets.
Sometimes a series of animation stills (for timing, especially if there was something moving in stop-motion) to give to the 2D animators and CG modeller/Riggers and animator to have the best reference to go by. For perspective reasons initially so it could be composited in the edit with relative ease (which wasn’t as easy as it sounds).
Without a great team it simply wouldn’t have been done.
Compositing was a huge factor. The VFX Supervisors began this process (more then two-years ago) and from what we learnt from their workings, Sai could use as a stepping stone and adapt if needs be to get all the elements working correctly within the edit.
Bringing in the 2D and CG into the edit to acquire the correct framing, lighting, shading etc was fun, but not easy – especially when we were working with 4K files. It became a huge challenge, emotionally and physically…on the software/hardware 🙂 But, we got there! You need to have a good relationship with your crew, especially editor (with this), Sai and I would liaise about the visuals hourly, and he was extremely influential here and I owe him a lot.
I still don’t know how we/he did it…
How many people did you have working on the production?
Lots. This number escalated and is difficult to pin-point down to credits because so many people lent a hand to help us get it over the finish line. But, there are one hundred and twenty credited crew who had a big part in this and deserve a huge thank you!!
Stop-motion continues to enthral audiences, what do you think makes stop-motion special?
It has an authenticity, a charm, and a nostalgic aesthetic that you struggle to get with the other mediums. CG is getting close to this now, but it does not quite have the uniqueness, reality or belief of stop-motion. That’s not to say CG isn’t any good, because it is but giving life to something that is already real…well, it’s a nerdy thing to say, but it’s beautiful! Like having a child, I envisage (not physically)
There are some fantastic puns in the background of the film (e.g. shop names), whose the comedy genius behind these?
Me, of course! I cannot take all the credit. It was a good mix of my thoughts and the core crew at the time. Some of the names, were made but…sadly, never made it on the street…but they may make another appearance one day!
What was the most challenging aspect of At-Issue?
I guess, figuring out how the ambition would be achieved on little finance and how also how all the mediums could be brought together, in one place.
With no dialogue sound design plays a key role in At-issue, how important was getting this right in the films production?
Hugely important – it’s equally as important as the visuals in my opinion. The sound really makes you breathe every breath and take every step with Bart. Again, we had a talented team to focus on this that needed to have that incredible attention to detail element!
Now it’s done, is there anything you would change about the film?
Of course! But, it would never get finished if I focused on those parts. I think every director/animator/film maker feels like this once it’s all done…you just hope no one notices the same things as you do 😉 and also, that they enjoy it!
Where do you come up with your best creative ideas?
It’s difficult to pin-point exactly how this happens. I’m very scatty, creatively, with my mind constantly on tick-over. I can look at, a leaf for example, and think of something creative (whether it’s any good is another story) but I believe in going outside to find something, whatever that something is. Always have your eyes open. Almost every lunch, if I’m at the studio, I’ll sneakily, just sit on our rooftop, taking in all I see which makes me think clearer.
How did you get into animation?
Whilst studying at Uni, I would research forums, blogs, job sites and enquire into assistant animator positions or any position I thought I could get, to gain experience. Some paid off, some didn’t but every job, was a good experience as I took with me the good and the bad into the next job – you’re always learning. Thanks to a talented animator, and now good friend, Tim Allen, my first paid job was straight from University in 2009, immediately after my Annecy trip (where At-issue came of age) where I was working on Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. I helped the production crew out with clearing everything and anything away, ready for the next production, at 3 Mills Studios, which, was inevitably for another stop-motion feature, Frankenweenie, which I also managed to work on for a short period. Then it went from there.
What advice would you pass on to those seeking to get into the industry?
Never Give Up! Keep working hard and get out to as many film/animation festivals or creative hot-spots (pubs/cafe’s) as possible, because you never know who you might bump into! And…always strive to better yourself, think about who you’d like to work with and what you think they’d be looking for to impress them, then go about doing that!
Which animated film, if any, do you wish you could have made?
Good question! This has taken me about ten minutes to think of an answer…
and, I haven’t got one. What has been made, has been made, it’s what has not been made that interests me…
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