Fear of Flying – An Interview with Conor Finnegan

After a successful festival run Conor Finnegan’s “Fear of Flying” is now online for everyone to enjoy, and enjoy you will as the film is a purely delightful watch. We spoke to Conor about his short…

Hi, Conor can you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m an director/ animator from Ireland. I work as commercials director and try making short films occasionally/ music vids in my spare time.

Where did the idea for a “Fear of Flying” come from?

I had a bad experience on a flight home from Finland a few years ago. I hadn’t really slept much and was probably a little hungover. Basically I had a minor anxiety attack and felt the fear as the plane i was in rolled and bumped about in turbulence just after take off.

Can you tell us about the process of making the film?

The film mixes live-action puppetry with 2d and 3d animation. I was lucky enough to get the film funded by the Irish Film Board, RTE (Ireland’s national broadcaster) and Culture Ireland. Having a budget and an awesome producer meant I could work with model makers and an amazing DP and sound designer. We shot the live-action over a five day period and then there was a lot of post; rig removal, adding legs, eyes, arms, etc to the puppets. Everyone worked remotely with a guy doing the 3d beak-sync animation in Germany, a friend doing 3d tracking for the beak in Dublin and a guy in South Africa doing the 3d compositing while I did the 2d animation and compositing from my studio in Dublin.

Is there anything you would change about the film?

There’s always things you wish you could change but I’m happy with how it turned out. There were times during production where I really hated the whole thing and wanted to pack it in but I’m glad I didn’t.

What’s been the most challenging aspect of making the film?

I would say the animatic. There was a lot of drafting and re-drafting. I wanted to make this film but at times it really wasn’t working. The story changed quite a bit from script to screen. About half way through making the animatic for the tenth time I went to a talk by Jim Capobianco who works as a story supervisor and director at Pixar. He told how they are constantly changing things in the animatic, reworking it even while production is going ahead. It was a relief to hear that kind of thing.

In both FOF and your graduate short you use a mixture of animation techniques, what inspires you to combine methods?

I like mixing techniques because it allows you to make something new looking. It always feels nice to be doing something slightly experimental even if its within a traditional narrative.

The vimeo page for the short expresses in capitals ‘NO STOP-MOTION’ have you found yourself saying this a lot when discussing the film?

Yeah people tend to think its stop-motion. I think it looks totally different though. There’s more of an analogue wobbly feel to it I think.

Will we see more of Dougal in the future?

There might be something similar alright, but not quite Dougal.

Have you always want to work in animation?

No, originally I wanted to do graphic design. I studied it for a yeah before transferring to a film course. After completing two years of that I worked in post production for a year or so and discovered animation that way. I seemed like the perfect mix of filmmaking and design. I applied to the National Film School of Ireland and got in. As soon as I started animating I knew it was something I could get into.

Where does your overall inspiration come from?

I have no idea. The everyday weirdness of life maybe.

What projects will you be working on next?

I’ve a new short film ready to release as part of the Late Night Work Club Ghost Stories animation anthology. Its really short and is all 2d animation made in After Effects. I had a lot of fun making it. I’ve a feature film idea that I’m developing and a cartoon series in gestation. Also making commercials.

What words of advice would you give to aspiring animators?

Spit in a circle.

What was your earliest memory of animation?

Probably Tom and Jerry.

What animated film do you wish you could have made?

Wes Anderson’s Fanstatic Mr Fox. *clicks and whistles