Merfolk
Merefolk by Rory Waudby-Tolley, a third year major project from Bournemouth Uni, recently highly commended for Animation Direction at Animated Exeter.
Who?
All aspects of the film, including writing, animation and music, were created by Rory Waudby-Tolley as a third year major project at the NCCA, Bournemouth University.
What?
‘Merfolk’ is a mockumentary set in an alternative reality where merpeople have had to flee the polluted oceans and live among humans on mainland Britain. After ten years in the UK, an elderly couple of merfolk refugees discuss the society they now live in, and how they have adapted to their new life.
Why?
The juxtaposition of a mythical creature living within the confines of our everyday reality was an idea I found visually intriguing and inspired the narrative. The concept fell into place of a world where merfolk had integrated into our society, but there were still tensions and prejudices between them and some groups of humans. They were forced to evacuate the ocean due to repeating environmental disasters, and had sought asylum in Britain. This allowed real world issues of discrimination, particularly the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees, to be explored and satirised within an absurd fictional setting of the project.
The natural conversational tone of the dialogue was heavily inspired by Aardman’s Creature Comforts, and the work of Raymond Brigg’s had an impact on creating empathetic characters, particularly the animated adaptation of When the Wind Blows.
How?
To capture the spontaneous sounding dialogue of an interview, a script was written and improvised around. The main characters were voiced by my parents, who played very convincing merpeople! All the rest of the audio in the film was taken from archive news footag of recent events, grounding the film in a world very much like our own. All characters were modelled, rigged and animated in Maya, rendered in a simple bright flat colours. Most of the backgrounds were 2D paintings created in Photoshop. Elements were composited in Nuke, with the final edit produced using Premiere Pro.
Next Project?
I have a couple film ideas at various stages of production. I am currently working on a 2D short film set in a children’s TV show where the characters are effectively held capture by the narrator, a psychopathic despot.
Which animated film would you like to have made?
I think David O’Reilly’s work is a great example of pushing experimentation with CG aesthetic, and I particularly love The External World. I’ve also recently become a bit obsessed with the 1969 russian adaptation of Winnie the Pooh, by Soyuzmultfilm. The traditional hand coloured style is beautiful, and it’s full of hilarious deadpan humour.
website: rorywt.com
blog: rorywt.blogspot.com
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twitter: @rory_wt
