The Hunt
The Hunt by Gareth Gough, graduate from the Northern Film School in BA Animation.
Who?
Animation, editing, producing, character design, Back ground design and Directing was by myself (Gareth Gough), Sam Greenwood was the Sound Designer.
What?
The film “The Hunt” is about the impact of illegal hunting on our most endangered of wild life and the inevitability of mother nature striking back in a way that we more than likely wouldn’t expect.
Why?
The inspiration for the film comes from growing up watching David Attenborough and other naturalists on television clearly stating that we are in trouble when it comes to the state of our planet due to our misuse of it. It worries me that year after year we loose countless species due to illegal hunting and the traditional Chinese medicine trade. Animators that inspired me through out this film…ummm…there are quite a few! Patrick Smith, his timing is second to none and the way he morphs characters is genius! Julia Pott, When I started out on this film I watched “Belly” for the first time and I new I wanted to emulate the uncomfortable nature she manages to achieve through her narratives. Chuck Jones, is one of my all time favorite character animators, I looked at a lot of his work when designing my own characters. Malcolm Sutherland, Every film he has made has been an inspiration to my work. I want to experiment more with line, color and form in the future.
How?
The film was hand drawn, close to 1800 drawings give or take. The backgrounds were drawn mainly in Photoshop all though some of the background work was hand painted using water colors. I then composited everything in After Effects. The sound created by Sam Greenwood was mainly Foley done by him self.
Next Project?
The next project is more than likely going to be about bullying. I would love to make a comical slap stick Looney Toonesch film but it seems that I cant help but tackle social subjects. I think this next film is going to be more experimental, I want to free up the line work and maybe just use it as more of a learning process than attempting to create a solid narrative.
Which animated film would you like to have made?
That is a hard one! Ivan Maximov is a hero of mine when it comes to animation. The worlds he creates are so unique to his style and character design. The way he uses nature to influence his characters or guide them through the narrative has always amazed me. Its as if everything is connected in his films and I think that is a reflection of our world. So “Wind Along the Coast” by Ivan Maximov is probably the one film I would Like to have made.
You can also see Gareth’s second year film “Time to Talk (Bi-Polar) below…
