Art by Alex Wyatt-Witchell
Curiosity Killed The Cat - 2021
Short stop motion feature following the relationship between a scientist and his cat after an experiment goes wrong. Highly influenced by silent movies and classic horror, this film explores universal themes of exclusion, yearning and loss through a simple lens.
When given the second year module "Negotiated Project" and told we were allowed to make pretty much what we wanted to, I jumped at the chance to make something inspired by classic horror. I decided to go down the stop motion route as it was something I had explored very lightly as a child and wanted to make something on my own that was out of my means production wise. It just so happened that it ended up looking like it was highly inspired by Tim Burton... which wouldn't be untrue. I will not go into detail what the story was based on as I think it can be interpreted in a personal way. Plus, it was very personal to me at the time.
Gorilla from Space - 2020
Short film made during the COVID lockdown using a mixture of my own footage and archival footage provided by The Box Plymouth. This was for a module set before the lockdown began so everything had to be made at home. This was great for me as I had no prior plans to work with other filmmakers or to shoot anything in a public setting (other than in the park and the cemetery).
By using what I already had, I was able to make something inspired by the original series of Star Trek and terrible low budget B movies. If the film looks badly made its because it was meant to.... or that was just a good excuse!
Cuddly Toy 2 - 2019
WATCH CUDDLY TOY BELOW FIRST.
For our first module hand in we had two film projects to make. Most people made two separate/unrelated films but I made my second hand in a sort of off shoot of the main project I was working on. This was convenient for me as I shot this entire scene in my bedroom while shooting the bedroom segment of the main project.
This module was based around editing styles and the history of film. Our hand in was supposed to use editing styles used and originated in certain periods of film history. In my case, this film was very rushed as the editing styles were meant to be somewhat experimental.
Cuddly Toy - 2019
Named after the Harry Nilsson song used, Cuddly Toy is a film that follows a toy panda as he learns about where he may possibly come from and goes on a journey to find his true family.
This was my first film EVER. I had never used any video editing software nor planned and shot a sequence of videos to be put together as a story. Since I didn't have much confidence in my ability to use cameras or lighting, the majority of my work went into universal themes and story structure. To this day I believe that as long as you have a solid emotional anchor and structure, you have a strong foundation.
One of my greatest loves in my life is children's television, some vintage and some now considered retro. My favourite of all time being Bagpuss, so I used the idea of the toys coming alive and learning from an object left by their owner. It was a step further to take the panda on the bus and to the zoo!