Join the Animated Conversation

We’ve already told you about the dark side of animation. But did you know it can turn you into a snowboarding vampire? No? Then you must get to know Bob Lee, one of our fine 4mations Digital Shorts directors, who’s been sinking his teeth into his short film ‘Tomorrow’…

Tomorrow tells the tale of an old man living alone with his memories. What inspired the story?

Like most things it started as a simple idea, which came from a script that I wrote in my first year of university. It involved an old man and his grandson, although somewhere along the way became a little darker and macabre.

I have also drawn a lot of inspiration from listening to music and aspire to communicate my own ideas as beautifully and successfully as these musicians do through their music.

Tell us about the production. Who’s doing what? How do you communicate your vision?

The production has been fantastically challenging and stressful at times but that’s a good thing. I have learnt so much about so many elements of animation production that you can only gain from just getting your hands dirty.

With regards to roles, Siobhan Fenton of Lynchpin Productions is keeping me on my toes as my producer whilst two graduates model/prop makers from Cleveland college of art and design- Alison Lee and Dan Martin -  are helping me realise the sets and props whilst I animate and live a semi-vampirical, sub-tropical existence in a small, dark and very hot room.

You went from snowboarding to animating. Do you miss the great outdoors or do you prefer the hot studio lights?

Yes, I miss the great outdoors very much indeed. I pine for the snow but hopefully it’s something I can do in between filmmaking and vice versa.  Both snowboarding and filmmaking are passions of mine, but it is too hard to say which I prefer overall as they are both very different, and both really awesome.  Ideally, it would be great if my small, dark room were atop a snowy peak. But then again I might not get very much work done…

What’s the biggest challenge working with puppets and props?

Making the things you want to move, move how you want them to, whilst making the things you don’t want to move, not move! This project has really pushed me as an animator and really made me understand that character can come from how you move your puppet and not just from cinematography, costume design, set design, etc… However I feel I must add thanks in here to Barry Purves who has helped me so much in getting a little further to realising my craft.

Any tips on keeping fit while you’re in production?

Unfortunately, generally fitness seems to have taken a back seat during the production but I find skateboarding around the studio in between shots, running to the coffee shop and walking home trick me into thinking I’m at least doing something.

You’ll find works in progress, production woes and more info on the team on Tomorrow’s production blog.