UNIT 22
This film is like a first child. After discovering animation over 14 years ago I'd obsessed over the craft of stop motion. In that time I've made hundreds of animations, each one reflecting a bit of my personality. I like looking back and watching myself evolve and improve. Now I'm finally at this wonderful stage where I can present to you a film like this one.
During my first year studying animation at Manchester School of Art (MSA) I lived in Flat 22 with Red Filgate. Red, who was in his first year studying Film is also an incredible music producer as heard in the film above. As you could imagine, it didn't take long for him and I to decide we would have to collaborate on a film in the future. Little did we know we'd have a completed film before second year!
Fast forward to our Unit X project in 1st year, which was set up as a collaborative opportunity between filmmakers and animators. I was introduced to Zane Crowther who was working with Red in their Unit X group. You could say my original group lacked slightly in creative output. When Red and Zane asked if I could help them animate on their film I was eager to get involved. Low and behold that film became the "Trip" sequence in Unit 22, in fact the entire film was built around it, stylistically speaking especially.
What you see here is entirely created by the three of us in my student accommodation. We built the set on my bed frame, sleeping on the floor for 2 months was a necessary price to pay for a state of the art bed frame studio. It took me a little over 8 weeks working day in day out to finish animating, our deadline day was also the day we'd have to move out of Halls so, it was a little stressful in those last couple of weeks. Thankfully however, we finished on time and now have a completed film.
