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FEATURED CONTRIBUTORSFilm & Animation
jotta caught up with animator, Bill Edwards aka CHROMEbaby, who worked with Shane Meadows on his latest film, a low budget five-day gonzo affair, which follows the mocku life of Le Donk (played by Paddy Considine), a roadie dabbling at the margins of the music industry.
A graphic designer by trade, it was only by chance encounter on the Shane Meadows web forum that big time Meadows fan Bill scored the commission of his dreams.
How did the animation commission come about?
In early 2009 an idea for an informal mini-film competition bubbled up out of forum members' discussions on the Shane Meadows website. Shane offered to judge the entries. To my surprise not only did Shane select my entry with five others as winners but my entry also won the forum members' vote!
But that wasn't it for me... Shane Meadows showed the competition entries to his girlfriend, Jo, and she suggested that my animation style would suit Le Donk. Shane thought that was a good idea too. I didn't know this but Shane had wanted animated sequences in Le Donk. He phoned me up out-of-the-blue one evening and asked if I'd like to do an animated opening title sequence for his new film, Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee! And of course I said "YES!"
What was the brief?
Shane had in mind cartoon versions of Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee and visualisations of the lyrics to the version of the Scor-Zay-Zee track, Rupert Brown, that would be playing over the opening titles. The third element would be the titles themselves. He wanted the relationship between Donk and Scorz to be illustrated in someway. I listened to the track over and over again and watched the film about three times before ideas started to form. I phoned Shane at one point and asked him exactly what it was he was after and he said to me, "express yourself". That was pretty amazing for Shane to suggest I do that. I decided to have some fun. I merged the narrative of the film with the lyrics of Rupert Brown to create a little story.
What was he like to work with?
I've never worked with a film director before and I've also never worked with someone whose work means a lot to me. Shane came round my house a few times – which was cool – and we worked on the animation together as it neared the end. The animation had to fade out at a precise moment so Shane sat with me and guided me through the final frames.
Shane was a gentleman throughout the process. Even towards the end when I had made a few technical errors due to me misunderstanding some information, he was always supportive and constructive. He also didn't mind being portrayed as a bumble bee!
What projects are you working on at present?
I'm helping Warp Films out with marketing materials for Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee, doing work for a film company has always been a bit of an ambition of mine. Animation wise, I'm looking out for competitions to enter and I've got loads of silly ideas I want to animate. Just so I can say to myself that I've done three animations this year. One last year. Three this year. Which means next year I ought to do nine! I doubt that's going to happen but you never know. They'd all have to be very very short.
Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee is released on DVD next Monday October 26.
