TRIO OF DUETS: Volume 1

Iggy Pop + Debbie Harry



Björk + Thom Yorke



Nick Cave + PJ Harvey

* Happy birthday, Monika.

MAI TOMINAGA's "Wool 100%"

Mai Tominaga's new film Wool 100%(ウール 100％) now has an official site. From what I understand, it's her first feature length film and the imagery and storyline are captivating. It's a combination of live action and a variety of animation techniques with an unusual fairytale sentimentality. Those of you in the UK might notice a few parallels with the excellent classic children's series Bagpuss.

It's the story of two sisters, Ume & Kame who collect discarded objects from rubbish in their town. They care for these found objects and one day they find some red yarn. That night, they are roused from their sleep by the sound of the rubbish heap collapsing and are surprised to find a girl knitting a sweater from the red wool. They name her Aminaoshi and in the following days, she continues to knit obsessively as the other foundling objects mysteriously come to life.

To see the trailer on the official site, go HERE and select the fourth option in the bottom menu. Here are some more stills from the film:

And here is a video that Mai Tominaga created for Mari Fukuhara's song La Lune:

Links:
Sundance Mai Tominaga Bio
Wool 100% official site (Japanese)
Twitch Article on Wool 100%

Source: Twitch

CHANNEL FREDERATOR Cartoon Podcast

Channel Frederator has a brilliant cartoon podcast featuring a wide variety of artists and styles. Most of the content is lighthearted fun, but there is some dramatic work such as The Ballyvaughan Story by Sara Pocock(episode 43).

I've not seen everything yet, but the quality of what I've seen thus far is consistently good though the inclusion of advertising is a little annoying and compares so very, very badly with the content between which it is placed. Indeed, don't let the "What the hell? TOON IN!" below put you off having a look. It's the picture to look at, not the frame.

The images above are samples from the latest, "Episode 77" featuring Deerhoof - Kidz are so Small from Face 3 Media, Libraryhead by David Bazelon, and Predators of the Sprawl: A Staggering Simian by James Buran. See all these animations(episode 77) below:

Links:
Channel Frederator
Face 3 Media
David Bazelon
James Buran

Storytime: HENRY MILLER's "The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder"

Unlike earlier Storytime posts of Charles Bukowski reading his own works, this is a surreal short animation based on Henry Miller's novella. Created by Eiko Emersleben & Marcus Ober, it features the music of Tom Waits and is an interesting accompaniment to Miller's story.

There was also an opera of Smile at the Foot of the Ladder by Norwegian composer Antonio Bibalo.

Eiko Emersleben recently worked on Neil Jack's Ujbaz Izbeneki Has Lost His Soul. Miller's book is available from New Directions Publishing and an excerpt can be read on Amazon.

Baby Cow's "I AM NOT AN ANIMAL"

Baby Cow Productions are consistently creating great, original comedies. Their first animated effort, I am Not an Animal, written and directed by Peter Baynham(I'm Alan Partridge, Brass Eye, The Day Today) is set deep within the bowels of Vivi-Sec UK where scientist Mike Simmons is conducting an experiment called Project S, the attempt to create talking animals.

Batch 4 (the latest attempt) brings together a horse called Philip Masterson-Bowie, a dog(Winona Matthews), a monkey(Hugh Gape), a mouse(Clare Franchetti), a bird(Mark Andrews), and a cat called Keiron. The series features the voice talents of Steve Coogan, Julia Davis, Amelia Bulmore, Kevin Eldon, Simon Pegg, and Arthur Mathews.

Clips are available via BBC Worldwide on YouTube:

• I want to sign on
• Mark sings to the cats
• Glen Belt Mania
• Claire's babies
• Call Centre Working
• Poor Kieron

I am Not an Animal is available on DVD.

Links:
Baby Cow Productions
BBC Page
BBC Press Release
BBC YouTube Playlist
Triffic Films
Toonhound
Wiki

SINGLESHOT - Video Art Collection

SingleShot is the first of a new collaboration between the UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund and Arts Council England. It's a collection of film and video pieces commissioned from both established and up-and-coming video artists. The common feature between the shorts are, as the name implies, that all the films are set within a single shot.

It's a fascinating set with a lot of variation between the artists from the simplicity of Matthew Murdoch's Being There to Christian Krupa's Vanishing Point.

Single Shot launched in London last November and will be touring the UK through to the end of the year. All the films are available to view online at the SingleShot webpage.

Links:
SingleShot
UK Film Council
Arts Council England

Interview: TIMOTHY ARCHIBALD

Timothy Archibald is not only a great photographer, but he's also a great 'photographic philosopher' of sorts and a well of information and inspiration. With these interviews, I am always hoping to open new paths for people not only to new artists, but new ways of seeing and thinking. Timothy has provided a wealth of 'paths' in this interview and some intriguing insight into his work.

I am very grateful for the efforts he has made and for giving me the opportunity to put these questions to him.

Timothy Archibald's photographs have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, GQ, The New Yorker and Outside Magazine. His photographs are included in the permanent collection of the Catskill Center for Photography(Woodstock, NY) and The Museum of Sex(NY). He lives in San Francisco with his wife Cheri and two sons.

Lars von Trier added something called a “lookey” to his latest film, a “visual element that is added out of context to a movie”. Is it fair to say that a lot of your work is photographing “lookies” in real life?
I guess I’m always looking for something kind of unusual and aberrant that is found in something very very familiar. That combination worked real well in Sex Machines, meaning it was like finding this filthy disgusting sexual creation pulled out of your id, and finding it in a very comforting and familiar environment. I played with that pairing in earlier work, but it really came together in Sex Machines. As far as projects since then, the core seems to come from finding something very human that everyone can relate to, and combining it with something very foreign. Which is the same thing…huh?

"I just loved the idea that these artists could be so great at what they did, make powerful art and really own their genre, but the genre was so small they just weren’t household names."

You’ve also cited Leon Borensztein’s One is Adam, One is Superman: The Artists of Creative Growth as an inspiration which features portraits of handicapped artists. What inspired you from this book? What do you think of the featured artists’ work being labelled “outside art” and in general, are labels and gradations of art in any way useful?
I’ve always had attraction to artwork that looked naïve or innocent, folk art, comic book art, things that seemed to be dwelling in this kind of d.i.y. ghetto or something. Comic book artists such as Daniel Clowes, Peter Bagge and Ivan Brunetti have all been super big influences. I just loved the idea that these artists could be so great at what they did, make powerful art and really own their genre, but the genre was so small they just weren’t household names. I think it was Bagge that even referred to his audience as a small collection of drug addicts and perverts, many of whom live with their parents! Maybe it was Clowes who said that. They were kidding, of course, but more so they were just exaggerating to make a point.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE

Interview: MONIKA FORSBERG

Monika Forsberg's "His Passionate Bride" is one of my all-time favourite animations with a unique visual style and suitably bittersweet storyline. The animation is like sweeping winds and its creator is likewise an unrestrained elemental force. You can see "His Passionate Bride" HERE.

In 2000, she made "Frankie's Chimera" while at the Royal College of Art and in the following year, she created "This is Harrow". In 2004, she was nominated for a Bafta for "His Passionate Bride" which later won First Prize for best animation at the Granada International Film Festival in 2005 (which took the form of a large ham). With the support of the Arts Council of England and in collaboration with Susie Sparrow, she went on to make "We All Believe in Happy Endings" and a new series featuring Lola from "His Passionate Bride" is currently in the works.

Brace yourself, Monika doesn't pull any punches in this interview and she comes out with all guns blazing. The exchange would probably make for a great animation and it's certainly the most stunning interview thus far and a work of art in itself.

It's hard to explain, but to look at a part of this interview doesn't do it justice and won't make a lot of sense, but to read it in its entirety is absolutely genius. Sublime.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE

THANKS for the LINKS & Support

In the relatively short life of SiouxWIRE, I am eternally grateful for the cooperation of all those have taken part in interviews and those who have so graciously linked to this humble series of eclectic posts.

Thanks to Feed for featuring my artwork in the banner, Roberto at the CG Society for highlighting the upcoming Blackheart interviews, DeK of NoFatClips for the links/inspiration, Thaniel, David, Tyler, Kate, John, Bobby, Gregory, Polly, Scroobius, Thomas, Timothy, Theo, Eduardo, Ree, Markus, Jannes, Ahndraya, Amy, Brent, Eszter, Fred, Katy, King Adz, Monika, Nina, Stefanie, Sylvie and all my friends at MySpace as well as my very understanding family.

EDIT: And just in the last 24 hours, thank you to The Icelandic Love Corporation, Chase Palmer, EB, and Sil for joining in the mayhem. You're all amazing.

Oh yes, and by some quirk, more than half of the visitors to this blog are from France making it the top country in terms of visitors to SiouxWIRE so "Merci de l'appui, mes amis."

I am extremely, EXTREMELY grateful. Thank you. Merci.

THE BLACKHEART GANG: The Concise Overview of The Household

As another prelude to the upcoming series of interviews with the creators of The Tale of How, here is the official rundown of the Blackheart Gang's universe:

The Household is a fantastical realm deep within the earth inhabited by fantasy and extinct creatures like dodos, mammoths, teddy bears, talking pandas, sentient hills, and a white mouse who is an engineer. The function of The Household is to purify our bath water and to make soap.

Stories from the household are referred to as histories. The first released history, The Tale of How, is actually the second in the The Dodo Trilogy. In the upcoming history, The Tale of Then, we’ll witness the beginnings of Otto in the days when he was a lovelorn hill on a farm outside Prague in the year 900. In love with a goat herder girl who plants a tree on his head, Otto’s love ends in a tragedy that leads him to his ocean home from which we see him in The Tale of How.

In The Tale of How, we see the blossoming of the piranhas(Dodos) from the flowers of the tree planted on Otto’s head so many years before. Otto isn’t at all pleased and being insane, he eats the piranhas. We are also introduced to the very clever and wise Eddy the Engineer, a white mouse with flowers for a tail who sails around on a bunch of bananas and a spoon. With Eddy’s help, the piranhas escape Otto.

Otto has now become the island which is now known as Maurtius.

The Dodo Trilogy forms an intricate part of an even greater tale called, like the universe in which it is set, The Household. The third installment is entitled The Tale of When. The second trilogy will be The Bear Histories.

The Tale of How is available to download HERE and more information is available in previous posts HERE and HERE.

Links:
theblackheartgang.com
The Blackheart Gang Myspace

Interview: THANIEL ION LEE

Thaniel Ion Lee's photography is potent. As a documentation of his own body, it has an immediate visceral and emotional weight that doesn't hold back. He states in his artist's statement, "I feel that it is of the utmost importance that we (artist/art world) document as many different body types as we can, in as many different ways as we can."

When I first saw his work at the Wooster Collective, it was like a punch in the gut. The variety that I so wanted to infuse into SiouxWIRE suddenly looked a little flat. It's so easy to be fall into rhythms and thus, the obvious remedy was to contact Thaniel.

Thaniel is also a writer and painter as well as a photographer with a unique perspective on our beauty-obsessed culture and I feel privileged to have been able to speak with him.

At what point did ‘art’ become something you wanted to pursue? And why did you choose art over sociology and has your interest in sociology lingered?
My interested in sociology is a consistent thing. It has continued and I read up on the subject a lot. Social subjects in general interest me. I’ve always been interested in the Situationists.


Seeing some of your earlier paintings, they seem much more optimistic and bright with a lot of strong colour compared to the photographic work you’ve done. Is this significant in any way?
This is more down to working style though I like to argue that even my optimistic paintings are actually darker under the surface; I haven’t painted in a long time. My early paintings were inspired by German expressionist painters and Chagall oddly enough.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE

CHASE PALMER's "Shock & Awe"

A short film from filmmaker Chase Palmer about a contemporary Iraqi family whose meal is interrupted by the sound of incoming missiles. It's short and deceptively simple with some great performances.

Chase is now working on the feature length film Number 13 with Ewan McGregor, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, and Dan Fogler. Number 13 is a murder mystery in which a young Alfred Hitchcock(Fogler) is the prime suspect.

Be on the look out for my interview with Chase Palmer on SiouxWIRE in the coming weeks.

MICHEL GAGNÉ's "Sensology"

Animator Michel Gagné has unveiled the teaser to his new collaboration with jazz composer and improvisationist Paul Plimley, an abstract short titled Sensology. Read more HERE and see the teaser HERE. It looks wonderful.

If you've not heard of Michel, he has a wide range of arts available on his website. Well worth a visit. He recently published his entire book Frenzied Fauna: From A to Z online. See it HERE.


Links:
Michel's Homepage
Paul Plimley

YING HUANG's The Pond

Another short out of the archives. This is a another good example of CG animation with a unique style that doesn't fall over the edge in the attempt to be photo-realistic. Ying created this for his master's degree in animation at the Beijing Film Academy where he is now an instructor.

The Pond
Uploaded by dekku

(Source: No Fat Clips)

THE QUAY BROTHERS - Phantom Museums released

Just a quick reminder that the Quay Brothers DVD collection of shorts, Phantom Museums, is available as of today.

Read more and see an interview with the Quay Brothers in the previous post HERE.

Interview: DAVID SCHARF

After seeing Big Brother State some time ago, I have been trying to find more information about its creator, David Scharf only to find nothing. An interview was a must. The film itself doesn't intend to explain fully the arguments for or against CCTV but presents itself as a catalyst for discussion, something for which it does very well.

The short can be seen on bigbrotherstate.com in Quicktime format or below in low resolution Flash video.

Given the visual sensibilities of this project and his internship with Karl Kliem, his next work is highly anticipated in my book.

Would you tell us a little about yourself?
I'm a 24 year old german student, originally from Regensburg (Bavaria, Germany) now studying in Augsburg (Bavaria, Germany) currently attending an internship at MESO / Karl Kliem in Frankfurt (Hesse, Germany). I meant to launch a portfolio under my web address huesforalice.com, but due to a lot of work I haven't had time recently to present my past projects on the web, so you'll still have to wait until I manage to cope.

There really isn’t much about you or the background to The Big Brother State online while the work itself is all over the place. Has this been deliberate and what was your intention in releasing it under a creative commons sampling license?
There not being much about me or my work on the web is simply because I haven't published any work on the web previously. My intention in releasing The Big Brother State under a creative commons license is that I'd like as many people as possible to see my work without having to pay for seeing it. The Type of license I chose enables other site owners and festival organizers etc. to show my film free from royalties (as far as the festival and / or site is non commercial, but even if they were commercial we'd find a way to work it out.)

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE

The NO SMOKING ORCHESTRA's "Time of the Gypsies" punk opera

Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra will be releasing a new album in mid-June, Time of the Gypsies: Punk Opera, a few days before the opera itself opens at Opéra Bastille in Paris on 26 June 2007. Based on Gordan Mihić and Emir Kusturica's script for the film of the same name, it was adapted by Nenad Jankovic and is performed in the Gypsy language.

Emir says, “The main theme of the opera will be Ederlezi. It’s a story about youth, entering in the real world, and we used this theme as it’s the most relevant Gipsy song, and we made of it a kind of purification and cathartic journey trough life“. Ederlezi is the Gypsy name for the celebration of St. George Day and is something of a celebration of the coming of Spring.

Emir Kusturica's new film, Promise Me This is in the official selection for the 60th Cannes Film Festival. He was won Palm D'Ors for When Father Was Away for Business(1985) and Underground(1995).

Here is a sample of his work with the No Smoking Orchestra, Unza Unza Time:

Links:
thenosmokingorchestra.com
EmirKusturica & No Smoking Orchestra Myspace
kustu.com
Paris Opéra

Interview: TYLER JAMES (director)

I discovered Tyler James via Antville with his unique video for Low in the Sky's "Cool Sanson". It reminded me a lot of Aleksandr Petrov’s work with a unique twist in that in place of paint, Tyler has used sand to create a texture all his own. It's available in Quicktime format HERE on Tyler's site or alternatively below in low quality Flash video.

Low in the Sky - Cool Sanson
Uploaded by anotheraccount

Tyler was born and raised in Atlanta and grew up wanting to be an inventor. He enjoyed making things was delighted at the creation of his alien “contact machine” which despite being unable to contact aliens, managed to disrupt television transmissions in the household.

Always loving art and being inspired by the work of Michel Gondry, he went on to attain a degree in video art at the now extinct Atlanta College of Art. With his video for Cool Sanson (his second), he is showing promise and is full of enthusiasm for the craft. It will be interesting to see what comes next.


What do you feel makes a great music video? Likewise, what do you feel makes a bad video?
A great music video should complement the music and capture the attention of the viewer. It should also be entertaining enough to view multiple times. A bad video is just the opposite.

What was the inspiration behind “Low in the Sky”? And can you tell us about the technique used for animated sequences?
The song, as well as my own past, inspired the video. The song starts out innocent and childlike, but it quickly changes to become more ominous. I wanted to merge a childish activity (playing in a sandbox), with a more mature subject,(domestic abuse). As far as domestic abuse goes, it is a subject I know all to well. Growing up, I had an alcoholic father, and I experienced it first hand.


To create the sand animation, I first desaturated and upped the contrast of my original footage. Next, I made a DVD of it, and on a thin sheet of plastic I traced every third frame from my T.V. with a dry-erase marker. I then took the plastic sheet to my dining room table and painstakingly sprinkled the different colored sands onto their designated shapes pinch by pinch. I then photographed each frame with a digital camera. All of the transitions were created by blowing on the sand.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE

"Plan 9 From Outer Space" Photography?

I discovered these stills from Edward D. Wood Jr.'s Plan 9 from Outer Space through Bedazzled; The full set posted HERE. It struck me how well these work as photographs in their own right.

The first image is almost Lynch-ian complete with a pot of coffee. The next image is a brilliant portrait of Criswell and likewise, the last image of Tor Johnson reminds me of Irving Penn's portrait of Maurice Tillet. The third image just lingers for some reason; maybe the clearly visible backdrop lifts it into the surreal?

Some credit should go to cinematographer William C. Thompson who despite being colour blind, managed to do some magic among the mayhem. His career started in 1914 with the film Absinthe(FR/UK). William died in 1963, two years after finishing The Sinister Urge, another collaboration with Edward D. Wood Jr.

Video for BJÖRK's Earth Intruders from MICHEL OCELOT

From Bjork's new album Volta, the video for Earth Intruders from director/animator Michel Ocelot with effects and animation from McGuff. Bjork is also having a competition for the creation of her next video for the song Innocence. Read the details HERE and listen to the song HERE on Bjork's MySpace.

Michel Ocelot directed the recent animated feature Azur & Asmar as well as the Kirikou series of films. Here is the trailer for Azur & Asmar:

AZUR ET ASMAR (2006)
Uploaded by alllannn

Links:
Bjork.com
mp4 version at Vimeo
Feed
AWN - Michel Ocelot
Michel Ocelot Interview
Volta Track list + art
Drowned in Sound interview

note: Hurrah! 100 posts & 23 interviews!

Introducing THEO JANSEN

Thus far in this relatively young blog, I have been trying to provide as well rounded a selection of materials as possible to introduce some of you to new things. It's also been about building bridges between different creative worlds that don't typically interact.

Art and engineering have typically intermingled in architecture but Theo Jansen has applied his engineering knowledge toward kinetic sculpture and his works are fascinating. Their forms are elegant, soothing and otherworldly.

I am pleased to say that an interview with Theo will be published in the coming weeks here on SiouxWIRE. In the meantime, here's a sampling of his work:

Innovation


Rhinocerous

Links:
Strandbeest.com
ArtFutura article
Wired article
Theo Jansen Wiki

Cannes - Films in Competition

• "My Blueberry Nights," directed by Wong Kar-Wai
• "Auf Der Anderen Siete," directed by Fatih Akin
• "Un Veille Maitresse," directed by Catherine Breillat
• "No Country For Old Men," directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
• "Zodiac," directed by David Fincher
• "We Own The Night," directed by James Gray
• "Les Chansons D'Amour," directed by Christophe Honore
• "Mogari No Mori," directed by Naomi Kawase
• "Breath," directed by Kim Ki Duk
• "Promise Me This," directed by Emir Kusturica
• "Secret Sunshine," directed by Lee Chang-dong
• "4 Luni, 3 Saptamini Si 2 Zile," directed by Christian Mungiu
• "Tehilim," directed by Raphael Nadjari
• "Stellet Licht," directed by Carlos Reygadas
• "Persepolis," directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
• "Le Scaphandre et le Papillon," directed by Julian Schnabel
• "Import Export," directed by Ulrich Seidl
• "Alexandra," directed by Alexandre Sokourov
• "Death Proof," directed by Quentin Tarantino
• "The Man From London," directed by Bela Tarr
• "Paranoid Park," directed by Gus Van Sant
• "Izgnanie" (The Banishment), directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev

THE BLACKHEART GANG: Interviews + "The Tale of Then"

In the coming weeks, I'll be posting a series of interviews with Marcus Wormstorm, Ree Treweek, and Jannes Hendrikz of the Blackheart Gang who are currently working on The Tale of Then, the follow up to The Tale of How. The new film is based in the year 900 on the hill on which the Hunger Wall is built in Prague. The Blackheart Gang will be visiting the city this Summer to do background research on the project.

This collection of interviews is particularly interesting to me as not only is their collaboration a masterpiece, but the group come from a variety of backgrounds with unique skills that blend seamlessly in their creations. It's the kind of cross pollination of disciplines that SiouxWIRE, in at least part of its mandate, is trying to encourage.

The Tale of How is available to download HERE and more information is available in a previous post HERE. If you've missed this one, I can't recommend it enough.

Links:
theblackheartgang.com
The Blackheart Gang Myspace

DAVID LYNCH on product placement

This has been around for a bit, but it's a gem.

David Lynch
Uploaded by firat

Featurette: VIOLETA LÓPIZ

Violeta Lópiz Blog

Interview: KATE O'BRIEN

Kate O'Brien creates wonderfully textured images with some of the best understanding of colour that I've seen in a long time. To me, her work is split into two sides, each with their own colour palette. I'm tempted to say good and evil, but the good is often tempered with a touch of evil and the bad is tempered with a touch of good.

On her site bio, it states "Projects are sometimes years in the making while Kate scours online auctions, op-shops, thrift stores and liquidators looking for just the right piece to complete the vision."

It feels as if her work is moving into a new phase and it was a great privilege to have been able to put my questions to her at this time.


To begin, I'm noticing that your work seems to be branching out in two directions. On one hand, there is a hemisphere of more muted, earthy colours with a more painterly style and earnest tone. On the flip side there's a bright, candy-coloured playground of mischief. Are you aware of this? If so, is there a definite reasoning behind it or it a kind of counterbalance to your moods? Or is it simply a new direction in which you are going?
I’m completely aware of it. I feel like over the past couple of months I am finally finding my feet. Prior to my recent work I felt a little bit directionless…sure, I had lots of ideas, in fact that’s one thing I think I’ll always have plenty of, but there didn’t seem to be any continuity to the work. It could be described as show-ponying. Just showing off what I could do, rather than having a distinct vision to what I was doing.

I have said before that I wanted my work to show the highs and lows of the human existence, but in some ways I feel that I didn’t achieve that at all. So, I guess now I’m just sticking to the lows for a bit. That’s the life I know best.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE

BibliOdyssey Anthropomorphics

BibliOdyssey is a huge blog/archive of book art. Think of it as a sort of Flickr(in blog format) for book illustrations and it is equally addictive. It is a great source of inspiration and learning.

As well as introducing some of you to BibliOdyssey, I thought I would share a cross section of my favourites but the list is so huge that I've narrowed it down to something for which I am fond: anthropomorphics, or humanised animals.

Click on the images to go to the source page for high resolution versions where available.

Jules Worms, 19th century


From the Japanese Diet Library via BibliOdyssey


JJ Grandville (Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard)

NOTE: The banner image is an edited piece from Edward Tennyson Reed that can be seen in full on this page HERE.

Interview: JOHN HAYES

Coming from a background in music videos and advertising, John Hayes has recently completed a second independent short titled 'Venom', the successor to 'Two Fat Ladies'. His film making career is off to a strong start as he garners accolades for these works and sets his sights on feature length films with two in development.

'Venom' tells the gothic tale of an elderly widow, her cat Ziggy, and their confrontation with the insect world. See the trailer HERE.

A full biography for John is available at the BBC Collective HERE.

How did you come to work with Mark Tuthill and James Mather?
I met James about 10 years ago while shooting a pop promo where he came in at the last minute and saved my ass (my original DP had gone awol). Since then we've gone on to shoot dozens of commercials and promos together, including my first short film 'Two Fat Ladies'.


I also met Mark through the day job. He's a copywriter in an advertising agency here in Dublin and we'd done some commercials together over the years and gotten to know each other quite well. We're both obsessed with movies and talked about trying to get something off the ground for sometime before he finally came to me with the script for 'Venom' and I thought BINGO!

"...our insect wranglers would arrive on set carrying buckets full of ants, spiders etc..."

In regard to Venom, can you tell us a little about the “insect wrangling”? How many takes were necessary to achieve the shots featuring live insects?
Not as many as you'd think. Strange as it may sound I'd worked with our insect wranglers before (again on a commercial) and knew what these mad geniuses were capable of. Of course we decided what we wanted to capture in-camera and what would have to be done in post in advance of the shoot so everyone was well prepped. On the day once we got the shots set up and lit our insect wranglers would arrive on set carrying buckets full of ants, spiders etc and various suction devices to retreive them and we'd shoot 4 maybe 5 takes and that would usually be it. As with any short film time was of the essence so we didn't have many chances to gather our cast back up and go again.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE