Our award winning film ‘365’ is off to the Marfa Film Festival and having never been to America I’ve decided to make an animated travelogue of the trip. I’ll be travelling via Austin Texas with a 7 hour road trip through the wilds of Texas to the gloriously remote town of Marfa. Along the way I'll be documenting the sights and sounds, the people and the architecture and of course the outstanding natural backdrop. I will be using some of the techniques and methods I used in my previous films 'Cosdwallop' and '365'. The joy of found sounds and images coupled with subconscious musings and visuals collated into a working narrative. So the film won't be your standard travel film but more my impressions of being in a completely new and foreign environment.
I am not a seasoned traveller. Europe is as far as I've managed, so this trip should be a wondrous revalation. My main experiences of travels in America have been formed through films and books. Easy Rider made a big impact on my teenage self and it led me to such films as Badlands, Scarecrow and Vanishing Point. Woody Guthrie's glorious autobiography Bound For Glory and Kerouac's On the Road through Wolfe’s Electric Kool Aid Acid Test and Updike’s short stories . I have travelled the vast distances of America vicariously through characters both on the page and on the screen. So now it's my turn. Hopefully I won't be shot on a lonesome highway or chased indiscriminately by a psychopathic lorry driver. However it should be an interesting and exciting ride and I'm sure to pepper it with the sites and sounds all filtered through my ever so slightly twisted mind pipe.
I'll be hooking up with a dear old friend Alex Hannaford, journalist and filmmaker extrodinaire. I've not seen him since our days in a band in Southampton and his local knowledge and informed insight should add an interesting dimension to our travels. He has written some amazing articles for many publications both in the US and UK, some of which are featured online - well worth a read.
So come along for the ride and please donate a little or a lot to this short film.
We will be arranging screenings in the UK and US on completion of the film - watch this space.
Risks and challenges
I will be animating some of the film on the move using a mobile animation setup similar to the one I used on '365' and this is always open to the vagaries of technology. However I always carry several sketch books (of different sizes) so I'll still be able to collect information and images.
As with any journey there is a deal of the unknown involved which can effect the narrative. Hopefully I can find interest in the most mundane of occurrences, as well as the big shouty moments.
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Funding period
- (27 days)