What is the film about?

The experimental stop motion story of a London boy in World War 2, we witness war drawing inexorably closer as he comes of age. 14 when war begins, our young hero lives through bombings, the evacuation of his siblings, the privations of wartime. Yet he survives and even thrives. He sets out to search for his friend in the East End during those turbulent and frightening times, and with his own voice tells his story with a wit and verve few would believe today. Finally we leave him at the brink on D-Day, a hero already in the making.

What influenced it?

My original intention for this story was a music composition inspired by ‘Different Trains’ by Steve Reich. I asked my stepfather Peter to record his war story back in 2006. He had liberated Bergen-Belsen as part of the allied war invasion and lived through the era of ‘Different Trains’.

I was lucky enough to attend lectures at Falmouth in my final year by the artists Andy Holden and Jeremy Deller, both use cinematic devices and different media. I find magic in historical research and immersive stories set in different eras.

I love the Romantics artists and the Surrealists including stop motion animators such as Starewicz, and the surrealist Svankmajer. I used to come home from school and be repelled and enthralled by the world of his ‘Alice’ with its dark and magical mix of stop motion stuffed animals and real life action. The Brothers Quay are always compelling and I also admire the work of Peter Vacz. Tim Britton’s work with Forkbeard Fantasy and the kinetic sculptures of Penny Saunders are a constant inspiration.

I was also honoured to have a unique personal mentor in Barry Purves and was lucky enough to meet Suzie Templeton.

A little background information...

I asked my stepfather Peter to record his war story back in 2006. He had liberated Bergen-Belsen as part of the allied war invasion and lived through the era of ‘Different Trains’.

The film focus is on my stepfather’s teenage years in Harrow, North London and how his life unfurled as war came nearer and nearer. His name was Peter Conway, his family on his mothers side were Dutch. I asked him to make a recording about his war memories, assuming he would talk about the D-Day landings, the Liberation of Europe, his entry to Bergen-Belsen and Berlin, before going on to Palestine.

I was inspired to make an illustration of a photo of my stepfather taken somewhere in northern Europe with two brothers in arms, both later killed in action. So I brought my series of drawings, some incorporated within the film, a recording snippet and the photo in my film pitch when I landed at Falmouth University to do my final year in Animation & VFX in 2019.

Peter died in 2015 at the age of 91 and I decided it was time myself and my mum should listen back to the recording. We all have photos, but often it’s the person’s voice we remember.

Peter had a distinctive voice and was a natural storyteller. But the recording didn’t relate his battles or much about his army life. It was all about his boyhood, his apprenticeship at Whitefriars glassworks and the loss of his friend.

I wanted the viewer to feel the impact of the world as it was then – a harder world, more accepting of privations and lack of liberty in the face of duty and fighting a very real and fascist enemy. The resonance today of the fight against the rise of extremist power is something we should never forget or diminish.

How was the film made?

I sent the music track outline to cellist and guitarist Adrian Oxaal who is a permanent member of the band James and founding member of Sharkboy my own band, to lay down an arrangement of cellos. It is lyrical and emotional and portrays rather than betrays the emotional life of my stepfather’s story. The soundtrack works both alone and with the visual element and vice versa.

When a script is already recorded it has different challenges to a narrative story that you can change at will, but stayed true to Peter’s memories and distilled a 30 minute recording into a 3 minute cohesive piece. Peter was then in the mid stages of Alzheimers disease so repeated things, but this was ironically a blessing as I could splice the voice together to get the best result, as when you choose the best vocal take for a song track. I fought to retain his original voice rather than replace it with an actor.

What became very clear during the construction of the London sets for the stop motion film during the first pandemic was how vulnerable and transient the cardboard buildings were. And how empty the streets looked without people.

Working with both an experienced and young student crew was an education I would not have missed. Different generations have different approaches and entering the final year without a formal animation background meant I had a lot to learn! I have strong opinions as an artist and director on how something should look and what it needs to convey. I learnt a huge amount about the production process at Falmouth, then re-scaling it at home. Subsequently I gained Screenskills funding to attend Aardman Academy once it was finished to improve my character build and animating skills for a proposed sequel.

During the first lockdown I became ill and had to finish the stop motion shooting at home in Sussex. The drawings and filming became a world I could step into during the shutdown. I withdrew into a London set in the 1940s! In some ways it was a gift, a hand of fate in the timing. The film is now available to stream on Discover Film after winning their award for Best Micro Animation in 2022.