What is the film about?

‘Now is Not the Time’ is a short vox pop animated film that merges both stop-motion and 2D animation.

Voiced and written by BAFTA award winning screenwriter Myles McLeod of The Brothers McLeod, it prompts people to think carefully about the consequences of their actions in our uncertain Covid 19 world.

Credits

Directed by Ieuan Lewis @ieuanlewisdesign
Written & Voiced by Myles Macleod @brothersmcleod
Stop Motion & Shot by George Warren @george_warrennnn
Character Design by Sean O’brien @seanobillo
2D Animation by Joe Kearns @joe_kernz
Puppet Sculpt by Ieuan Lewis
Fabric by Catherine Prowse @catherineprowse
Edit, Clean Up & Comp: Ieuan Lewis

What influenced it?

Nexus Studios – The Brothers Mcleod

A little background information...

Once lockdown began the prospect of creating a short film seemed pretty unlikely, but Ieuan and George had already translated Sean’s character design into a hand-made working puppet ready to be animated. We didn’t want these efforts to go to waste, so decided to work with the old codger persona and use this character to create a short skit in response to the Corona Virus pandemic. George and Ieuan live in the same flat in London so could continue to work together around their day jobs. Ieuan’s sister Sophie, is a doctor working in the NHS, so protecting the NHS is very close to home for him.

Ieuan had met Myles on an internship that he undertook at The Brothers McLeod in 2017 and they had remained in close contact also working together on the film Uki. Ieuan reached out to Myles and asked him if he would be interested in writing and recording a short satirical piece that could then be used to bring the puppet to life and to promote the message of continuing to be judicious as lock-down is eased. We felt there was a risk that as things ease people could throw caution to the wind with catastrophic results. We wanted through satire and humour to deliver an incredibly important message; ‘now is not the time to reverse the progress we have made by being foolish’.

How was the film made?

We felt that with so much noise and uncertainty in the world at the moment that the use of satire, humour and animation was the perfect vehicle to remind people to just be a bit more sensible with their words and with their actions. The animation was completed whilst self-isolating with the audio being recorded at Myles’ home studio and the stop-motion elements being filmed in Ieuan’s bedroom and Ieuan being left sleeping on an airbed. Whilst making the film UKI Ieuan lived in a tent so he is used to putting his art before his comfort! The stop-motion sequences were then sent out to Joe Kearns who added the 2D animated elements on top.