Q&A with ‘Strike’ director Trevor Hardy
Strike is the first feature film offering from Gigglefish Animation Studios, a new UK-based entertainment company with a focus on stop-motion animation founded by Trevor Hardy, Edward Catchpole and Jeremy Trollope-Davis.
The film tells the story of Mungo Morrison, a young mole due to begin work in his hometown’s gold mine alongside his father and friends, who secretly dreams of becoming a professional footballer. Following a mysterious accident, the townsfolk find themselves under pressure to sell the mine to ‘The Boss’, an evil and gold-obsessed supervillain.
With Strike being released in the UK exlusively to Vue Cinemas this weekend, Skwigly chatted with director Trevor Hardy about how this unique family film came together.
Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in animation?
I got into animation a fair while ago…in fact back in 1991. I was laid off as a tyre fitter and that evening I saw Nick Parks Wallace and Gromit film, ‘A Grand day out’ on TV. I was absolutely blown away by it. The fact that I knew it was plasticine, but it felt alive, it felt real…I LOVED IT!!!
Prior to Strike you’d made several shorts of your own – how did these come about and what were the most valuable lessons you got from them as far as tackling a feature-length film?
I made all my short films off my own back. I held down several part time jobs and any spare time I had, I used it to make my films. I converted my very small loft into a studio….The sets could never be wider than 2ft across or I couldn’t get them through the loft hatch…Then into the garden shed, then into a new house with a garage, and then into GiggleFish. Working on my own films meant I had to know every area of production, which of course proved invaluable as a Director.
Outside of your own projects what other types of animation work have you taken on, and has this informed your personal work/process in any way?
To be honest, Strike has monopolised my life for the past three years!
Whereabouts are you/Gigglefish based?
Gigglefish is based in Lancing, West Sussex. Our little studio by the sea.
Where did Strike originate from, and how did it get off the ground initially?
Jeremy Davis and Edward Catchpole, the producers, wanted to make a feature film around sport. I was introduced to Jeremy via a friend and that introduced the idea of a Stop-motion feature film about sport….So this lead onto Football, as Football is global and would be a global link. That brought in the idea of the ‘Impossible Dream’..which lead onto it being a mole and STRIKE was born.
Can you elaborate on the story of the film and what your target audience is?
Strike is a PG-rated family film aimed at all ages. The story is about a ‘Mole with a goal’ and that goal is that Mungo wants to be a professional footballer which, given his size and bad eye sight, makes this a very farfetched dream. If that is not bad enough he has the pressure of his family wanting to join the long tradition of working in the towns gold mine….How can Mungo tell his dad that he does not want to follow in his fathers footsteps and enter the mine, but be a footballer instead?
Strike (Gigglefish Studios)
Why did you choose needle-felt for the aesthetic of the film?
I really liked the aesthetic charm of it. I loved how tactile and soft it made the characters look. It also made the characters look obviously stop-motion, which in todays stop-motion films seems to have gone. Stop-motion these days is hard to tell apart from CGI I think.
The overall look is somewhat lo-fi, was this important for the atmosphere of the film?
Yes…We wanted the film to have a very hand-crafted feel. We wanted it to feel very simple to the viewer, allow them to enjoy that they are watching something that is not real…A trick…Something that has been manipulated, but at the same time, totally go with it. Enjoy the gags, be gripped by the story and fall in love with the characters.
Can you describe what sort of armatures were used for the puppets? There seem to be a range of techniques and approaches on display.
The puppets are mostly very simple wire armature puppets. The reason for this was that Mungo did so many different things in the movie, we had to make loads of him. So we devised a very simple ‘Kit Form’ way of constructing him so we could have loads of them.
As this was your first feature what were some of the main challenges in taking on such a mammoth task?
The main challenges were keeping it all on track…..It was at times like a 100 tonne train hurtling along the tracks that if not watched, could tipple off at any moment. That constant pressure to keep everything moving was enormous and very exhausting.
Strike (Gigglefish Studios)
How did you go about crewing up for the production?
Myself and Chris Roe (Assistant director) plus the studio manager (Claire Gale) spent hours looking at peoples show reels and work. We made a dream list of who we wanted and I am very happy to say we got most of them! Including two guys that were fresh out of college and absolutely superb. Dan Wilkinson and Tom Vaughan…they are SO talented.
What’s next for you and the team at Gigglefish?
Well I think we will be busy with Strike for a little while, I know there are talks about a possible TV spin off from Strike, then there is an initial idea for Strike 2 and chat about a Christmas movie and a whole bunch of ideas…watch this ‘GiggleFish’ space I guess.
Strike is available exclusively with Vue from 11th May. For more info visit strikethefilm.com