Hypnos looking on at the moon. Photo courtesy of Heather Colbert. “After talking with Tom, I just let the track play, while I drew or noted down ideas that came into my head,” Heather Colbert—a Bristol-based animator and filmmaker—tells Stop Motion Geek about the origins of her newest project: creating, almost single-handedly, the music video for English singer-songwriter Tom Rosenthal’s “How Have You Been?”—a haunting and beautiful acapella piece off his latest album, Z-Sides . “He told me the album was about sleep and so the images that came to me were of nocturnal and natural things. I also saw a connection in the beautiful lyrics to a character living with mental health issues, especially in the line ‘I woke up, but it didn’t go away’. So I began to see a creature trying their best to get on with their task, but being hindered by the fear of the world that they inhabit.” Hypnos (left) and Shadow (right) in the film. Photo courtesy of Heather Colbert. The third musi
Interview with Gavin Strange (aka “Jam Factory”) – Senior Designer at Aardman, Director of Aardman’s “Masters of Merry” Fortnum & Mason Christmas Ad, and Author of Motivational Self-Help Book, “DO Fly”
Portrait photo of Gavin Strange. Photo courtesy of Gavin Strange. “There are a million and one reasons to not do something, to not start something,” Gavin Strange—a Bristol-based, ten-year veteran at Aardman Animations, where he works as a director, most recently having directed the Christmas ad campaign Masters of Merry for London-based, luxury department store Fortnum & Mason , as well as a senior designer in the studio’s digital department, whilst also pursuing his passion projects on the side under the alias Jam Factory—tells Stop Motion Geek. “Life, work, family, health, time, space, location, mood, emotion—all of these things can throw you off your game.” “So, I think you have to do anything you can, use anything you can, to get and to stay motivated,” Strange continues. “Pick the lowest hanging fruit, set yourself a goal that’s easy, really easy. Because it’s all a step in the right direction. It can be so overwhelming when you’re trying to plot and plan whe