New Talent Profile – Stewart Comrie

Stewart Comrie is an animator, director, writer and producer; his stop motion animation film, Battenberg won Best Animation at the 2010 Bafta New Talent Awards. He was also selected as a Trailblazer at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival where his film received its world premiere. To contact him email stewartcomrie@hotmail.com

How long have you been making films?

Since I left art school in 2008; I studied at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen. I studied visual communication for four years and I specialised in animation in my last year. I had a bit of success at a degree show with that so I decided to write a film and submit it to the Scottish Digital Shorts Fund and I started making films from there.

Who or what, has had an influence on your own work?

I looked at a lot of Eastern European animators like Jan Svankmajer and then at his inspiration – Vladislav Starevich – who was one of the first puppet animators to make a puppet feature film. I went on from there to look at animators like The Quay Brothers, the famous British animators, and they’re a big source of inspiration. Since then I’ve started to diversify, I look at computer animation and various other kinds; anything that I think has the same sort of style and interests as myself.

How would you describe your own personal creative process?

I think I approach my work less as a professional animator and more as a general filmmaker; I generally have a lot of roles in the filmmaking. I build the puppets, build the sets, write the story, storyboard everything and do all the camera and lighting work.  I think a lot of what I do depends on being self-sufficient so I’ve developed a style that I can work in very quickly. I think that’s important for a lot of filmmakers to do. If they want to work independently they have to be able to work quickly, cheaply and efficiently. I think it’s something you can do with every animation style and it’s important for people working in animation now, not to get too involved in technical processes but just find a way to work quickly and simply.

So you prefer to work individually?

Well, I find it’s the only way I can work at the moment, just for lack of money and funding. It’s also easier for people who want to work with me; I’m just one person that they can go to and ask to make something for a small amount of money, and I can handle all aspects of a creative process.

Did you learn the majority of your skills at university, or are you mostly self-taught?

The majority of what I do is self-taught; if I need to do something I’ll teach myself. I think what I was taught at university was really how to pursue what you’re passionate about, the ability to develop my own interests and how to teach myself. That was probably the most valuable lesson I’ve been given. I’ve done screenwriting workshops and things like that for the latest projects I’ve done because screenwriting was something I was quite new to and I needed to get the basic tools.

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced?

Funding is the first challenge, and really getting people to believe in what you want to do. When I first submitted an application to the Scottish Digital Shorts programme, I made sure that I knew exactly what they wanted, which was a short and very sweet proposal for a project, something that they knew they could work with and take further, but something that wasn’t already too developed. A lot of what’s valuable to young filmmakers is the experience of working with professionals, and that can often make up for lack of funding a project gets.

How do you go about getting your work seen?

Festivals are the main way that I’m distributing my film at the moment. Putting it on the internet is an option but I like to get the most out of it at a film festival before doing something like that. I’ve been getting more interested in different ways of distributing films, simple ways like getting them shown at airport terminals or bus station terminals or basically anywhere that there’s a TV screen, even going into a television shop and asking them to play your film on the screen. I was recently at an animation exchange forum in Germany and there was a workshop there, talking about new ways of distributing films; that was one of the methods they had been using.

What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?

There’s a big gap between the reality of working as an animator and what you do at university. I think it’s important to be quite diverse with your skills and always be thinking of new ways you can sell your work, trying to see where the market for animation is going. At the moment there’s probably going to be a lot of potential for animation for smart phones, and maybe animators can distribute their work that way, through new media.

Do you think it is more difficult for those working in the Scottish Film Industry?

I think that for professional short film there’s a lot lacking in Scotland. But as to independent spirit, I think it’s quite vibrant. There are a lot of students doing things on their own, and I think that’s something that could be exploited more; it could overtake professional short filmmaking if stimulated in the right way. Student films could probably achieve a lot more than they are doing at the moment, but they do need a bit of help.

Do you find there’s a community base amongst filmmakers like yourself?

I think it’s always important to keep in touch with the people that you went to arts school with because you can always rely on each other for help. I’ve met quite a few people professionally now, so I’m building up a lot of different types of relationships. I think there’s a lot you can gain from joining social network groups.

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment, I’m working on an animation that I’ve received funding from Aberdeen Arts Council for, but that’s a project that’s still in early development. I’m also writing a script with the DigiCult program in Glasgow, which I’m hoping to promote alongside the Battenberg film, as that goes round festivals.

Where can readers see your work or learn more about you?

There is information and a trailer on my own personal website: www.stewartcomrie.com

John Gibb