Peer Review: Andy & Adeena

Who are three contemporaries that you admire? 

Andy Biddle: Nick Park. Back in the 90s, The Wallace and Gromit films played a massive part in my passion for stop motion and I still love how fun and magical they are. 

Nina Gantz is a colleague and friend of mine whose work continues to bowl me over. Completely fell in love with her student film Edmond. 

Another extremely prolific and talented artist (and friend of mine) is Mikey Please. The films he has made both solo and with Dan Ojari are a handcrafted treat for the eyes.

I watched Coraline repeatedly when it first came out and was absolutely blown away by the detail and craftsmanship.

Adeena Grubb: Mikey Please is hands down the most talented human I have ever had the pleasure of working with, his work is so fresh and original and he was a huge inspiration and influence to me when I was new in the industry. 

I absolutely LOVE Elsa Muse’s new work, she has created a puppet of herself and they star alongside each other in her recent ads. It’s such a cool idea! 

Finally, I’ve always been a big fan of Mikey Please’s work; my first ever job in the industry was making crazy clay creations for a music video of his. 

Above: A Tale of Catching Stars directed by Nina Gantz

Please share 3-4 pieces of work that exemplify great animation direction and explain. 

Andy: Misha Klein’s short, Fred. It’s an amazing film when it comes to performance and doesn’t worry about being overly slick. 

House are three films made by three different directors, but the one I gravitate towards is the first by Emma de Swaef and Marc Roels. 

And lastly; a film I had the pleasure of working on myself - Fantastic Mr Fox. Wes Anderson pushed us animators outside of our comfort zones. It was a landmark film for stop motion and I definitely saw other film makers, advertisers adopting some of the techniques we used.

I love that Andy and I are very hands on and quite often I’ll end up making puppets or props and Andy will animate.

Adeena: I love the mixed media masterpieces that Stevie G and Essy have created, they’re so vibrant and engaging and made me want to push myself into working in that format.

Something I used to watch a lot when I was in uni was I live in the woods by Max Winston. It's a stop motion short, it’s really fun and weird! It definitely inspired me to make animations that were a little gory and spooky.

Finally, I watched Coraline repeatedly when it first came out and was absolutely blown away by the detail and craftsmanship.

Above: Alan The Infinite directed by Mikey Please and Dan Ojari. 

What do you like most about the work that you do?  

Andy: Animating is fun. Bringing an inanimate object of life is always cool. But the thing I like most is working something out so it works in camera. I hate the term “fix it in post”. It’s so much better if you can do it for real as it makes the whole thing feel like more of a magic trick.

I honestly didn’t really know what I was doing and wore a few too many hats; art director, animation director, puppet maker, character and concept designer!

Adeena: I love that Andy and I are very hands on and quite often I’ll end up making puppets or props and Andy will animate. I find it definitely gives our projects more of a personal touch.

Above: Red Terror music video for The Weekend, with stop motion by Misha Klein. 

What has your career journey been like so far?  

Adeena: It’s been full of twists and turns! I started off as a model maker on Nicos’ job and work snowballed, I ended up getting into puppets more a few years later. I remember being on productions, seeing what the directors did and thinking ‘I’d love to do that one day’. I actually got my first ever animation directing job via a CG company called Red Knuckles. I emailed them one day asking if I could be a runner for anything they were working on and they asked me to come in for a casual chat because they really liked all the weird stuff I’d been making. 

You don’t always need to have the most expensive materials to make really beautiful puppets.

A few months later they asked me if I wanted to direct the stop motion section of a trio of Pilgrims Choice ads, I jumped at the chance! I’ve never learned so much in such a short space of time as I honestly didn’t really know what I was doing and wore a few too many hats; art director, animation director, puppet maker, character and concept designer! I love the outcome though.

Above: Trailer for Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox

What is one thing every animator needs?  

Andy: Well the answer is NOT patience, as a lot of people assume. I personally feel like it’s more of a concentration thing, and paying attention to those little details. While getting things to look slick and smooth is something we try to do, I'd say understanding of timing and weight are much more important.

Did you have a mentor? Who was it?  

Andy: I’ve never really had one mentor but there have been a lot of people that have shaped me as an animator. Simon Quinn who I previously mentioned gave me not one, but two breaks into the industry. First one was on the tv show - Hanas helpline and secondly in hiring me on Fantastic Mr Fox. Both these two jobs were massive for me. Some of the crew on Hanas helpline were amazing (Tom Edgar, Ben Halliwell, Grant Maisey, Jody Meredith) as they were really my first proper teachers in how to animate in stop frame (more so than university).

While getting things to look slick and smooth is something we try to do, I'd say understanding of timing and weight are much more important.

Adeena: I also didn’t have one specific person showing me the ropes. But again.. Mikey Please taught me a lot. I worked on his productions quite a few times starting as a model maker, then I moved onto puppets which I preferred! Mikey taught me a lot, and showed me that you don’t always need to have the most expensive materials to make really beautiful puppets. I would also see how he directed the productions and found it really inspiring. I remember thinking to myself ‘I really want to do that one day!’

Above: Trailer for Coraline