Back in December last year we featured a short film by Stephen Irwin called The Black Dog’s Progress. Stephen has recently released his latest film, Horse Glue which we are very pleased to be featuring on our site this week. When Stephen let me know that his new film was finished, I asked him if he would spare us some of his time to do an interview for the site and we are very happy to say that Stephen kindly said yes! So below the
film in this feature you can see the interview
which we hope you’ll find as interesting as we do!

So without further ado, here’s the film:

“When two films, Horse and Glue, unfold together within the same space, their narratives become intertwined” (small time inc.)

The Medium of… interview with Stephen Irwin

The Medium of…: We’re very excited to be featuring your new film, Horse Glue this week on The Medium of… and to be publishing an interview with you, so thanks for taking the time out to do this!

My first question is quite simply, how did you get into animation and film-making?

Stephen Irwin: I began experimenting with short film at university. Some of the work was part of the
course and other pieces I made in my own time. At first I used a mixture of live-action and animation, but at some point the animation took over and I ended up solely working as an animator.

TMO: What is your approach to a project when you start something new? Do you have a process
that you follow?

SI: I’m starting to. It’s only recently I’ve noticed that the last few projects have come together in a similar way, but they happen over long periods of time and are usually in between paid jobs so it’s hard to follow a strict plan. It usually involves playing around with ideas for a while with a basic script and a new sketch book. I’ll do rough storyboards, character designs, sketches etc, until I have enough images to start an animatic, and it grows from there.

TMO: Your most recent film is Horse Glue. Could you tell us a bit about that film?

SI: It was a long process and what I ended up with isn’t exactly what I’d planned! The basic idea was to take two separate films/stories and mix them together somehow, but at some point it just became this one “thing”. One of the stories (Glue) is loosely based on The Babes in the Wood folktale, and the other one (Horse) is a kind of war story.

TMO: We featured The Black Dog’s Progress back in December after I came across it during a screening at the Arnolfini in Bristol. It seems a very intricate film with a lot going on… How is the film put together and how long did all that take?

SI: I spent around 6 months making it plus quite a lot of time in preparation (again, in between other jobs). I was lucky enough to get commissioned by Animate Projects so once I got that I was able to devote all my time to it until it was finished. For a long time it was just a straightforward narrative/animation but when I put the application together for Animate I rethought it and came up with the flipbook element and having the whole narrative on the screen at once. Even if you don’t get the commission these things are worth applying for. I find the process of putting a pitch together a useful way of getting to the bottom of what you want to achieve with the film.

TMO: Staying with The Black Dog’s Progress for a little longer, “black dog” has been used as a metaphor for depression, notably by Winston Churchill. Is depression a motif within this film?

SI: Yes, that was a starting point along with The Rake’s Progress and a news story I read about a woman who set her dog on fire. The way in which the story and visuals start small and grow into something chaotic relates to the black dog/depression motif, but I was also interested in telling this sad tale about cruelty.

TMO: And leading on from that, your films can be seen as quite disturbing and create dark emotions
for the viewer. How do you feel about it being described in that way?

SI: It’s not what I necessarily set out to do. I don’t think it’s a good idea to set out to make something dark or surreal, it should just come out that way. That way it feels natural and unforced.

TMO: Do you ever see yourself creating a joyful/happy/lighter piece, or is the darkness a signature of your work?

SI: I quite often start out with something more light-hearted but as the films develop they often get darker. I’m not sure why that is because I’m interested in all kinds of work, not just the sad stuff, but so far that’s the way the films have gone. Maybe that will change with future projects!

TMO: Both Horse Glue and The Black Dog’s Progress seem to use interwoven elements of narratives, whether it be of the same narrative, as in The Black Dog’s Progress, or different narratives as with Horse Glue. Is that approach central to your work in general, or just something that these two films share in common?

SI: I like having a problem to solve. With Horse Glue it was to find a way of mixing two films together while still telling some sort of story. With The Black Dog it was to contain the whole narrative, including all the scenes, within the frame all at once. I didn’t know exactly how it would work when I started, and having some sort of concept helps keep me interested for the long periods of time it takes to make the films.

TMO: Sorenious Bonk scored the sound and music for both The Black Dog’s Progress and Horse Glue. How do you work together – do you finish the film and then hand it over to Sorenious for scoring, or do you work together in a more organic way?

SI: With The Black Dog’s Progress I had a rough version of the music right from the start so I was working with it from the earliest version of the animatic. With Horse Glue I would send him the current work-in-progress and he’d write some pieces and experiment and send stuff back. We kept passing it back and forth like this until it was finished.

TMO: As I said earlier, I first came across your work during a screening at the Arnolfini in Bristol. Do you find there are many opportunities to get your work “out there” and for non-mainstream film and animation to find an audience currently?

SI: There are some great film festivals that get your work seen and they can have quite big audiences. I’m lucky to have had my work screened at festivals all over the world, so other than the internet there is an audience out there for this kind of work. I’m always impressed at how enthusiastic the audiences are at film festivals. For me the main place I watch shorts is online but it’s always good when I get to see work on the big screen.

TMO: Finally, what are you working on at the moment – what’s next?

SI: A new short about a pyromaniac bear who misses his mother.

TMO: Wow! Can’t wait to see that! So that’s it. Thanks again Stephen for taking the time out to answer some of our questions and we look forward to seeing much more of your work in the future!

To find out more about Stephen Irwin on this site, visit: Irwin, Stephen – Info

To see more of Stephen’s work and to find out about his news and latest projects, visit: www.smalltimeinc.com