Final Girls 'Women In Horror' Berlin Film Festival - Munchies
Zombie Lee has an outrageous hunger that won’t be silenced by food alone. With his growing need to feed increasing, misjudgment and disaster arise in the kitchen, until a simple solution is found. And his rumbling is quenched.
Interview with Writer/Director Sinead Stoddart
Watch Munchies here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I made this animation short as part of my Research and Concept project work in my second year at UCA Farnham working towards my BA Hons Degree in animation. I was curious at how I could make an animation be both comical and horrific in narrative. Within this project I wanted to expand my knowledge of puppet making, looking into more complicated techniques and materials than what I was used to working in previous years.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I feel that this film would speak to many, as narrowing down the meaning of the film can be interpreted as: It’s alright to give in and treat yourself at times. Sometimes that treat, no matter how small can lift our spirits and help us look at a negative situation in a different light. This is a motto that my housemates and I live by, if one of us is feeling low we band together to cheer that person up, whether it is a cup of tea with a heaping pile of biscuits or watching that person’s favourite film. Sometimes we don’t want to talk about what is wrong and it only becomes apparent when suddenly the smallest of issues pushes you over the edge into an emotional state. Knowing that someone is thinking of you, even if it is just yourself giving in and buying those shoes - that you probably can’t afford at the moment – it is that uplifting moment, that pause and intake of air to ground one's self and press on forward.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
‘Munchies’ is a stop motion animation, which depicts the struggles of a hungry zombie who is trying to cook a meal. I wanted to convey the idea that the hungrier you are the harder it is to concentrate and the easier it is to mess up. Everyone gets hungry once in a while and we start to loose sense in what is around us making the likelihood of something to go wrong increase. I personally get hungry far too often as I forget to take breaks when animating in the studio by myself, some days my friends have to knock on the studio door to remind me that it is lunchtime. Some days work just takes over and nothing seems to go right and even the smallest thing can break a person.
Munchies was my way of telling myself that it’s okay to smash plates, burn dinners and in the end give up and order something greasy from a pile of take away menus shoved into a kitchen draw trying to look inconspicuous. University is stressful, but getting stressed about stress in unhealthy, almost as unhealthy as eating a greasy teenager delivering the pizza. I just want audiences to watch my film and for a brief moment enjoy a laugh.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
Munchies originally started as a ‘zom-com’ a Romantic Horrific Comedy called ‘My Zombie Valentine’. I had three characters, two zombies celebrating Valentine’s Day together and a delivery boy. Initially this idea was pitched to be a group project with four animators taking on the project from Pre to Post Production, the tasks of making this film would be set out equally and the animating time would be longer. The breakdown of the story was similar to what ‘Munchies’ is now: a Zombie would be cooking dinner for two, things would go wrong in the kitchen, body parts would fall into food bowls etc. resulting in the zombie’s partner to suggest a takeaway and they both devour the delivery boy instead. In the end another film won the pitch, so I left ‘My Zombie Valentine’ on the back burner for later, to which the idea changed and adapted so that one person could animate it, characters were dropped but the comical and horror aspects of the film pretty much stayed the same and thus ‘Munchies’ was born!
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Unless I have attended a film festival were Munchies has been played I don’t often hear the feedback of the audience. On the odd occasion, I have receive an email from a film festival organiser asking how long the process took me but that is about all. When at a festival however, people laugh or groan in delighted horror at the ending so I guess it’s been positive.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
When I have managed to attend a festival that Munchies has been accepted into I am rather pleased to hear the surprise and laughter of the audience. Working on this film, animating a 10 second scene for weeks on end rather kills a joke for me and I no longer see my film as funny – more cringe worthy if I am honest! – so when I hear a person laughing at my homage to Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance or enjoyably cry out in mock horror at the devouring of the delivery boy, it makes the months working on this film all the better and encourages me to work on new animations. I do feel however that I could have improved ‘Munchies’: the gore in particular was shot in post production in After Effects and for me this is the part I least enjoy as it has a 2D feel to the image. On my latest work I am experimenting with gore in my sets, using fake blood and things.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I hope that with my animation seen on your website, my name and the credibility of my work will be stronger for when I enter the industry in the summer of 2017 as I am looking to either intern as a model maker to help with my professional development in this skillset or become a junior stop motion animator.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
In all honesty I never even considered that my animation would get this far. As a student short film, I was hopeful that it might get into the odd film festival or two but now nearly a year on ‘Munchies’ has been seen in over 35 film festivals and won two awards to date. This makes me ever so happy that festivals are interested in my work. So I’m not too sure how to answer this question, as it’s not crossed my mind how far my film could go.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would like my animation to be known as a student film that has been made with only a limited number of people on board: myself, a student voice actor and an amazing university as an encouraging producer. I feel that animation films – especially in terms of student animation films – people underestimate how many people are actually involved. I worked on this film from pre-production to post-production on my own, with another student voicing the character of Zombie Lee, and my Tutors keeping me grounded and up-to-date with planned mini-deadlines. If anything I would like it to be known how much time, effort and soul is put into a short student animation.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I wanted to convey that not all animation is cartoonish or ‘kiddy’ as some might believe. I have gone to a few film festivals where the animation is separated from short films because of the childish nature in the design but actually the animation has an adult nature towards the narrative. That is why I enjoy the work of Jan Svankmajer, the Brothers Quay and Robert Morgan as their work challenges the Uncanny and cements animation within the horror genre. For my next project – my Graduation Animation Short – I too want to push the boundaries in the hope that my animation can be classed as downright horror-ible. I want to tip the uncanny barrier so that my audience squirms and all but retches when watching it.
Would you like to add anything else?
I would love for people to contact me with feedback about my animation, as I am eager to improve my skills wherever I can, especially as I am looking to either freelance or join an internship once I graduate. My website is: http://www.sinead-animation.com or people could connect with me via Linked-in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadstoddart
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am currently working towards my Graduation Animation ‘Tone Death”. After I made ‘Munchies’ I decided that I wanted to develop my skills in horror styled Stop Motion. This latest animation short features the fear and pressure of failure and how it can lead to a bloody success. This latest edition to my showreel will feature animated stage blood and latex gore which I am very excited for. I all but wish I had used this technique in ‘Munchies’ but I needed to make my choices for ‘Munchies’ so that I could grow and improve my choices for ‘Tone Death’. You can view my progress on my working blog at: https://sflstoddartanimationtonedeath.wordpress.com.
Interview: February 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Munchies
Zombie Lee has an outrageous hunger that won’t be silenced by food alone. With his growing need to feed increasing, misjudgment and disaster arise in the kitchen, until a simple solution is found. And his rumbling is quenched.
Length: 2 minutes 21 seconds
Director: Sinead Stoddart
Producer: Unviersity For the Creative Arts: Farnham
Writer: Sinead Stoddart
About the writer, director and producer:
W/D: Sinead Stoddart is a second year animation student currently studying an animation degree at UCA Farnham in England. Her work currently includes two short animations completed in 2016, which are making their way around in the festival circuit.
P: The BA (Hons) Animation course at UCA Farnham is one of Europe’s premier degree courses. It was established in 1972 by the British Oscar winning animator Bob Godfrey and was the first degree course to specialise in the academic study of animation.
Key cast: Sinead Stoddart, Joe Harvey (Voice Actor)
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): No
Made in association with: University for the Creative Arts: Farnham
Where can I see it in the next month?:
Hopefully Munchies will be traveling around the film festival circuit around the world for another year!