Flo Bender

Before starting this course, I knew I had a passion for film making, but I didn’t know exactly how to enter that world. After developing my skills over the past 2 years, animation has acted as the gateway for me to express my love of storytelling and explore political commentary through a satirical lens.

I leave the course with two plans: enter industry and start a collective. The inspiration behind the collective came from last year’s RCA graduates who did exactly this. This seemed clever, healthy and a refreshing way to help lift ourselves off the ground as we jump into the void. The studio culture created over the past 6 months making my grad film has been social, creative and also productive and I think it would be a shame to lose these interesting connections!

I think it’s important at this point in time to have things such as a creative collective that can move through industry as a whole, for example: set up mini screenings for either old, current or new work. This could work well for internal future collaboration too, as it will give us a platform to connect with each other and hopefully make work together!

Alongside plans for a creative collective, my next steps will be to send my graduate film to festivals e.g. Indie New York Shorts, Cannes Indie Shorts, Venice Shorts, Raindance, Sundance and Liaf. Fortunately, My Liaf film Formula Scum was screened a few weeks ago at the Garden Cinema, which was a great opportunity to meet fellow artists and filmmakers and helped me feel more well versed with networking as its not my forte!

Finally, entering Industry. My next steps career wise are to apply to the stop motion studios below, Adult Swim, A&C, Kong and Mock Duck Studios

Over the last 2 years, I have approached animation as my own form of protest. My creative process has developed through the use of mixed media. I have a passion for political satire, which is what I lead with when I begin a project. I believe myself to be a storyteller first, a filmmaker second and an animator third. This is because I believe an animation cannot exist without a film makers eye, and a film cannot connect with an audience unless it leads with strong story telling. This philosophy has guided me through exploring sad, painful and political topics in a way that is also accessible to the average viewer.

As a director on Liaf last year, the nature of that meant I could explore mediums freely. My team and I’s film Formula Scum embodied exactly the kind of work I like to make. It was a hybrid animation using stop motion, Cgi, 2D and pixilation. Utilising the freedom meant I could toy with the viewers reality by pulling them in and out of worlds. My 1 minute film existed with a similar pipeline. My main character Dan Brog was animated in pixilation with all other assets composited. at this point, I became aware that I was beginning to find my aesthetic.

Up until today, my grad film ‘Holeyhole’ utilises the same methodology. My creative process is to escape the limits that define animation itself. For this film, I have used as many mediums as I could physically experiment with including 2D, CGI, Stop Motion & Pixilation.

Pixilation seems to be a running theme in my creative process, which is heavily influenced also by my love for theatre and choreography. Additionally, I think the idea of animation as a form of protest also applies in a physical material sense too. Taking the viewer out of a world and dumping them in a new one feels rebellious in itself. Including Live action in animation feels rebellious as people tend to raise eyebrows, questioning if it’s even ‘allowed’…

Moving forward with all this in mind, I want to approach the industry with this philosophy. Entering the professional Stop motion world with this mode of thinking could allow me to influence industry work in a new way!

“The Turd World War”

“When I look up while shitting on the ground, I see shit falling from above. All of us critters are up to our necks in deep shit. The real upper dogs of this world are shitting on us weaker companion species, cementing our doomed faith with shitloads of caca.” – Jessica Gysel in ‘La Merde’ Aline Bouvy.

Last month I visited the 2026 Venice Biennale. Known as the Olympic of arts, the Biennale encompasses the largest spectrum of art in the world. It is my favourite event and something I look forward to every other year. I am attracted to it because of scale of the production, alongside the rich saturation of work, from paintings and sculpture to performance and immersive exhibition.

I approached the trip as a chance to switch off from my animation project. As an artist, I think this is a vital part of the creative process. Doing this forces you to step into other trains of thought, breaking free from the all encompassing tunnel vision that is animation. Stepping outside of the animation bubble itself is also vital as an artist, because animation is not just a technique but an amalgamation of inspiration from the world and our daily lives, so I believe that being away from it subconsciously helps ones creative practice.

Aline Buoy’s Luxembourg pavilion titles ‘La Merde’ particularly stood out to me for a few reasons. Her pavilion included a 15/20 minute film, a sculpture and a book. Her work forced the viewer to decide whether they wanted to sit down and watch a film about a giant turd or move on. The film was a mixture of live action, CGI and 2D animation. This is what made me sit and stay.

In returning to my project, I read ‘La Merde’ not as something to help inspire my project, but feel confident in commenting on taboo topics and continuing to be brave with my storytelling.

This trip helped me return to my work station with a new found invigoration. I also felt connected and more driven to speak as authentically as possible on subjects that matter to me. In conclusion… art helps art.

“What helps them to be funny is to not have any allegiance to any organisation”

One example of a Cartoon Series that I have a deep interest for is South Park, an American animated TV series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The show is a satirical commentary on the western world and pop culture. Due to Trey Parker’s passion for Monty Python and Terry Gillingham’s paper cut out style of animation, it began this way and has since evolved into digital animation, whilst remaining true to their simple home made aesthetic.

South Park is a unique example of animation in today’s culture and what has become a fascination to animators is their formula. When using physical paper cut out they would take 2 – 3 hours to get one shot, now the animation is entirely digital and the process sounds nothing less than intense, creating an entire 22 – 25 minute episode in the space of 6 days.

Here is my breakdown from watching ‘Six DayS to Air: The Making of South Park’:

Day 1 = The writers room. This is where Matt and Trey spend a day reflecting on pop culture, ideas and fresh jokes. Trey has referred to this space as “weirdly vulnerable” as everyone shares any and all ideas they might have, with 99/100 of them being rejected by the group.

Day 2 = Storyboarding and scripting. This where they crack down on the mains beats of the episode.

Day 3 and 4 = Voice acting and animating. Both Matt and Trey make up most of the voices for the show, which is interestingly how the show came about in the first place, as they would make up voices to each other when bored on set in college.

Day 5 = Editing, this I where the team knuckle down on making sure the gags are communicated effectively.

Day 6 = Finished touches/delivery, occasionally if pushed to a deadline, the team will do an all nighter.

Each day requires extreme effienciey and talent to pull off what they do. In my work, I prioritise the writing over the technicality of the animation itself, which in reflection is probably inspired by my love and interest for South Park. Using my imagination to influence storylines, reflecting on pop culture, satirical humour, is where I see myself going forward in my career whether freelance or as part of a company.

In the documentary, SNL star Bill Hader refers to Trey and Matts political stance as “what they want to do… that’s it, that’s the priority, they don’t worry about anything else” and Dan Sterling goes onto say. “What helps them to be funny is to not have any allegiance to any organisation”. This is an extremely rare culture to have in todays society where watered down risk averse writing is taking centre stage, but South Park stand strong still today, releasing an episode a week, with humour as crude as ever.

References:

‘6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park’ – Youtube

For the LIAF project, I had the luxury of directing a team. I gained valuable insight as to what it means to complete a brief for a client. Animating has been a gateway for me to share my ideas in the form of moving image.

My goal is to be an Independent freelance filmmaker/animator. This appeals to me due to the freedom this role gives you. Global companies have an innate risk adverse culture due to client politics/culture.

Ozzy Parker

Ozzy Parker, an independent stop motion animator, has been a huge inspiration for me. Having access to his craftsmanship and creative opinion has helped to develop my animations. One project in particular I want to expand on is ‘SCALA!!! Tentacles’ a fantastical retelling of a woman’s story working behind the ticket office. This short film uses a unique daring approach to stop motion, by using real squids. He has an unafraid attitude, willing to disturb his audience by taking things further.

This role as independent filmmaker and part time teacher is something I am interested in. Other than being a child, Art University I believe is one of the only places in which you are permitted to play again. This sense of play is innate to the way I work. What Ozzy has shown me is through attaining both freelancing and lecturing, you can keep that play alive.

Chris Shepherd & David Shrigley

On 4th November I had the chance to attend ‘Bar Shorts’ an event run by Chris Shepherd. Chris & David revisited past projects, collaborative and solo, going back some 15 years ago. They also spoke about what independent filmmaking has meant to them. From 20 minute long documentaries about screaming goats to minimalist animation shorts about smoking blunts, the pair showed the importance of collaborating with friends.