The Saint Inspector
.."this enigmatic work bears a certain literary weight, not unlike a wordless Beckett play. In five minutes of stop-action clay animation both brooding and scintillating, "The Saint Inspector" shows a higher being in a state of pious bliss enduring the attentions of a meddling official from some sort of high altitude bureaucracy."
Jan Herman - Los Angeles Times
A higher being in a state of pious bliss endures the attentions of a meddling official. The Saint Inspector is a five-minute film that was completed in May 1996.
It originated as a quick doodle of a lonesome hermit sitting on top of a tall pole, who became the "Saint on a Stick" character. Early versions of the story had the saint being tempted by demons and pushed off his perch, but it soon evolved into the inspection scenario that was filmed.
After completing the narrative, writer/director Mike Booth drew up storyboards which he took to
Dave Borthwick at bolexbrothers saw something in the work that he liked, and made the decision to go ahead and make the film, employing a crew who had worked on previous projects with the studio. The full crew list can be seen under credits.
Mike imagined the shoot would take six weeks. He had never made a film before. It took twelve.
The Saint Inspector premiered at Cardiff International Animation Festival in May 1996, and went on to appear at over a hundred festivals around the world, winning several awards.
Keep In A Dry Place And Away From Children
Chained to his cot, wings confiscated at birth, 'Ike' is a creature of the kitchen, half baby, half duck; but with every deranged dribble he comes closer to becoming more like the swan on the matchbox of his desire. (Credits)
Brief Biographies:
Martin Davies studied Illustration at Exeter College of Art and Design. He met a girl in a pink furry coat who did strange things with dolls, and went on to do similar things with various household objects. The soberest highlight of his college days was wondering along Waterloo Embankment in the rain carrying the Quay Brothers' umbrella. His graduation film "Wasp" was shown at three international festivals and won a secondhand Russian balaleika orchestra LP at Yaroslavl. In 1993 he met Dave Borthwick at bolexbrothers in Bristol, who gave him his first break assisting on Darren Walsh's film "The Biz"; he has been living and working in Bristol as a freelance model - maker and animator, moving it just a tiny bit, ever since!This dubious preoccupation finally drove him crazy during the making of "Keep In A Dry Place And Away From Children"!
Andy Brown studied Fine Art at Coventry University before moving to Bristol where he took part in several art events, including a solo exhibition at the King Street Gallery in 1995 called "Handyman" for which he won a Gold Poodle as his award for Best Individual Exhibition!At that time he joined, and is still part of a live performance group called Loose Canons,who performed their shows around the UK. In need of income he got a job at Elm Road Studios as a set builder, and became interested in film. This interest fueled his desire to combine his skills as an artist and performer, to broaden out and translate sculpture into movement, (something he normally only hallucinates about), and Ike was born.
The project was independently produced and financed by bolexbrothers Ltd., The Arts Council Lottery Department, South West Media Development Agency and Kodak.
Little Dark Poet
Love,lust, guilt and disgust explored through a mixture of stop-motion animation and live action techniques. Little Dark Poet is a five-minute film that was completed in August 1998. Intended as a companion piece for the The Saint Inspector, the film features an animated poet watching his work come to life in a live-action setting.
The combination of animation and live-action was achieved in-camera without any computer aided post-production.
Firstly, two actors were filmed in silent movie style. Every frame of the black and white footage was then hand-painted by three unfortunate artists, and the newly-coloured images were projected on a screen behind the animated puppet. (Ray Harryhausen did the same thing, in Jason and the Argonauts..)
The animation shoot took eight weeks, with many of the same crew who made The Saint Inspector, (see credits for full crew list).
Little Dark Poet was jointly funded by Channel 4 and the Arts Council of England, being commissioned by Channel 4 on the strength of the treatment and Storyboards.
The Day Of The Subgenius
A seven minute mixed media short about "The Brag Of The Sub Genius", An anti cult, cult with its enigmatic, bizarre and irreverent preacher "The Reverend Bob Dobbs" who has a bigger agenda than most. The idea was conceived after listening to the performance art piece by the infamous Texan artist Ivan Stang. This is the extraordinary story of the unnatural, hyper intelligent, ridiculed humanoid creations and their moment of glory.
The combination of desparent elements results in a film that is highly original and a visually eclectic burst of energy. The film was produced over a 12 week period as a no budget, experimental project during studio downtime. It features a wide range of styles and techniques including live action, stop-frame model and 3D computer generated images. Click here for the credits
Using minimal computer technology, we were able to create a stylised world in which any visual techniques can convincingly act with one another. This uninhibited way of working allows us to constantly give birth to new visual ideas and possibilities. Ideal for use in the realms of Music promos and advertising.It was completed just one hour before it's scheduled screening at the 'Brief Encounters' short film festival in Bristol and has since got the approval of Rev Ivan Stang himself.It now shows at Subgenius conventions.
How Do You Feel
A film about Artificial Intelligence based on the idea that the film itself is a form of AI. The film has a mind of its own, but it doesn't know that - yet. But it's alive and it's curious - about you. It wants to know how you work; it can find out by using image and sound to manipulate your responses - because that's what a film does. And this film knows what it's doing; now it's about to find out what it is. It uses an ever-changing cascade of stimuli; cartoon, live action, music, text - to shock, arouse, amuse and move you, because it needs to know: How Do You Feel. (Credits)
Writer, director and actor P B Davies founded Crystal Theatre of the Saint, whose pioneering multimedia work in the 1970s and 80s was acclaimed in Britain and Europe. He created a series of one-man shows, two of which were Perrier Award finalists at the Edinburgh Festival. Other shows, like 'Slave Clowns of the Third Reich' used video and live performance to continue the theatrical experiments begun by the Crystal Theatre. In radio and television, Paul's many credits include: Spitting Image; Smith and Jones; Rory Bremner; Jasper Carrot; Brogue Male; News Huddlines and At Home with the Hardys, a radio series that he wrote and performed with comedian Jeremy Hardy.
Tastes Like Tuna
Dedication. Commitment. Consummation. A High Priestess of Pain and her Devoted Disciple immerse themselves in Holy Slaughter; Tastes Like Tuna brings you the edited highlights...
Mike Booth is over 30 but nobody believes it and he still finds it difficult to get served in bars. He started working as a freelance animator in 1995 and has made two short stop-motion films for Bristol-based studio bolexbrothers, The Saint Inspector (1996) and Little Dark Poet (1998). Since then he has run out of things he wants to animate and has moved towards making real films with proper live people in them; Tastes Like Tuna (2000) is his first live action film - a dramatized documentary focusing on the relationship between a man and woman who share a fetish for consensual cannibalism. (Credits) He now hopes to develop this short into a feature-length thriller. Anyone with a shitload of money who would like to get their name in the credits is welcome to contact Mike via bolexbrothers.
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