Charlie Collier - Interview

We interviewed the awesome Slovenian band, Puppetz, a little while ago, a band who have made a transition from "Nu-Metal" to "Indie Rock", and who put a lot of thought not only into their songs, but also the visual representations too. Recently we discovered that the excellent video made for the Puppetz (Generacija Y) won a Slovenian national TV show's, "Best video award", and it has to be said, it is a fantastic bit of animation.

Intrigued, we decided to find out a little bit more about it's creator, Charlie Collier. His website Zapamation serves as his online portfolio of his creations and they are truly inspirational, but we find out a bit more about the recent collaboration with the Puppetz, and Charlie's get out there and do it approach.

What film first captured your imagination animation wise?

The first animation that really inspired me was a music video for the song "Warrior's Dance" by the band "The Prodigy". Even now when I watch it I realize how much it influenced my work.

You must have a lot of ideas for good films, how do you narrow those down to just a few to work on?

This is one of the hardest things for me to do. Unless I'm asked to do a specific project, I'll literally start working on a film then switch to a new one a week later. I can usually overcome this with deadlines. If I can place a deadline on myself then I feel pressured to stick with only one or two projects until completion.

Could you tell us a little about the process that you follow in creating a piece of work? Is that process just as how it is taught in colleges etc, or is reality very different?

My process is pretty straight forward… Whatever gets the job done. I start with an idea, then I begin working out the basic storyline. After that's done, I engage in a chaotic brainstorm of experimenting, researching and adapting until I end up with what I want. I've never had any formal training in film or animation so I can't really compare my methods to those taught in school.

The video for The Puppetz, Generajica Y, recently won an award from MTV Adria, how and when did you find out about that and how do feel about it?

Bojan messaged me over Facebook about the award the day it was presented. Naturally, I was excited. Not just for me, but for the band as well. We all put a lot of work into this project and it's great to see people enjoy it enough to give it awards.

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What was it like working with The Puppetz?

Working with Puppetz was awesome! I was amazed at the amount of creative freedom they let me have. The main thing they wanted was for me to add my own style and feel to the animation instead of just copying exactly what THEY wanted to see. This type of collaboration is perfect for me, and I would love to work with Puppetz again.

When you were doing that video, your computer crashed, is that right? How much pressure did that put on you? How did you break the news to Bojan!?

Yes, about two months into the project my computer crashed and I lost half my animation. in addition to it crashing, I was getting ready to leave town for about three weeks. All of this together put a lot of pressure on me and I was honestly kind of scared to tell the band what had happened. But when I did tell Bojan the situation, he took it really well and within about a month everything was back on track.

Amongst your peers, are there any animators you particularly admire and why?

Unfortunately, I don't know of anyone I could consider a peer doing animation. However, there are people on a more professional level, such as the team at the Laika studio in Oregon. They've been a huge inspiration for me, and I greatly admire them for their dedication and outstanding creativity.

Do you think stop animation is becoming something of a lost art form given the development of 3D software etc?

I do, to some extent, especially in America where 3D animation seems to be dominating the theaters. However, I don't think stop motion animation will ever be completely lost for the simple fact that you just can't create the unique look and feel of stop motion in any other medium.

Looking back at when you first started out doing animation, is there anything that you would do differently?

I wish I had spent less time worrying about failing at animation, and more time actually animating.

For other young people out there who would like to do animation, what would you say is the easiest way for them to develop their first film / clip, and what advice would you give them?

Stop motion animation is pretty straight forward, it's just a really fast slideshow. If you have a camera, or a built in webcam and some basic software such as Windows Movie Maker or iMove, you're good to go. Take the photos, or "frames", with your camera, then import the images into the movie program of your choosing and speed it up. There are also plenty of free image capture programs on the web that arrange the frames for you and give you really helpful tools, like onion skinning.

My advice for any up-and-coming animator is, get out there and animate! The only way you get better at something is by doing it. Also, don't let your lack of hardware stop you. It doesn't matter if your camera is c***, or if your version of iMovie is 4 years old. What makes a good stop motion animator is someone who can effectively tell a story through moving inanimate objects.

You'll find more of Charlie's great work on his website here: http://www.zapamation.com/

You'll also find the Facebook for the Puppetz HERE