Fun and fanciful, but never flippant, REMEMBERING FORMBY is an animated short commemorating the life and work of the fictional Formby Patterson-Wright, an anthropomorphic personification of a generic male safety sign character, reminiscent of TVGoHome‘s Ted Bellingham. It features as part of the Student Film programme at this year’s Norwich Film Festival.

Formby Patterson-Wright, who conceived and posed for all the most well known safety signs, from “Pedestrian Crossing” to “Danger of Death”, is a philosophical and altruistic character who takes his job very seriously. Elliott’s film is illustrated with the bright schematics and iconography of Patterson-Wright’s world, and narrated by the man himself. With warmth and dry wit, Patterson Wright ruminates on his career, riffing on the issue of personal accountability, and the ridiculous role safety signage plays in modern life.

We spoke to the film’s creator, Sue Elliott, about the creativity and philanthropy behind her burgeoning film making career.

Rosy Hunt: Can you tell us about the techniques used to create REMEMBERING FORMBY?

Sue Elliott: REMEMBERING FORMBY was animated completely in Flash, although because of the way I worked with the improvisers to develop the story, I ended up filming a lot of live action footage too. It was my original intention to use some of this footage in the animation but it went off in a different direction.

[Flash animation] really appeals to me because it makes you really think about what you need to tell a story.

RH: Is Flash animation as easy as it looks – or is it as demanding as stop motion or cel animation?

SE: I think once you understand the logic of Flash, it is a very easy program to work with. It’s relatively limited compared to other types of computer animation, but that really appeals to me because it makes you really think about what you need to tell a story. I suppose a better way of putting it is that Flash gives you the essentials and very little more. I also love how clean and striking it can be, and changing the movement and timing of objects is also very easy, all of which was ideal for my project.

RH: Is your background in animation?

SE: My background is actually in Film Theory – I studied Film at Exeter University and during that time I was lucky enough to take part in a summer school run by the theatre company Forkbeard Fantasy. They introduced me to stop motion animation and I was hooked after that. I then went and did my Animation MA at UWE, the product of which was REMEMBERING FORMBY.

I worked with three actors over several months, starting with several different improvised scenes all based around health and safety…

Just before the MA I started experimenting with improvisation as a way of developing ideas – I then expanded on this for REMEMBERING FORMBY. I worked with three actors (the three voices in the film) over several months, starting with several different improvised scenes all based around health and safety, then focusing in on Formby, developing his life story and then rehearsing and recording the final “interview”. It’s a wonderful way of working because you really get to know your subject matter and you’re guided by what you find engaging and intriguing. I will definitely work in this way again – I have several hours of wonderful scenes and characters captured on film and sound card that I would love to develop into something a bit longer than Formby. For now, though, I’m just trying to earn a living and improve my skills!

… seek out opportunities, find people you enjoy working with, help people out and they will most probably do the same for you.

RH: What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out in animation?

When I started getting interested in animation, I involved myself in anything that seemed relevant to animation – life drawing classes, model making workshops, festival screenings, the Forkbeard summer school, helping out on student films, all of this helped not just because of the skills I learned but also the connections I made – the creative industry is a collaborative industry. I met Josh Gaunt at the summer school, who years later then introduced me to an actor, who knew two other actors, and then all three of them worked with me on Formby. I would tell anyone who wants to get into animation to seek out opportunities, find people you enjoy working with, help people out and they will most probably do the same for you.

REMEMBERING FORMBY will screen on Saturday 31st March at Hollywood Cinema.