Face to Face with... Smith & Foulkes

Having received an Oscar nomination for their 3D animated short This Way Up, Nexus directing duo, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes [Smith & Foulkes] have come a long way since starting out at the studio back in 1997. They may have recently helmed the new animation film for Honda, but they say it's getting harder and harder to surprise people the way that the Grrr spot did upon its release. We chatted to the pair about animation, Oscars and, of course, Honda.

Tell us about the new spot for Honda.

It's a sweep through an entire life from birth to adulthood featuring all the things our hero ever owned and everything he ever did – all in 60 seconds.

Was it hard merging all the little ideas together?

Each stage of our hero's life had to be visually condensed into only a few seconds so it was hard to choose only one idea to sum up many years of life's experiences.

This had to be done in a way that people could relate to, but it was important to throw in a few surprises as well.

Once we had the concept of the story, following one person’s life, things begun to slot together and the limbo setting in space gave us great flexibility.

Did you always want to work in animation and how’d you get into it/meet each other?

Smith: I was always into graphic design but I wanted to tell stories, so I guess animation was fairly inevitable.

It's not that I always wanted to make my own Disney films, but when I was at college I finally realised that animation could be used in other ways, especially for a more adult audience. I think we were both thinking the same thing when we met.

Animation can be quite a solitary bedroom orientated pursuit so it was nice to share the experience.

Foulkes: No, at college I was mucking around doing big abstract paintings then thought wouldn't it be great if they moved.

After a year out running on commercials I thought it was about time I went back to college. We met at the RCA.

Smith was doing a similar kind of animation to me; lots of cutting stuff out and playing around with graphics. It wasn't until later that we got more into characters and stories.

What’s it like to be nominated for an Oscar?

Smith: Getting the Oscar nod was a bit of an unexpected bonus really as we made This Way Up rather hurriedly in six months just as an exercise in character development.

It was a fairly surreal experience on the day, immersed in a circus of celebrity, but the week leading up to it gave us a great opportunity to check out the Hollywood animation industry.

Foulkes: Fun and scary.

What’s your favourite animation ever?

Smith: The Phantom Tollbooth. It had a very profound effect on me, though I was only about eight at the time.

Foulkes: My all time favorite is when Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang go into a supermarket thinking it's an art gallery. They start admiring all the pop art exhibited. Brilliant.

What have you seen, read or watched recently that would be of relevance to shots readers?

Foulkes: I really enjoyed the recent drama about Hattie Jacques on BBC4, by Stephen Russell and Dan Zeff. And also Life, the Keith Richards autobiography. Not sure if it really helps with the animation.

What inspires Smith & Foulkes?

There's so much out there that inspires us. It's generally silly, and epic.

If you could be any other famous duo, who would you be and why?

Smith: Torvill and Dean. Though we've been disturbingly called the 'new Wallace and Gromit'.

Foulkes: Eric and Ernie. Although, we are probably more Chuckle Brothers.

And what about the future?

We guess it's getting harder and harder to surprise people these days when every other ad is a 3D animated extravaganza. When Grrr came out we think a lot of people had never seen animation used in that way, but we don't have that luxury anymore. We'll just try to keep telling stories, whatever the technique, hopefully in longer formats as well. We've been working on a few feature ideas for a while. This might be the year that we start showing people.