Face to Face with... Sean Pecknold

Last week, animator and director Sean Pecknold, delivered a music video for his brother's band, Fleet Foxes. Their continuing collaboration has delivered some stunning promos and this one, for a track called Shrine - a beautiful, unusual and haunting eight minute piece film - is no different. Here Pecknold, who recently signed to the newly opened production company Friend London, talks about the idea behind the video and about working with his brother.

Where did the idea come from?

My brother and I were sitting at a diner in California, and it was the first time we started to talk about a video for that song. We both said Stacey Rozich's name at the same time. And based on her characters and the lyrics of the song I wrote a story, and designed an environment for the characters to live in. The story continued to evolve as the production started.  

Are you influenced by the lyrics or by the music?

Both. I think the lyrics and the theme of the song are a good guide, but I try not to feel too attached to them. I always imagine a physical space and flow to the imagery that matches the movement of the song. I've been lucky to work with such dynamic music, there's so much room to play and build.  The lyrics in this song were harsh and vivid, i wanted the imagery to feel equally so.  It can be a challenge to attach a  narrative to a music video with such strong lyrics.   If the lyrics were like  "I love you baby, I did from the start, we had a fight, I may have broke your heart," then this imagery might not have worked so well.  Remind me never to write lyrics...

What - if any - other things influence you when you're making a new promo?

The nearing apocalypse and rebirth of humanity... I'm not sure really. For this one in particular a bit of the style was influenced by the 70's Italian animation Allegro Non Troppo.  Mainly for the environment and the world. During the long months of animation I was super into the show Party Down, about struggling actors in LA.  Not sure if any of that ended up in the video, but maybe it's all a metaphor for the entertainment industry…  hmmmm.  Or not.

How long did the project take from conception to completion?

We started talking about the idea in January, I sent Stacey the script in February and she started to design the characters in March. In April Britta Johnson, the amazing co-animator on this project, and I moved to a studio in Portland, spent a month building all of the characters, and in May we started animating, all the way through the beginning of October.  Did some post in October then delivered it.  We were lucky to have a patient band and labels, who didn't bother us much even into the later months. Maybe they just forgot we were making it.

What was the hardest aspect of making the video?

Probably just keeping momentum every day for six months.  Having to put other life things on hold.  If we had a crew of 30 it probably would have been done quicker, but maybe it would feel completely different.  

Does your brother being in Fleet Foxes make your job easier or harder?

I think it's great. It allows us to spend a lot of time talking about ideas.  Watching him and the band work and their dedication to the songs, makes me want to dedicate the same for the visual elements. When he started writing music 10 years ago, that's when I realised I was a lousy musician and started to get serious about film, and in a weird way I think it made me work extra hard at what I do.  We both grew up watching a lot of the same films and animations for the most part, so I think we have similar taste in that realm.

What are you working on next?

I just finished a short film for the folks at Dragonframe. I was super excited to do it, because they've opened up stop-motion animation to everyone. Now I'm working on a photography  project in Europe.  And trying to figure out where I'm going to live for the next year. I keep finding myself in that situation.