Smith & Foulkes Stand Up To Cancer
To promote the UK Channel 4's 'killer night of fundraising' Stand Up To Cancer (a partnership between the channel and Cancer Research UK), Nexus directing duo Smith & Foulkes creating epic mini-movie 'It's Payback Time, Cancer'. We chatted to the pair about its bombastic brilliance.
You all know the tropes – a seemingly non-eventful event at the beginning, a steady build of dread, stock characters getting picked off one-by-one, almighty scenes of massive destruction. We've all seen enough disaster movies to tick the boxes one by one but, for the most part, we spend the duration willing the protagonists to survive the circumstantial ordeals they are faced with. Not so in this outstanding mini-movie from Nexus heroes Smith & Foulkes, as the citizens troubled by a catastrophe are tiny representations of everyone's worst enemy – cancer!
Created to promote the UK Channel 4's 'killer night of fundraising' Stand Up To Cancer (a partnership between the channel and Cancer Research UK), 'It's Payback Time, Cancer' is a brilliantly constructed animated short that defiantly gives a face to the disease… and then obliterates it. Showcasing a knowledge of the aforementioned tropes, the film is both beautifully constructed (think feature film in fast forward) and gorgeously designed, with the cancer-city and its kinda cute, kinda grotesque inhabitants delightfully realised.
We whooped and cheered after first viewing, so instantly harangued messrs Smith & Foulkes to chat to us about digitally curing cancer.
How did you get involved in the project?
We were approached by 4Creative to pitch on the film. They had seen some of our previous work and liked it.
What was the brief from Channel 4? Did they script out all of the story beats or was that something you worked on together?
They had the concept but they didn't have a full script. In pretty much all our work we'll take the initial concept and run with it. So as we're working on the visual look we'll also be deciding how we want to tell the story. We kept meeting up with 4Creative to discuss our ideas and storyboards. From those meetings the script took shape. That doesn't mean it's all totally nailed down though. It's not until the animatic stage that you can tell if it's really working as a story.
How did the design of the characters develop? They seem to have an excellent balance of ugly/cute going on?
The character design was quite a tricky one because they had to be engaging enough to hold your attention but not too likeable so you could enjoy watching them explode into blue goo. We liked the idea of keeping the shape simple (root vegetables were mentioned) as there was going to be a lot of them. To give our main featured characters personality and make it clear who they are in the story we found accessories helped, giving the Mayor a wig or the Grannie a handbag for example.
When it comes to designs like this, do you create a base model and tweak for separate characters? How many varieties do you create?
We modelled about 5 basic shapes for the characters. It's amazing how if you just move the eyes closer together or the mouth down a bit they take on a totally different personality.
The world the characters inhabit is pretty packed. What were your stipulations for 'dressing' the virtual sets? Did you have a human/cancer line you couldn't cross?
We wanted it too feel as if nothing could stop this 'race' from building and growing and branded things as if they were run by the Cancer State. We didn't want it to be too confusing so the rules of their world and ours were pretty much the same.
The story plays out like a disaster movie in fast-forward. Did you watch any movies for reference? How did you plan out the featured moments (i.e. the bus, the ill-fated couple, etc)
That's exactly what we were after, something in-between a film and the trailer for the film. We did a ripomatic of some of our favourite scenes from disaster movies but a lot of it was based on memories or ideas of what might be good to have in this disaster movie. There always seems to be a bus crash and a loving couple who get it in these type of films.
The film maintains an excellent horror/comedy tone. How do you achieve that balance? Were there any moments you removed for being too dark/light?
There was a fine line to tread. We didn't want to make a wacky cartoon but we also wanted the audience to be entertained. We did slightly tone down some of the comedy performances as they were just overstepping that mark. It's actually funnier to watch them taking themselves completely seriously whilst all the carnage is happening around them. There weren't really any scenes we lost because they were too light or dark but there was a fair bit of editing out scenes that didn't really drive the story. We did have a few discussions about the severed arm scene but thankfully we kept it in!
The film is playing out in cinemas around the UK. Do you change your approach when you know something will be hitting the big screen?
We still wanted to capture that epic disaster movie feel even if it was for TV or the net. It was only later that we found out it was getting shown in cinemas. It was great to do a full Dolby sound mix though, that's something we don't get to do very often.
How long did the whole process take – from getting the initial brief to signing off on the final film?
To actually make it took 3 1/2 months but the whole process was about 9 months. There were a few delays as 4Creative had to get it through the Stand Up Cancer charity in the States. Luckily they love it.
Let's face it, you guys are no strangers to awards. Does that add to the pressure when creating your work? Do you sit back and think 'this one will win awards'?
We never really consider awards when we're making something. In fact if you hear the words 'We really want this to be an award winner' at the beginning of a project – RUN.
What's up next for you?
A break would be nice but we really want to make our own feature film. And a few more commercials. And we're working on an interactive comic book with Dan Burgess, the same designer as this project, too.
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