The Line is an animation studio based in London and well known for their funny and daring projects. After having been working on animation separately for close to ten years, the six directors Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Wesley Louis, Sam Taylor, Tim McCourt, Max Taylor and James Duveen decided to form The Line in 2013. A perfect combination of six creative minds that have something in common: their love for cartoons since they were little children and the aim to create good stories, designs, characters and animations on a job the really enjoy.
Wesley Louis and Sam Taylor were two of the guests in the past edition of 3D Wire Market. We had the opportunity to chat with them and go more deeply into what The Line is and some of their projects through this interview.
How did you, the members of The Line, meet and decide to become together to form this animation studio? Being a collective, is your way of working very different than it used to be when you were on your own?
WL: Us meeting kind of happened organically. We met through various freelance projects and a few of us studied together at different universities. Most of us were looking for an environment for us to work on freelance or personal projects so we agreed to rent a studio space together in East London. Sam and Bjorn Erik-Aschim working on their film "Everything I Can See From Here" while rest of us were doing various commissions or working on personal projects. In January 2013 Tim McCourt and Myself got offered a Job to direct a music video for Porter Robinson and Mat Zo which would later become known as "Easy". Everyone else in the studio was free at the time so we hired them to work on it. That marked the first time we all worked on a project together and it was an amazing experience. We collaborated really well. From that point we decided to consolidate our works become a collective.
For me personally I've found advantages and disadvantages being part of an amazing group. I’m surrounded by people that have more talent than me in areas I struggle with, So any project i work on having being able to collaborate with people that do things i can't is a huge asset. The one drawback is that I find myself to be less experimental personally. Max Taylor for example is an excellent compositor meaning I’m less inclined to composite on my own work.
ST: Yeah, I think Wes put it well. Being a studio is a different beast from being an independent animator. But having been in both positions I can say I get a hell of a lot more done as a team. It’s been an interesting journey, I think we’ve all discovered a lot about how to get stuff done collectively, but I feel like we’ve gotten a lot better at it over the years.
Your works are in general casual and cheeky. What are your main principles or guidelines when you envision a new project?
WL: We do have some of the same influences but for the most part, we are all very different. I think that is the main reason why project to project our work is so diverse. I think a lot of our success is based on our personal or passion projects. We do it because we really feel it and want to see it made. A simple conversation over drinks while socialising can turn into an exciting project. It's a little impetuous, unplanned and crazy but i think that's what makes us stand out.
ST: I’d love to say we had a manifesto or something but as Wes says, all of our non-commercial projects just come from someone being passionate about something, and everyone else getting excited by that spark of interest.
“Everything I Can See From Here”, your first short film as The Line, was nominated for a BAFTA in 2014, a great debut. What did this nomination mean to the studio?
ST: It has definitely opened some doors for us. When we started out we were very opposed to the idea of gatekeepers, or institutions that had to validate our work for us to be accepted. I think we’ve softened on that point as time has gone by. There’s just such a wealth of content out there these days that it takes organisations like BAFTA to shine a spotlight on quality work.
Regarding to “Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit”, the story behind it is charming. Its origin is a comic drawn by you, Wesley, when you had only 13 years old and used to spend Saturday mornings watching those ninja and superheroes cartoons. How did you get back that childhood idea and decide to make something new from it? What from the original source and from those 90’s cartoon can be found in STANR?
WL: Tim McCourt and myself had just finished directing a film called ‘Drawing Inspiration and were brainstorming ideas for a new film. One of them being a 90s styled Saturday morning cartoon intro. I brought in a load of old comics doodles and drawings I did as a child to the studio one day and STANR caught Tims eye. He fell in love with it. To be honest I thought he was crazy. STANR was something I never really took seriously it was just for fun and a mash up of my favourite shows at the time. I actually wanted to base the intro on another comic I did (I still might) He argued that it felt authentic as it was made in the 90s and kind of echoed the naivety and silliness of that era. It made sense. It took almost a year before I even started it. Rina May who was the singer and song writer on the project and a friend came on board and did a rough version of the song. it had no lyrics, except for “Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit” Instantly the song stuck and really helped to form images and an idea of what this could be.
I drew inspiration from so many cartoons I watched as a child. Thundercats (which I still think is the best intro ever created) I studied the Kanada style of animation, something that was quite prolific in this era. Others included Galaxy Rangers, TMNT (specifically the episode featuring Usagi Yojimbo) Samurai Pizza Cats, Centurions, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Inspector Gadget, Sabre Riders, Danger Mouse, Voltron Flying Magical Hats Turbo Adventure, Dangaioh and many others.
STANR is a kind of transmedia project around a fictitious animation serial. Somehow you wanted to make others and even yourself to believe that it existed. Why did you consider to tackle the project this way and how did you do it?
WL: To be honest I really just wanted to do a pastiche of 80s and 90s cartoon intros. I got a lot off of my chest with that project as it was the first time since becoming an animator I got to do things that really inspire and resonated with me. The nature of the project though really did lend itself to being something bigger, something I can say looking back. My original idea was to do two versions. One 4:3 VHS quality, and the wide screen 16:9. One being called "Super Turbo Atomic Mega Rabbit" and removing the nunchucks scenes. This was a nod to censorship laws in the UK not permitting the use word ninja or nunchucks to be shown on children's television. The reason we got "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" in the UK.
Tim and max thought we could take the idea further and actually make people believe it was real. I never really bought into the idea but it didn't hurt to try it either. We leaked things on the internet six months prior to releasing the intro. Fake cels, model sheets and lunch boxes. WHen we finally did put the intro online I was shocked at the reaction. People did believe it actually existed. Some even swore seeing it in their youth. I think part of success is that i wasn't trying to make fun of old 90s cartoons. It was actually more of a love letter. I wanted to play it straight. Also Max Taylor who composited it was very meticulous about the details that would make it feel old, including putting it on VHS for real.
Besides the animation trailer, the art book and the fake merchandising, you have created a VR experience on STANR. How did you arrive to this idea? How is it working?
WL: A lot of the things that happened with stanr weren't planned. It was kind of a snowball effect. I was looking someone to model the Tank for me as a drawing reference for a scene I had to animate. It had to be hand drawn as I didn't want to spoil the illusion of this being an old cartoon. Animating vehicles however can be quite challenging without reference and especially as this would be my first time. Max Taylor introduced me to Tom Flavelle A modeller and rigger who is now part of a collective called No GHost. He was quite excited about the project and was happy to help. He did such a good modeling the tank and even improved on some aspects of my design I asked if he minded modelling one of the characters so we could 3D print them. He offered to do them all. I was excited to see these characters as 3D marquees so there was no way I’d refuse his offer. It was quite fun collaborative process, translating these characters to 3D models and I learnt a lot from it.
He came back to me a few weeks later and asked my thoughts on a potential VR game where you could sit in the tank with the characters and experience their world. I had no visual reference for what this could be like apart from films like lawnmower man and any VR in the 80s, again, I couldn’t refuse. Bjorn Erik-Aschim was really excited about the prospect of VR and new technology lent his art directing talents to the project. Rina May who wrote the music for animation provided the voice of the AI in the Tank. Box Of Toys Audio who were responsible for the sound design in the intro came back again to work their magic and rearranged the music to fit the experience.
None of this was planned and it was completely unexpected side project. I'm yet to meet some of the animators that worked on it. I remember playing it for the first time (a much earlier version) I was speechless. Sitting next to characters that id created was a surreal experience. I think the 13 year old in me had all of his dreams met at that point haha. We actually had a screening/ Exhibition for STANR and the VR was one of the main attractions. People queued for as long as 1h30m and loved the experience.
You even tried videogames. Your first one, the funny “Leo’s Red Carpet Rampage”, obtained an impressive impact on users and media. How did the idea of this project come up? How do you consider the result?
ST: It was another silly idea that got out of control. Bjorn-Erik aschim, another member of the team, proposed it and we didn’t have much on so we just gave it a go. It was a massive learning experience, and incredibly gratifying for us to get so much exposure for our first go at making a game.
Another online hit of yours is the music video "Easy" that you did for Porter Robinson and Mat Zo. It counts now on over six million views on Youtube. Why do you think it has been so successful? How do you react to so much fan art and following as it has reach?
WL: I’m quite shocked it has over 6 million views. I didn't realize it had that many. If i'm honest i do believe a lot of its success has to do with Porter Robinsons having a massive following. Having said that, the video itself has had a very positive response which i'm proud of. It’s always amazing for me to see people dressed up as characters we designed or even do fanart interpretations. I know when I do fan art, it means something has resonated with me so it humbling that we’ve created something that can do the same with others.
The Ciclope Festival asked The Line to do the Opening Film for its 2016 edition, which is one of your more recent works. How did you approach it and which was the biggest challenge on this job?
ST: This project was directed by Bjorn-Erik Aschim, I only did a small amount of work on it in the end, but again, it was a project where everyone was way outside of their comfort zone. Bjorn decided to do it in full 3D, despite the fact none of us really know our way around 3D software technically. The idea was to do something different from the usual flashy festival openers you see out there. We wanted something quiet and meditative, and less character-focussed than much of our work. And something that made use of Bjorn’s immense talent for environment design.
You have also worked on several advertising projects, sometimes being able to propose crazy ideas, like you did for TBS. What are the more enjoyable and the hardest things of working for advertising?
WL: In terms of advertising work, we try to attract commissions that speak to our sensibilities, so for personal projects we make sure we produce work that speaks to us individually. For me personally I guess I have japanese animation aesthetics so I tend to get those kind of commissions. Tim is probably a bit more risque, tongue in cheek so TBS was a naturally fit for him.
I guess the hardest thing about working in advertising is having to compromise your ideas or vision. Sometimes it's a difference of opinion, other times it broadcast regulations. There are times when a client or an agency has said something (against my better judgement) that has actually strengthened the project as well. In many ways I feel less ownership confident. In STANR it felt like i had the complete ownership. Not that all the ideas were mine but I had the final say on everything. In a commercial project the reality is that you don't. You have to approach advertising projects with a different mindset, something I’m still learning.
An important part of your work at The Line is the character design. When thinking about how a character will be, what do you take into account? What are your inspirations? Which of your characters would you say that is the more special for you?
WL: That’s a hard one I never really considered myself to be a character designer, though other people do, and I guess it’s a strength I have in the context of the team (everyone in the team has done character design at one point or another). I try to take into account the style, how this character will move and generally what appeals to me. I've never really had to design a character that really had to act an emote. To infuse real personality where you can completely empathise with them. Hopefully I will one day. I really do like the characters in STANR and Maki from Easyi. I just think they were fun to design and I got a really good response from all of them.
Have you considered the possibility of developing a feature film someday in the future? If that's the case, how would this film be?
WL: Personally no. I don't really have any ideas at the moment and it seems like such a huge undertaking. Maybe after STANR becomes a series (which I'm working towards) I may feel differently.
ST: Wes and I both started our careers working on a very large feature film, “The Illusionist” by Sylvain Chomet. It was an incredible learning experience, but also three years of my life, and I think Wes did 2. As a result of this we probably understand a bit too well the investment and sacrifices involved in taking on an animated project of that scale. That said, feature films are my favourite format for the medium of animation. I would love for one of us to tackle a feature length project at some point. We have some scripts and ideas that we’d like to develop. It might be a little way off still, but you never know. Keep your eyes peeled.
Interview by María Canales
Interview by María Canales
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