Myles McLeod Week 2 - The Gladiators square up

18 November 09

On Monday night I went down to the BAFTA building on Piccadilly for a nominees get together and chatted with fellow animation category nominees (and fellow bloggers) Ben Lock and Phillip Hunt. I also had a chinwag with Studio AKA producer Sue Goffe and on Tuesday saw Laura and Alexi from E1 Entertainment who also represent the Lost and Found film. You may wonder... was it like gladiators squaring themselves up and grimacing at each other across the Coliseum? Did we spit in each others' eyes anticipating a furious battle for the prize? Er... no.

It was actually rather like a wedding reception where everyone was very pleased to see each other and catch up and make new friends (and possibly drink too much of the free wine).

I wonder what our Art Sparks character Orthus would have made of it all with his two heads. Probably one would have loved it from the start, and the other would have been suspicious and harder to bring around. That was the basis for our approach to the five short films we did with Sharna and Jane at the Tate.

Many people are cynical about modern and even classical art. We wanted to give permission to people to admit those feelings in our shorts. That’s why one of Orthus’ personalities is always rather suspicious of an artwork, while the other is a big ambassador for the work. The dynamic between them, one trying to convince the other of the merits of a new approach or way of thinking, with an added flavour of humour seems to have made Orthus a character people enjoy watching.

And I’m sure by the end of the evening, after a little argument with himself, both Orthus heads would have enjoyed the BAFTA reception as much as I did.

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