Company Kept
Song and video by Huw Messie

When I started this project I had a very structured narrative in mind. I worked towards this for some time, but the experimental approach I was taking to animation and the materials I was using ultimately became the driving force molding what this piece came to be. I had some experience with stop-motion before this project, and I often use collage as a way to streamline the process. In this case it became a way for me to create many discreet character and environment animations to construct into a cohesive world of purposeful organisms. I found it was more intriguing to create interest in the relationships between characters (among each other and their environment), informing these relationships by the physical constraints and tactile qualities of their materials rather than a prescribed framework of intentions, and plot points. I’m interested in the idea of imagined ecosystems represented by unrecognizable bodies behaving in ways that are cohesive with the materials and systems existing within that imagined space. I try to apply themes of cooperation, competition, sustainability and other environmental dynamics within these systems.