There
is comedic and dramatic gold to be mined in considering the
aftermath of reaching a Dream. Stuart Bradbury has begun mining
that territory in his first short film, "Hey Diddle Diddle".
The film is the story of the proverbial Cow going for the
moon. Once he achieves the thing he'll be known for… then
what?
Bradbury's simple illustrations and animations bring this
simple story to life -- the cow going for fame, the befuddled
onlookers who will tell the tale into perpetuity. But the
cow's internal monologue, delivered in a delightful brogue,
is the golden thread running through the film.
The filmmaker's journey to make the film has some parallels
to the story of a character going for a goal. This is best
summed up in his own words from the film: "If I reach
for the moon, but fall short, at least I'll land in the stars."
"'Hey Diddle Diddle' is my first journey into animation,
once I finally decided I had to bring my scribbles and ideas
to life. The decision to actually make an animated short
was the easy bit. It was where to start, and how to do it,
that I struggled with. The process of making the film became
my training and education.
All in all, the film took just under a year to complete.
I spent that time grabbing any spare minutes I could to
develop the film, slowly driving myself crazy drawing cartoon
cows. The romantic view I have of my film now that it's
complete is very different to the one I had half way through,
buried in a pile of paper.
"If
I reach for the moon, but fall short, at least I'll
land in the stars."
- Stuart Bradbury
I
feel as proud of the achievment as I do of the finished
film. Coming into the project with no experience or technical
knowledge, you would imagine my expectations were low. However
it just meant I didn't understand what I could (or more
importantly, couldn't) achieve. It took a little
while to wind in my ambition and work within my limitations.
When
you look for my inspiration you'll notice there’s more than
a passing resemblance between my personal story and the
message in the film. But hopefully 'Hey Diddle Diddle' is
another step in my own leap over the moon.
Just
scribbling isn't enough any more. I have to create things
and see my ideas through, keep plugging away, keep working
hard. Where it goes from here, I do not know. However, I
do know I want to be a bit more than a scribbling boy locked
away in a back bedroom with a vivid imagination.
