Twisted victoriana, duelling monsters and a pinch of Monty Python – editor-turned-director Tom Werber offers up a Lovecraftian rap battle in his promo for new Losers (XFM’s Eddy Temple-Morris and ex-Cooper Temple Clause frontman Tom Bellamy) single Flush. While editing might be Tom’s first love, he’s now relishing the chance to let his imagination run wild.
When you were young, what did you imagine you’d be? When did you decide that you wanted to work in the film industry?
When I was young I wanted to be an Astronaut, or maybe a Paleontologist. I don’t remember deciding to work in film. I just followed a natural path from drawing (which I did a lot of) to animation and then to film, because I wanted to learn about storytelling. I’ve always loved film and animation.
Why have you decided to make the jump from editing to directing and how are you feeling about the change of role?
I have always wanted to direct, but I love editing. It’s maybe my favorite part of the filmmaking process because that’s where the film comes alive. I don’t think I’ve changed roles, I’ve just had a chance to show what I can do when I originate the material myself.
Tell me about how you got to where you are now?
I’m not sure where I am now! But it feels good. I think I got here by working hard and taking every opportunity. I don’t really believe in making plans because plans can go wrong, but I do believe in making preparations. Being well prepared for whatever might happen.
How would you characterise your creative process?
I keep scrapbooks but rarely look at them. I write down ideas and then forget about them. My creative process is chaotic to begin with: as spontaneous as possible. I think that’s important. Order comes out of chaos, and it’s good to let the chaos in again from time to time!
Details are very important, but then so is the overall form of a story or a visual piece. It’s easy to get obsessed with either. I think it’s good to be able to jump in and out – to focus on the detail, then to step way back and look at the overall form. I’m cutting a feature film at the moment and that seems to become increasingly important with longer-form projects.
Tell me about the Losers promo for flush – it combines old school monster movies with even-older-school Victoriana… how did the idea come about and why did you decide to juxtapose that style of animation/illustration with the music?
Dan Hillier is the very talented artist who does all of the artwork for Losers and Eddy (Temple-Morris, Frontman of Losers) wanted to do an animated version of his work, to bring it to life. Dan uses Victorian etchings in his work, so the juxtaposition already existed to an extent. The trick was to make it work with the track. The inspiration came from a lot of different places. Terry Gilliam’s Python animations were a big influence and I’ve tried to put in some of his trademark touches – to acknowledge that.
And what was the production process like?
I really enjoyed the production process. It was hard work but Distiller (Losers’ record label) left us to our own devices. Me and Dan talked about the character designs for the Victoria and Albert mechanical monsters and he came up with some fantastic interpretations of my ideas. All his characters were great fun to animate.
I recruited three other artist/animators to help out: David Gray, Yasmin Moktarzadeh and Sarah Harris. They all did a brilliant job and really helped out with the laborious business of photoshopping and animating.
What are your ambitions as a director?
I want to keep doing what I love, which is crafting stories, journeys. I have some specific ambitions, but I’m not going to talk about those just yet! Definitely more live action and more animation too
What inspires you?
Life inspires me. Inspiration can come from anywhere. And I’m increasingly finding that collaboration with other artists inspires me.
For more information about Tom, visit www.tomwerber.com
