This collaboration between Fossil Collective and Broken Pixel has produced a miniature stop-motion epic. Let It Go is a tale of tragedy, heartbreak, hope and determination.
Inspired by the creative and narrative possibilities of the extraordinary indie game Minecraft and the classic conceit of Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. We created a world made entirely of paper, and brimming with detail. Hundreds of tiny props were used to make the island a believable and interring place. See if you can spot all of Fossil Collectives' desert island discs!
The story is set over two points in the life of Edward and Anne, a couple separated by an ill fated scarf saving incident. As Edward comes to terms with his situation, he uses ingenuity, determination and patience to reach his goal.
The characters were designed in the BxP basement at ESA's Patrick Studios in Leeds, the armatures were made from Lego, then painstakingly clad with sugar paper by Leanda Johnson. Emily Brooke-Davis worked on the balloon, the moon and countless other details.
Scores of tiny props and trees were made in a week long session at Temple Works in Leeds, with help from Josh Howley and Akeelah Bertram and regular BxP collaborators Kevin Roper, and John and Janet Dean.
Then we spent the next few months animating the video back in the studio. Edward was a joy to work with at first, the Lego components providing a perfect level of friction to move the joints in beautifully subtle increments. However, we soon realised the critical flaw in his design. The Lego shoulders could rotate and bend using two bendy bits and a roundabout (I'll put together a proper set of Lego instructions for the (now-improved) armature if anyone's interested), but there was no physical way his hands could meet; a pretty crucial action for the plot! However, it was to late for a redesign, so we re-wrote a couple of scenes and had to get creative with how we staged his movements.
As you can probably tell from that solitary, pretty tepid anecdote, the production ran smoothly without much incident. Ellie Ragdale came onboard in the closing weeks and did some great work on the sprouting tree stumps.
Many thanks to Jonny and Dave for giving us such a great brief and total freedom.
And special thanks to Lydia Dean for keeping me sane throughout the process.
Ashley Dean
Director of Broken Pixel.
A few stills from the production period and the final video.
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