telling a STory Through Poetry
Ian's Note:
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One of my greatest fears for the poem was sounding too corny near the end of it.
Now I like to consider myself a bit of a cynical writer as I pride myself on making fun of things that sound too sentimental, but when I was tasked with writing this, my first instinct was to have Thaddeus step on something stupid like slime at the end to ruin the mood faster than how my sleep schedule was shortened due to this project.
But nearing the end of writing the poem I came to the conclusion that it would be in poor taste to end the animation like that, so instead, I tried to make the writing subtle yet clear enough so that the audience appreciated the message and didn’t throw up and ruin the carpet.
In fact, it was quite an emotional experience reading the mock recording for the said poem (see the bloopers for more information on that), but I was happy with the end result and even more impressed when it was performed by the ever-talented Bradely Gareth.
the Voice
Bradley's reel that the team listened to
When it came to figuring out what kind of voice we wanted for the film, we all agreed that the Train Conductor is meant to sound like a gentle giant. We were fortunate enough to stumble upon a voice actor named Bradley Gareth. Through his character reel, we knew that he was the right voice actor to approach for this project. When it came to instructing Mr. Gareth, we described the character of the Train Conductor to him and letting him have free rein over how he thought this character would sound.
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Bradley's Note:
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Right away, I was captivated by the calm, knowing charm of the Conductor, who conveys so many years of experience in so little time. All the little details about his feelings on the passengers, his passion for his work, all of that was just so much fun to try to bring to life!
MOck Reading
Along with the notes we gave to Mr. Gareth, we also provided him a mock reading to get a rough idea on how the tone should be.
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So the directors Ian and Louise had a meeting where they could hold a mock reading session.
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Ian's Note:
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This was the most emotional experience that I've had while working on this film.
Watching "Grave of the Fireflies" 3 times over would be less of an emotionally taxing experience than this.
But I am happy with the result, and you lot get to see my suffering through the blooper reel below.
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Louise's Note:
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I would like to formally apologize to Ian for being a perfectionist.