On Snotmotions subject matter Kate says: “The aesthetics of sport, the motion and movements in sport, and the fact that there isn’t much talking is very interesting from an animation point of view.” Tennis is known for powered pitches and anime-fight-scene-like grunting; a ripe playground for Snotmotion’s N° 02 short. “Animating a tennis serve was surprisingly tricky, but it forced us to study the timing and rhythm of the action in a new way,” Jordy says. Paying close attention to timing, both Kate and Jordy switch hats from animators to foley artists. “We sit upstairs, at our desk making all sorts of strange noises to match the scenes,” says Kate.
N° 03 brings us to a high-speed golf cart stunt scene, which feels like a throwback to Rory the Racing Car. The buggy flies across a grassy chasm, before sticking the landing and mucking up the pretend ‘camera’ lens in the process. The viewer is part of the action, making timing all the more important. “With the golf animation, I wanted to push interesting transitions between scenes and camera angles.” She continues: “It’s fascinating how even shaving off one quarter of a second from a short can make it far better or entertaining.” When spending such a long time working on such painstaking details, the euphoria when a scene if executed well is palpable for Kate and Jordy. When taking a step back to see what works and what doesn’t – sometimes you need to phone a friend to help test the attention, pace, and humour. Snomotion thrives on a creative challenge, but fun and collaboration is never forgotten.