Private Project

The Ballad of Mescal and Pistach

A video poem animation, using painted cardboard figures and digital paintings to illustrate a wry tale of The Wild West by my brother, the poet Marc Woodward. Contains strong language.

  • Andrew Woodward
    Director
    Homunculus - Clockwork A.I.
  • Marc Woodward
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short
  • Genres:
    western, video poem
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 29 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 5, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    0 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Andrew Woodward

I'm a British multi-media artist. In the last twenty years I've worked mainly in kinetic sculpture/automata; working with steel and brass, welding, brazing and adapting machinery, and occasional found skeleton.
I've always loved film making, making super 8 films as a kid in the 70's, VHS shorts with friends in the 80's, and trippy art/music U-Matic videos at college.
I've also worked making props for films, and In 2011 landed a dream job, working with ceramicist Rob Sollis at Pinewood studios on Ridley Scott's 'Alien' prequel 'Prometheus'. After a month working there, walking round the incredible sets and watching night shoots on the 'Back Lot', I had to pick up a camera again. This time digital, using Canon DSLRs.
My short 'Homunculus-Clockwork A.I.' was an intensive After Effects and Premiere training for me. Although CGI has taken off massively in recent decades, there will always be a place for physical props and sets, so building a miniature city and featuring my kinetic sculptures was a perfect way to utilise my painting and sculptural experience, and in homage to the film heroes of my youth, like Derek Meddings, Stan Winston or Rob Bottin.
B.A. Hons; Fine Art Painting / video-editing Bath College of Art, 1989.

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Director Statement

My latest short is a wry take on the mythology of The Wild West. using painted cardboard, sometimes articulated figures, (masking tape and staples), often against digital painted backdrops. This was a lock-down project in those lonely winter months, for one of my brother, Marc Woodward's poems.