We were down at the Fresh Meat degree show last week, mincing around drinking free wine and making nice with a load of rather charming art students when we realised that some of the pieces were really really good. So we plied a few of them with blue nun and chatted aesthetics.
Daniel Britt, 22, Muswell Hill.
Joseph Pelling, 22, Godalming.
Could you explain in a nutshell what your whole degree show is about?
J: It’s kind of about just having a really fun time
D: I guess we wanted to expose the film
J: Is that right?
D: Yeah we wanted to expose the film, because we haven’t been bothered to put it on the Internet, so this is a good environment to show it.
J: I just really like large groups of people
What led you to create the work that you did?
J: Oh! OK yeah basically we both have a kind of hatred for generic uh…uh…
D: I don’t
J: Sorry for speaking on behalf of you
(General shouting of ‘I hate you I hate you’ and ‘OI OI OI’)
Get your story straight guys.
D: Ok work it.
J: Basically we decided on what I thought was the worst film, no, worst name for a film.
D: We had a hatred for the generic student animated films. They’re always called something like, ‘The Lost Coin’ or something. And the film will be someone dropping a coin down a floorboard, and it’s kind of CG and really dull. So we thought we’d give it… [J interrupts]
J: The name, and we started with the name and we went as far as we could with it… [D interrupts]
D: Dragged it as far as we could from that name… [J interrupts]
J: And just take it through loads of adventures in different styles and different…just different.
D: Like how the physical style of an animation can limit the character’s ability to move and things like that.
J: And also the idea that if you’re being helped by someone there’s this whole culture of self-help and these stupid phrases people talk in. “Believe in yourself” and, “Never let go of the dream”. We thought wouldn’t it be funny if the coin became a figure tutoring the boy, helping him through this whole journey.
D: Yeah, gave him motivational teachings. A lot of the stuff you find on the Internet can fit into anyone’s lifestyle. Mantras like, “if you want to DO this then you should just believe in yourself”.
Are these specific moments in your film that you’re talking about right now?
D: Well there are specific moments in the film in which you will hear the coin say loads of self-help jargon.
J: In fact quite a lot of the script has been taken directly from a website that we found
D: So it was basically plagiarism…
J: Yeah! Basically we’ve just taken these phrases and waven?…weavon? …Woven them?
Don’t worry this is going to be transcribed…
D: We’ve woven it into a weird tapestry of a motivational help.
What’s the title again?
J: ‘The Lost Coin’.
D: I think it still is the worst title we could have come up with.
J: Yes it is. We always thought about doing more and more films that are on similar planes. Like having a film that’s called, ‘Squiggle goes for a walk’
D: Dumb shit like that. We’re into creating something that starts with the shittiest simple animation you can get. So it starts in watercolour style, and you watch it and you’re thinking, “Alright. It’s twee, and boring” and then we take it as far away from that as possible.
So the aesthetic of animation means a lot of people can get away with having next-to-no storyline or direction?
D: Yeah. So many students’ films are shit like, “I’m going to do a film about buying a cat”. It’s just so sad that they think that because they’re doing animation they can get away with a dull story.
[power gets shut off and we're trapped inside a small dark installation of some sort] OK now we’re doing the interview in the dark so we have to finish it quickly, what’s next for you guys?
J: Um…probably working?
D: Rape… I’m going to rape as many people as I can.
Who has been your biggest influence?
D: Google image search.
Tell me one search that’s really good?
D: Fat, funny cats, cool cats.
Have you sold any of your pieces?
J: Yeah!
D: Yes we’ve both made hundreds and hundreds of pounds.
J: Thousands.
D: I’ve sold a little section of my soul
Do you have a preferred gallery?
J: What’s this one called?
D: Shoreditch?
J: Yeah the Shoreditch gallery, I love the Shoreditch gallery
When was the last time you stayed up all night?
D: (silence) Oh my god…
D: When we rocked at Kroggie’s
J: Yeah that crazy night
D: Joe and me were up all night dancing and snorting cigarette ash.
J: We were so high
Who was your first love?
D & J: My first love was probably animation.
‘The Lost Coin’ by Dan & Joseph
http://danielbritt.co.uk/
www.vimeo.com/danbritt
www.vimeo.com/joepelling