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21st May 2013
Space cadet
Title of film: My Face is in Space
Director: Tom Jobbins
On board Nasa’s Voyager capsule, currently on the limits of our solar system, is a golden record encapsulating life on earth in 1977. Tom Jobbins's graduation film perfectly tells the story of Larry whose photograph is on that album

My National Film and Television School graduation film My Face is in Space was born out of the idea that humans are brilliant but insignificant. I wanted to make a film about this somber but wonderful thought. I stumbled across the Golden Record, a time capsule burnt onto a video disc sent into space in 1977 by NASA. This seemed absolutely incredible, we were offering our hellos to the universe, but on a 12-inch record going in no particular direction. It summed up our brilliance, and our insignificance perfectly.

I decided to base the story around one of the people whose photo was sent into space on the record. If it was my 12-year-old self that had his face sent into space I would hope that it would soon lead to alien encounters. And so a story was born.

The era of the Golden Record suggested a 70s style. I also wanted to use a zoetrope made on top of a spinning record. From that I built the film in sections using multiple techniques that I thought helped illustrate the narrative, using transitions as a way of unifying the techniques and dragging people further into the story.

The film was a blast to make and I had a great crew. The mixed techniques meant we were never affected by tedium, which I can see as one of the drawbacks of animation. With so many techniques and a crazy narrative, the film could have lost its underlying emotion, but it didn’t, I have to thank my incredible crew for that! They were supportive, skilled and ultra-creative.

The record is still out there travelling through space and and the only man-made object to reach the edge of our solar system. Here’s a Guardian article about it.

Credits

• Director - Tom Jobbins
• Producer - Elia Bouthors
• Writers - Daniel Brierley & Tom Jobbins
• Cinematographer - Matthias Pilz
• Production Designer - Laura Tarrant-Brown
• Editor - Isabel Bernadette Brammer
• Sound Designer - James J. Morgan
• Composer - Graham Hadfield
• SFX Supervisor - Cat Harris
• Online Editor and Colourist - Scott Clements
• Production Manager - Bryony Chaplin
• Larry's Face - Thom Watson
• Larry Wilson’s Voice - Nadeem Rajwani
• TV News Reporter’s Voice - Philippa Alexander
• Live Susan - Zoe Cricks
• Live Larry Wilson - Arthur Mulhern
• Space rocket rider - Maria Aburn
• Assistant Editor - Balint Tusor
• Animation Assistants - Jane Brodie, Nina Cheradivo,Luke Carlton,Tim Dutton, Dave Gilbert, Nadia Taylor, John Reynolds
• Visual FX - Jason Evans & Kevin McDonald