Introduction
My film, “Nibbling of the Night”, is a twelve-minute-long stop-motion puppet animation which took over three years of hard work to make. This women-empowering black comedy features vampires, gothic motifs, rhymed dialogue, and striking visuals – all handmade and hand-painted. It is an inspiring story about the mutual understanding of three women who help each other, creating a female alliance. Although they seem to be the exact opposite of one another, they are united by a common desire for freedom, happiness and living as emancipated. This film will empower you, make you laugh and reflect.
Inspiration
My purpose was to talk about the independence of women and the problem of unhappy people lacking the strength to make the necessary changes in their lives and who need the stimulus given by others to take control of their fate again. This powerful message shines from underneath the film’s mask of humour.
Inspirations for the plot come from my deep love of Gothic literature and Polish heritage as I am a huge aficionado of Polish stage dramas of the Romantic era which – just as the film dialogues – are written in verse and feature many intriguing women characters who sadly were often unfairly demonized.
The clash of two worlds which we see in the film – nineteenth century vampires and a modern middle-aged unhappy marriage creates a high comedic potential and helps connect the past with the present portraying Gothic motifs and literature references in an entertaining and fresh way.
The Process
The animation was shot in Cardiff, at the University of South Wales. The shooting took numerous months out of the three-year long creation process.
On a single twelve-hour day in the studio, I made around 10 seconds of animation using 24 fps frame count which means that the puppets needed to be moved and photographed 24 times for one second of animation. Understanding these numbers helps in realising the unbelievably huge amount of work that the 12-minute-long film required.
The shooting was predated by detailed planning, voice acting recordings, previsualizations of character movements and lip-syncing within the shots, preparation of the puppets, props and sets all necessary to create a complex stop motion production in which everything what appears on the screen was hand-made and hand-painted.
This fascinating pipeline allowed me to build the whole world from scratch in a specific visual style, which helps tell the story. In the “Nibbling of the Night”, the presence of vampires is felt from the beginning, thanks to the gothic easter-eggs in the sets, e.g., the coffin-shaped furniture. The designing process required lots of research – I was studying gothic architecture and vampire movies, including the classic “Dracula” (1931) by Universal Pictures starring Bela Lugosi.
What It Means to Be a Finalist:
How does it feel to have your work recognised at Worcester Film Festival? The reception of the “Nominee” status at the “Worcester Film Festival” means a lot to me, as well as our whole film crew. It’s a great honour and reward to know that our film resonates with various audiences around the world, empowering and touching the viewers, and earning the appreciation of industry professionals.
Film festivals are a special opportunity to meet with your audience, grow as a filmmaker, network, get inspired and look for future collaborators with whom you will join forces on new films. If you would like to reach out, feel free to connect with me on Instagram: @gabibania
Where to Watch / Follow:
Please follow the film on Instagram @nibblingofthenight_film_gb where you will find behind the scenes materials and news about its festival journey.
If you would like to see the animation, please support our fundraiser with 3 EUR: https://4fund.com/cc4rz7
Each donor receives the film and can use it, e.g., during lessons on Gothic literature
