‘Road Mark’ (2022) is an experimental short film that I directed, shot and edited starring Craig Chiko. The 5-minute film tells the story of a common road marking on his journey from the flat grounds of a car park into the overwhelming three-dimensional world. It features stop motion animation, live action and 2D animation by Cillian Green. The sound was designed by Rachel Nic Thomas in collaboration with the Irish Composers Collective.
The idea to humanise an inanimate road marking came about from my project ‘Seeing Things’. The project was initially going to be a photo shoot, shot from a birds eye view, but my ideas expanded into a full-blown script after seeing the potential for incorporating stop motion.
The film was shot on a shoe-string budget with a DSLR that could be operated remotely from an iPad. With the help of camera assistant Jack Molloy, this allowed us to mount the camera to a tall ladder and shoot from a birds eye view. Stylist Becca Boyce sourced several outfits for Craig to resemble various road markings which really sold the idea.
Overall, this run and gun style project was a joy to make. Thanks to Rachel from the Irish Composers Collective for collaborating and making a great score and to the ICC for screening the film at Unit 44 during their ‘Salon Flicks’ festival.