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Interview

Gwilym Morris p1

READERSVOICE.COM aims to collect a few interesting reading tips. The 2015 short film Retrofit features some outstanding cg animation of a robot interacting with a live actor. In this interview, co-director Gwilym Morris talks about the cg animation process, describes the making of Retrofit and mentions several favorite books. Some favorite novels are listed on page one and books on screenwriting and directing on page four.

Imagescope Productions brings together veteran film professionals from around the world to work on particular projects. Retrofit is a 2015 short film which has an extensive international crew of modellers, animators, sound designers, vfx wranglers, composers and more. There are two actors, but only one live actor appears. The other is an animated robot voiced by Frank Fitzpatrick. Retrofit features some outstanding computer animation of the robot interacting with the live actor, Tom Bott, who is also the producer of Retrofit.
Retrofit is set in the near future, Dylan is a young man hoping for a reconciliation with his dead father. So Dylan buys a utility robot on the black market to house his father’s consciousness. The father doesn’t want to live via a robot, and Dylan has to decide whether or not to switch off the robot. It would be a terrible dilemma to face: for Dylan it’s whether to hang on to his father for Dylan’s own benefit or to let him go; for others, it might be whether to respect the sacredness of human life, or to give someone a painless death. In this interview, co-director Gwilym Morris talks about the making of Retrofit and gives some great reading tips.
Check out Retrofit on Youtube.

READERSVOICE.COM: Can you recommend some of your favorite books of all time?

GWILYM MORRIS: One of my favourite books is Shantaram by Gregory Roberts. The language is so rich and descriptive that you are swept up in the story and hold your breath at every page turn. It’s a book you can’t put down.
Another good book is The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. I like the pacing and tone of the story. A memorable read.
Other books I like for different reasons are:
The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Therault (amusing);
The Light Between Oceans by M.L.Steadman (tragic);
A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman (heartwarming);
Sleep Tight by Rachel Abbott (thriller);
The Unexpected Vacation of George Thring by Alistair Puddick (comic);
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simson (clever);
Follow you Home by Mark Edwards (thriller);
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (Romance);
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (heartwarming);
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (psychological thriller).

RV: How did you and the producer and actor Tom Bott meet up and come up with the idea to make the film?

GM: I work in the film industry as an animator and met Tom through a friend. The group had started putting together some initial sketches and tests and we showed him our work. He liked what he saw and he came on board.

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-copyright Simon Sandall.