How Mermaids Breed had a long gestation period that began with cloth and binding, arising from a sequence in an earlier stop-frame model animation film The Web. “The binding led me to explore Chinese Foot binding and to Emily Prager’s short story A Visit to the Footbinder. These sources were combined with the Hans Christian Anderson story The Little Mermaid, wanting to show that when the mermaid swapped her tail for legs every step she took would be like walking on sharp needles, as if her new legs were foot bound. I explored these ideas for some time, but found that the narrative became too complicated. Eventually, I stripped the story down to a mermaid in search of semen to fertilise her eggs. I liked the idea of her not being prepared to change into human form to procreate, but to find a scientific method of fertilising her eggs.
A determining factor in moving to full 3D computer animation was my desire to create ‘graspable water’. In stop-frame, it is difficult to represent the fluidity of water, as it cannot hold still for the camera and needs to be represented by cling film, Vaseline or glass. I compiled examples of previous stop-frame water but none looked quite right. I wanted the water to appear to have the graspability of cloth as well as the movement, translucence and flow of water. The narrative explored the fertility of stone women who live in the sea and control the waters movement from its edges. So I needed to create a new material: ‘graspable water’.
Screenings and Awards for How Mermaids Breed.
Santa Barbara International Film Festival (USA) (Audience Award) March 2003
Taiwan International Animation Festival (Taipei) April 2003
Tough Eye International Animated Film Festival (Finland) May 2003
Holland Animation Festival (Utrecht) November 2002
Athens International Film & Video Festival (Ohio, USA) April 2003
Bristol Animated Encounters (UK) May 2003
Annecy Int’l Animated Film Festival (France) (in competition) June 2003
Rushes Soho Shorts Festival, London, (UK) August 2003
Anima Mundi International Festival, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo) August 2003
Fantoche International Animation Festival, Switzerland (Special Jury Award for Poignant Inversion of Myth) September 2003
KROK International Film Festival, Ukraine, September 2003
FAN Festival of Animated Film, Norwich, (UK) October 2003
Espinho Cinanima (Portugal) November 2003
Future Film Festival Bologna (Italy) January 2004
PISAF (Korea) November 2003
Leipzig International Festival (Germany) October 2003
BAF Bradford (UK) November 2003
San Sebastian (Spain) November 2003
Paris Lesbian Film Festival (France) (Best Short Animation) November 2003
Istanbul Trendsetter (Turkey) November 2003
Black Nights Animated Dreams Tallinn (Estonia) (Best Story Award) November 2003
Anchorage Int’l Film Festival (Alaska) December 2003
Future Film Festival Bologna (Italy) January 2004
Lleida Animac Int’l Animation Festival (Spain) February 2004
British Animation Awards Nomination (Best Craft)(London) March 2004
Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (Germany) April 2004
Seoul Women’s Film Festival (Korea) April 2004
Philadelphia Film Festival (USA) April 2004
Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (USA) April 2004
Bourges Gay & Lesbian Festival (France) May 2004
Norwegian Short Film Festival June 2004
Melbourne International Animation Festival (Australia) June 2004
Brooklyn Int’l Film Fest (USA) June 2004
Zagreb (Croatia) June 2004
SNIFF Slovenia Int’l Short Film Festival (Slovenia) June 2004
Tabor Film Festival (Croatia) June 2004
Budapest Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (Hungary) July 2004
Geneva Pride (Switzerland) July 2004
Lucania Film Festival (Italy) (Special Jury Prize) July 2004
London Int’l Animation Festival (UK) August 2004
Israeli Women's Film Festival August 2004
Vilnius Int’l Animation Festival (Lithuania) September 2004
Women Make Waves Film Festival Taipei (Taiwan) October 2004
Uppsala Int’l Short Film Festival (Sweden) October 2004