Gravity (2021) from Jo Peel on Vimeo.
Gravity is the new semi-autobiographical narrative film created and directed by artist Jo Peel.
Created over two months during national lockdown earlier this year, Gravity combines hand-painted animation with live action film to tell a story of our capacity for renewal when times are hard or things in life go wrong.
Inspiration for the project came when Jo rediscovered a story she had written aged 15 years old, she describes the moment:
“I was struck by the relevance of what I was thinking about as a teenager. Not only did the story resonate with the challenging life experiences that so many people are facing at this time due to the pandemic, but also what I had written about was consistent with the same themes that inform my work now. There is comfort in the fact that no matter how tough things get, life carries on, things continue to grow.”
Jo designed and constructed a hand-painted set from cardboard and wood in her city centre studio, then worked with Sheffield based filmmaker Jordan Carroll and actor Talulah Dixon to realise the live action elements of her now scripted story on screen. Applying her meticulous process of hand-painted animation to the project, Jo spent three weeks painting progressive scenes then snapping photographs to create each three-minute animation. Using this process she brings her distinctive motifs and scenes of the changing states of our built environment into motion. Together with audio engineer and musician David Haynes, Jo also created an original soundtrack to accompany the film with vocals by singer Danni Maibaum.
I had the chance to talk to Jo about the making of the film, which you can listen to above, or on >SPOTIFY<, >YOUTUBE<, >APPLE MUSIC<, or wherever you listen to podcasts!
