Meta Mutt to Mars

Director’s Notes – Ian Powell

Meta Mutt was conceived & written in 1999 and has been filmed over a six year period in Wellington, New Zealand using a dedicated 35mm stop motion film camera loaned by FAT Films. Final editing and postproduction was completed early in 2006.

Meta Mutt To Mars is my first animated film although I have previously used stop motion for a music video shot on location in Osaka, Japan. It is a filmic technique that I have become endlessly fascinated with & intend to explore further.

Stylistically the film is influenced by the B grade science fiction movies of the fifties, film noir and Japanese science fiction from the fifties, sixties and seventies. It is also informed by the optimism and aesthetics of the early years of space exploration, specifically including Laika the Russian astro-dog, who was the first living being sent into orbit in 1957.I have studied the work of animation legends such as Ray Harryhausen, Jan Svankmajer and Nick Park but also consider the work of New Zealand kinetic artist Len Lye an important influence.