Ahead of his visit back to campus this month, BA (Hons) Animation Production graduate Tom Carey sits down to chat about his journey from student thesis films to working on LAIKA’s most ambitious feature film to date, Wildwood.
How did you first discover your passion for stop motion animation?
It actually started in Year 6 of primary school during an art lesson exercise! We did a little claymation project using plasticine and digital cameras. That was the first time I was introduced to stop motion. I just thought it was so cool that you could take a photo, move an object, and make a film.
Growing up, I was super inspired by Wallace and Gromit. At my secondary school, we had the choice to study animation for GCSE alongside fine art, which is quite rare. Stop motion has basically been my North Star ever since.
While at AUB, you directed "Hiding" (2021), which became AUB’s first-ever stop motion–CG hybrid musical short. What inspired that project?
I grew up doing musical theatre every Saturday for 10 years, which is where I learned to love performing. Stop motion felt like the perfect place where I could combine my love for art and performance and perform through your art!
When it came to pitching thesis concepts in our second year, I noticed no one had really attempted a musical in stop motion at AUB before. I found a deeply emotional, melancholy song, got permission from the composer, and built a story around it. Because of COVID-19 constraints and available student specialisms, we teamed up with CG animators to create a hybrid short. It was a merging of all my passions.
How did you find your overall experience studying on the BA (Hons) Animation Production course?
Really good! When I visited universities with my parents, AUB was the first one I saw, and no other course compared. I loved that it focused on fundamental art skills and life drawing alongside animation.
The second half of our degree was tricky because of COVID-19 lockdowns; while CG students could adapt to working remotely, stop-motion students were limited to coming into the studio one person at a time. I look back feeling really proud of what we achieved under those restrictions, even if I had to finish directing the film remotely while starting my internship in America!
How did the opportunity at LAIKA come about?
It was so surreal. I had applied for the internship in my second year and didn't get it, but I re-applied in my third year with my thesis film work. Because I have dual UK–US citizenship (I was born in New Jersey before my parents moved back to the UK when I was a baby), I was eligible for the role.
I sent off my application while applying for runner jobs in London, thinking I had nothing to lose. After several interview rounds, I hopped on a call expecting a final interview, only to be told, "You’ve got it!" Within weeks, I moved out of my university house in Bournemouth and flew straight to Portland, Oregon.
What was it like stepping onto the studio floor at LAIKA for the first time?
It was intense! On our first day, they took us around the studio, and all these legendary animators whose work I’d idolised online came out of their cubicles. Going from being a student to animating flat-out for eight hours a day was a steep learning curve, but the training was incredible.
After my three-month internship ended in September 2021, I flew home to England, and a week later I had an email offering me a full-time position. I moved back out to Portland in January 2022 as an Assistant Animator and worked my way up to Animator on Wildwood.
LAIKA’s upcoming feature "Wildwood" is being described as their most ambitious film to date. What makes it so scale-defying?
Every LAIKA film has levelled up in scale; Coraline was set in a house, ParaNorman in a town, The Boxtrolls in a city, Kubo on a continent, and Wildwood crosses so many magical worlds and factions.
Everything in stop motion has to be physically built. Wildwood has more set locations and complex characters than any previous film – giant eagles, miniature rats, and a 132-minute runtime – it’s all of these combined that make it LAIKA’s most ambitious film to date.
Are there any specific scenes you animated that we should look out for?
My very first shots on the film were of the main characters, Prue and her baby brother Mac, cycling around Portland. It was such a neat parallel because I was new to the city in real life, and then I'd go to work and animate it in miniature!
I also animated some epic shots featuring a character called Brendan riding a massive Clydesdale horse on a forest set. The lighting and set were so huge and immersive that I’d play birdsong in the background while animating because it genuinely felt like being in a woodland.
You also got to animate a digital cover for Empire Magazine featuring "Wildwood". How did that come about?
That was a really cool opportunity in the summer of 2024. Empire was doing a 'moving cover' for their digital edition to reveal Prue's character design to the world for the first time.
The concept was Coraline passing the baton to Prue, it started with Coraline travelling through the famous tunnel from her film into Wildwood, zooming in as Prue turns around to face the camera.
You’ve recently returned from representing Wildwood at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). What was that like?
Incredible! It was the first time I got to share the film with an audience and speak about it on a panel. And meeting one of the actors who voiced a character I’d animated was amazing! Going to TIFF, experiencing those BAFTA and Oscar parties, and stepping into that world was completely surreal.
Next up, I'm heading to the Manchester Animation Festival in November, as well as an exhibition and panel talk for Wildwood at the Design Museum in London.
And you’re coming back to campus on 28 October to work with AUB’s Level 5 stop motion animators. What key insights are you hoping to pass on?
I'm really looking forward to it! Stop motion is a tight-knit community, so one of the biggest things I've learned is the importance of nurturing your network and not being afraid to reach out to people. Everyone in the industry is super happy to chat and help where they can.
My advice for anyone getting into stop motion is to just start doing it. You don't need a high-tech setup to begin, at its core, stop motion can be really simple, accessible, and fun.
