British-Lebanese filmmaker Naaman Azhari returns to DN – after last joining us with his touching ‘what could have been’ drama Breathless Puppets – with new short Threaded (Sultra). Similar to Breathless Puppets with its moving interpersonal narrative and soft-textured rotoscoped animation, Threaded is the story of a mother and her son, and the notion of control one has over the other. What really strikes me about Azhari’s work is firstly, how gorgeous it is to look at, and secondly, how he’s able to convey emotional interiority through said visuals. There’s also never a reliance on cleanly spelling everything out for the audience, but rather allowing the animation to wash over the viewer, offering the chance for interpretation. We were pleased to have the opportunity to catch up with Azharifor once again for a revealing conversation where he talks through the free-spirited nature of his preproduction, the (overly) lengthy process of animating the short in Photoshop, and the art that informs his distinctive style.
What was the starting point for Threaded?
I started thinking of the concept for this piece when I began my MA in Animation at the Royal College of Art. I felt very stuck in my old ways of animating and telling stories, that having the space to develop new skills was crucial. The films I make always gravitate towards socio-political topics that I care about. For years, I’ve been wanting to make a film about Arab family dynamics that I grew up with. I was particularly interested in exploring the denial many Arab parents have towards their children. Especially if they do not meet the status quo. The film’s English title is Threaded but the Arabic title is Sutra which has a double meaning: Sweater and concealment. It felt like the ideal title for a film about a mother who knits sweaters for a son who has a hidden life.
It was important to me to only have the mother seen through her hands.
What inspired you to create a narrative expressed from multiple perspectives?
In this film, I wanted to merge a mother’s telling of a story that is very different from what we are seeing through her son. It was important to me to only have the mother seen through her hands. There was a real power in that, because as the story develops it informs and highlights the sense of control she has over her son’s life.
Your work always has such a distinct, grounded rotoscoped style of animation, could you tell more about your process on this?
The whole process from conception to execution took two years. It was a very complicated story to tell and one that needed the time it took. Whilst I was developing the story I kept filming scenes I thought would be in the film. They were very helpful in understanding the world and the style I wanted to go for. I would either film my friends or myself to create these short mood edits. These tests really allowed me to get comfortable in front of the camera that I ended up using myself for convenience and control. I had no budget to hire actors or locations. I also cast my friends as the other characters in the film. It was all a bit silly. I would go around London to film a wedding scene in a backyard garden and then film a nightclub scene in my bedroom. For the scenes with the mother’s hands, I filmed my mother knitting and ironing. The flexibility that comes with rotoscope animation is incredible. It also makes the live action shoot less stressful when you don’t have to think about lights and locations.
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The story cuts back and forth in a non-linear fashion, what implications did that have on the live action aspects of the project?
Because the film has a very non-linear storytelling, I had to have the edit in my head prior to shooting. I had a shot list of all the angles and close ups I needed. There is almost no dialogue in the film, which made it more flexible, but I had to have the visuals narrowed down for the sequences to flow. I was also conscious about what scenes were going to be black and white and which ones were going to be coloured. All the metaphorical elements were thought of during the conception of the piece to facilitate the animation process. The sound design and music were also completed before the animation process even began.
There’s a softness to the texture of the animation. Are there any particular pieces of art that inform your visual style?
I was inspired by so many French illustrated books like Martine. The drawings were picturesque and presented this perfect life. This shiny, perfect life that is illustrated is what informed the style here. I was also inspired by Em Cooper’s oil painted animations. The way these paint strokes flicker frame by frame and the unsteady feeling you get from the images really informed the way I wanted to go about this.
All the metaphorical elements were thought of during the conception of the piece to facilitate the animation process.
How long did you spend animating?
It took me a total of one year to animate this film. I did it all on Adobe Photoshop, which was a huge mistake I’ll never make again. It’s not the most animation friendly software, but because I felt comfortable with it, I persevered and continued with it. I was very proud with the way I organised my way through the animation process. My process is usually chaotic and I never name files correctly or back up anything. However this time, my scenes were named and numbered based on the timeline or location. I also had colours to determine the completion of every scene. Everything was also linked to a spreadsheet that allowed me to have a full view of the progress.
I tested scenes frequently by exporting them and playing them with the sound. Every time I completed a scene, I would add it to the master edit to see if it flowed well with the sound. Every scene would typically be between two to five seconds long. Depending on which one I was working on, it would take me about two to three days to complete one. The wedding scenes were very complicated to paint, especially the dress and the veil. The scenes with the multicoloured jumper were also very time consuming and painful to blend frame by frame… I hated that jumper throughout the production process but it served the story.
Did you receive any support or feedback from tutors or other students at the RCA?
I was very lucky to have the support from my friends and tutors at the RCA. I would send my progress to people around me to hear their thoughts and get some feedback. When I finished the film, my main concern was people being able to follow the film with its non-linear story and subtitles (for non-Arabica speakers). Luckily, the response has been affirming so far. I feel incredibly lucky and proud to be putting this out into the world now. On to the next one!
What is your approach to sound? You mentioned earlier constructing scenes before animating including the sound.
I always edit sound in the live action cut. I wanted sound that lent to this dreamscape or distorted reality. I’ve done plenty of experimenting in the first half of the film when the main character is in prison. I wanted the audience to hear his internal voice and also his surroundings in prison. I take a lot of inspiration from films that play with memory in real time like Wild by Jean-Marc Vallée.
Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on next?
I’m currently working on an animated documentary and I’m also developing a new short about the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
