Wellington Silver Screeners: Charlie Faulks _{by Alessia Belsito-Riera}

In our Wellington Silver Screeners series, Alessia Belsito-Riera shines a spotlight on the movers and shakers working in the film capital of New Zealand. 

From deep in the trenches animating his new YouTube show Bloke of the Apocalypse, which received a grant for almost $500,000 from NZ On Air, 20-year-old Wellington-based animator Charlie Faulks takes a break from the grind to visit me in the Regional News office.

“Face-to-face connection is so much more valuable than glitchy Zoom faces,” he beams.

Fresh out of uni, he shares what he’s learned, his story, and his inspirations.

What do you love about drawing?

Being able to immediately conceptualise ideas. Studying at Massey, I was alongside a lot of filmmakers and to make a film you need a crew, you need a set, and all these different things need to line up to create something visual. But with drawing it’s very immediate. I really like that; it’s very inspiring to be able to bring stuff to life in an instant.

How would you describe your style?

There are a few different styles I like to work in, but the one I like most is a little bit off-putting. There’s just something weird about it. It captures some sort of ugliness of the human face. I’m really interested in how different styles convey different feelings, and how they hold the subject matter or whatever they’re representing.

Have you always enjoyed storytelling with drawing?

When I was young, I just liked drawing, I didn’t really care about the storyline. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve been inspired by different things. I wanted it to be deeper, and I wanted there to be meaning. It’s been a gradual realisation of wanting to marry drawing with something else, something with a bit more of a bite.

How did you go from drawing as a kid to where you are now?

Just by continuing to do it and maintaining the inspiration, because that’s the hardest thing: the practise and getting the 10,000 hours in.

I grew up in Gisborne and then I came to Wellington to study animation. Wellington seemed like the biggest place in the world. That shook things up and I started being inspired by the people here. Being able to attend events and meet people locally was so important. At the moment, I’m trying to involve myself in the community here.

I started freelancing online during lockdown when I was 16 or 17. It’s the sort of thing you have to build up, so it started off very small, and each job was so exciting. It gave me all the connections I needed. I worked through my degree and also maintained a freelance job doing random character designs and building out that network with people all over the world. Creative degrees give you so much free will, which made it easy to focus on things like trying to level up outside of the classroom. In animation and film there is so much free time; students need to utilise that. Jumping on that opportunity really helped me.

Tell me about your current project, Bloke of the Apocalypse.

It’s set in rural New Zealand and follows a father and son who have a very tumultuous relationship, during a zombie apocalypse. It’s based on my dad and my little brother, who’s nine, so it’s really helpful to have those detailed archetypes I can steal from. It’s six, six-minute episodes releasing in October. We’ve got funding from NZ On Air so we can make the whole first season. It’s in the same vein of Adult Swim, but very Kiwi. We’ve tried to really retain the stereotype of a rural farmer who’s very stoic and doesn’t talk much. Opposing that is his son, who is more like me, who didn’t really fit into that lifestyle. It’s very personal, more so than I like to admit maybe.

We’re making sure we can package it for an international audience as well. We had a meeting the other day about subtitling Bloke because it’s so entrenched in a thick Kiwi accent that it might be problematic for people overseas to get over that hurdle. I think we’re very mystical to the rest of the world. There’s a novelty with New Zealand, and especially the parts that aren’t seen as much, which are these extremely rural towns up and down the country. I love it, it’s fun, and I hope people enjoy it.

How did you get the project off the ground?

Using the time off from uni and making it myself with my mate Jack Marlin, who voices Bloke. After about nine months, I had the first three episodes done and released online. I was able to submit it to Floating Rock’s Pitchfest and although it wasn’t accepted, I met producers Ben Powdrell and Francesca Carney. They liked the idea and introduced me to the funding round that NZ On Air was offering. We spent months building up this huge pitch deck and they bridged the gap from the show to the industry – all the bits that creatives don’t think about very much. It was perfect because I could just focus on the creative aspects of the show. After a few months we got shortlisted and then a few months after that it got announced! It was cool. It’s been a big learning experience.

What point are you at in the project?

We have six weeks of animation per episode. We’re just starting our third episode, and it’s going very smoothly. The first episode was a big learning curve. It’s nice that the producers are onto it, and we’ve got this big schedule – so we’re not just running around headless. There’s no hierarchy, everyone’s got a say in everything. You don’t want to be tunnel visioned on the same thing for weeks on end. We’re trying to keep things unconventional.

How do you find working in Wellington’s industry?

It’s so close knit and everyone knows each other, but it’s not exclusive either. It’s very welcoming and charming. It’s been great to meet everyone, and our office is on Massey campus, so we’re mates with all the people around us. It’s cool to see all the smaller things cooking up here. I love it. Wellington is such a dynamic city.

Do you have any other projects on the back burner?

Yes, because I’m already getting nervous for when Bloke will wrap up! I really like writing; I wrote a feature film last year that’s not something I can make, because I don’t have the hardware and I don’t know how to make a film… but it’s so satisfying to hold the wad of paper. I just finished writing a short live-action film that I want to film this year for the sole reason of gaining experience in filmmaking. I’m developing a few things at the moment just because it’s fun, and I can, and it expands my portfolio.

What advice would you give someone trying to get into animation?

Make stuff, fully finish it, post it, and show it. Don’t talk about projects before you finish them. I used to do this as well, but it just made me sick to my stomach when I would talk about it and then it would fail, or I’d get sick of it. So, don’t speak on things until they’re done!