"Independent: Free from influence, guidance, or control of another or others; self reliant: an independent mind."
--The American Heritage Dictionary

Dave Borthwick. © bolexbrothers.

Working as an independent filmmaker is not a "stand still" kind of thing for Dave Borthwick and his colleagues at bolexbrothers studios, in Bristol, England. The studio currently turns out commercials for such clients as Coca-Cola's Fanta, Legos and Weetabix to fund his love of "dynamic filmmaking." In fact, Borthwick limits the amount of work he takes on, so the studio can devote more time to making experimental shorts. Recently, the studio has turned out such films as Darren Walsh's The Biz and Mike Booth's The Saint Inspector--both made by first-time directors. This is in addition to its first feature effort, Borthwick's The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993).

Officially founded by Borthwick and Dave Riddett (now at Aardman Animations) in 1991, bolexbrothers is part of Bristol's thriving animation community. He recalls that the impetus to establish their current facility came when, "We were faced with a project (i.e,The Secret Adventures ) that was going to take one-and-a-half years to film, meaning we had to set up and equip our own studio. So, the film's completion left us with a full studio facility. Keeping that going had been relatively easy so far, because (to our surprise) we found ourselves being offered commercials on the back of the film."

In retrospect, Borthwick says that the process that led him into animation began in the late 60s and early 70s, when he was mainly working in "theater-based projects." This involved designing and producing projected special FX, backgrounds and lighting for "traveling performances."

Visually Narrative Ideas
"As I'd had little or no experience of working with film," he recalls, "all the material was 'stills based,' [which involved] using a variety of still projectors to produce the movement and animation that was needed (any light show veteran will know what I mean). That was a very formative period for me. Not only in discovering ways of teasing movement out of still images, but also in working with visually narrative ideas."

The theater group he was working with never bothered rehearsing their shows and the first time anyone saw the "whole picture" was on opening night. Working under these conditions may seem somewhat courageous, yet the experience seemed to generate excitement and wonder to the audience. He fondly remembers that, "What it taught me was that it can pay dividends if you learn to trust your instincts, especially when making creative solutions about narrative."

Borthwick still feels that the theater is "the perfect vehicle for audience engagement." However, despite the excitement he experienced in seeing a different show every night, Borthwick envied people who could "carry it around in a film can."

After learning the fundamentals of filmmaking at Bristol University, he wanted to be an animator; instead, he spent the next 10 years or so as cameraman, indulging his passion for lighting and composition. Borthwick was fascinated by the whole filmmaking process and wanted to be more involved.

By the early 1980s, Borthwick was living in Copenhagen, but frequently returning to England to work for the BBC. A turning point was an assignment to produce a series of "cheap" shorts set against the soundtracks of vintage pop records. The job required the juggling of very small budgets in order to pay for the actors required for particular films, leaving only "a few hundred pounds in the kitty. So, together with Dave Riddett," he explained, "I decided to produce them as animation films. All they required was our time and imagination. We couldn't afford to commission armatured models, so we plundered local rubbish dumps and the toy cupboards of friends' children."