Rogue Farm was produced and animated in Scotland in 2005 with support from Scottish Screen, Grampian TV and STV. This film was the first animation project to be funded by the Scottish Film structure which controls production in that country. Made with a hand full of animators in the extra bedroom at Nick’s house, (Nick was our tech support and a great animator as well) we produced the film quickly and with very little money. Designed to be a great film, it was also envisioned as a proof of concept project that would show our small companies production and artistic capabilities. The film was a huge success within the limitations that being made in Scotland places on any such project. It was a widely held belief that making the film would be impossible as nothing like it had been made in Scotland in the way we were attempting before. Our goal was to break these artificial barriers and show what the real possibilities were. The film went to play well at 20 plus European festivals and won a prestigious Jury Mention at AniFest in the Czech Republic. It was also featured at a New York screening of Scottish films highlighting the countries best productions.
Shortly after this point, Scottish Screen abandoned its support for the project wanting to concentrate on the next slate of their production cycle. Because we had produced the film with a very limited budget, we could not afford to continue to try and promote the project and so its run on the festival circuit came to a close before we could try to exploit it in the United States. It did however catch the eye of Michael Rose, the EP of the Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit; Curse of the WereRabbit, who approached us to develop the idea in a major feature project. After a year working on that project (which also received support from Scottish Screen) the project fell apart due to “creative differences” between the director and the producer. That story is a whole other topics which I could discuss a length but will leave for another time.
This was groundbreaking stuff for production in Scotland and really made an impact on the notion there of what was possible. It has had a huge impact on their attitude towards animation and it’s unfortunate that the feature it inspired was never made. This is sci-fi animation from Scotland. I hope you enjoy! 🙂