The Witches
6’30”, 2002
In 1590, the reigning monarch King James VI of Scotland was in danger of being toppled from his throne; due to the blight of witchcraft. In North Berwick, three fishwives – Margaret, Ina and Sandra – have good reason to believe that they might be targets of the King’s witch hunt and so set about devising a plan to save themselves from the fearful witch-dooking apparatus.
Technique
The Witches was painted on Somerset Satin printmaking paper at A3 size. The image was drawn using charcoal and watercolour. At the same time Elizabeth was animating directly onto an adjacent overhead projector; the image from the projector was projected onto the surface of the Somerset Satin paper as a way of adding highlights and shadows to the image. Each frame was captured with a Digital SLR camera, Elizabeth then erased and redrew the next frame on both the paper and the projector.
Credits
Written by Morag McKinnon,
Animated and Directed by Elizabeth Hobbs
Edited by Mark Jenkins
Voices by Colin McLaren
Music by Philip Pinsky
Sound design by John Cobban
Produced by Katja Anderson at Red Kite Productions for Cineworks.
Awards
Finalist in the 10th Kodak/Bafta Short Film Showcase
Nomination 2003 Jim Poole Prize, Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh
DVD release with ‘Televisual’ Magazine