DUCK director Richard Cullen has been nominated for a BIMA award for animating the music video to Darren Hayes’s “Who Would Have Thought.” This is wonderful news for Richard who is getting set to release the animated film This Delicate Film We’ve Made which will be released on Dec 1. It will later be released on iTunes worldwide February 2009.

BIMA is the industry association representing the interactive media and digital content sector.  It supports individuals and organisations which deliver high quality, creative and innovative, interactive media solutions. It strives to stimulate commercial growth, and acts as an industry liaison with academia and government through the provision of knowledge, encouragement and economy; BIMA is a united voice for its members and strives to develop an internationally competitive new media industry in Britain.

I caught up with Richard to congratulate him on the nomination. Here’s what he had to say about being nominated:
“It’s a massive compliment to be short-listed. I am, to use my favourite word, chuffed. Although I haven’t quite processed it yet - it feels as though it’s happened to someone else.

I certainly didn’t anticipate [being nominated]. It’s always strange for me to think of people even seeing my work, so to consider the idea that people might discuss it, or consider it worthy of this kind of attention is a bit beyond me, really.”

A few months ago I interviewed one of our newer directors, Richard Cullen. He recently completed work as the editor of the DVD concert video by Darren Hayes, “The Time Machine Tour.” The DVD debuted at #1 in the UK around July 22. Kudos to Richard (and Darren) and apologies for not blogging about this sooner.

Next up for Richard is another DVD titled This Delicate FILM We’ve Made. It’s due out in December and will feature 13 music videos off Darren’s last album. The majority of the films will be animated with Richard having animated and directed the majority of those. I’m sure it will be another #1 hit in the UK with a large following worldwide as well!

Here’s the interview with animator and director and Star Wars uber fan, Richard Cullen.

DUCK: What Got you Into Animation?
RC: I think it started with the Muppets. Seriously. I was, and still am, sort of obsessed with the way that they move - and the way that, in general, inanimate objects can be given life by a performer. As a kid I didn’t intellectualise it (obviously), but there’s something very specific about the Jim Henson style that got into my head - there’s something about the Muppets that manages to be very manic and slightly out of control, but very focused and intense at the same time. So there was that… and then eventually I trained as a theatre director, and - for reasons lost to history - started playing around with masks and puppetry and started to move away from ’straight’ theatre. That was at the root of it I think. And I love film. And I’m quite controlling, so having the final say on everything is a quite appealing on some level. So there are a number of reasons.

DUCK: What’s your biggest influence?
RC: The short answer is cinema! The longer answer I suppose is a whole bunch of directors who share a similar sensibility, though they’re pretty varied in their styles - Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, Ridley Scott, David Fincher, Godard. I’m still blown away by the look of Murnau’s ‘Sunrise’. So I suppose there’s a combination of expressionism and modernism. I’m going to call it Exprodernism. That’s my new word. I suppose they all do similar things in terms of framing - they all draw attention to the image as something to be looked at and considered, rather than just something that happened to be in front of the camera. They all make the image WORK.

DUCK: What are you working on these days?
RC: Right now I’m working on ‘This Delicate Film We’ve Made’ for Darren Hayes, which is a big project - a suite of 12 interconnected animations. The DVD will be available soon. And I’m doing a music video for a London-based band called The Slips.

DUCK: What’s your software of choice?
RC: I use After Effects all the time. Maya quite a lot. Photoshop now and then. Premiere occasionally. Then a bunch of other little task-specific tools.

DUCK: What’s on you iPod these days?
RC: I love Airside and Pleix. I’m a big fan of Studio AKA - particularly Marc Craste. His short film ‘Jojo in the Stars’ is just a thing of beauty.

DUCK: When you were a kid, what did you want to do when you grew up?
RC: When I was a kid I wanted to be a Jedi. Or a magician. Or a vampire. It took me a while to get over the magician thing. But I was rubbish at it, so I had to move on.

DUCK: What’re your favorite movies?
RC:The thing I’m absolutely the worst at is picking favourites. I’m too fickle. But I’m going to pick The Empire Strikes Back, even though it’s a Star Wars movie. I’ll go with it partly because it’s the first film I saw with the person I married, but also because it’s just so beautifully made. The lighting, the cinematography, the production design - it’s all just gorgeous. And it’s incredibly well written and directed (and it’s the one that George Lucas had the least involvement in. I’ll say no more). Everything about it is just a joy. But if I can have another film as well, I’ll have Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. There isn’t a film quite like it. It’s genius.

DUCK: What’s your favorite thing to do in London in the summer?
RC: I really love boat trips along the Thames in the summer. They’re no fun at all in the winter as it’s too bloody cold, and it isn’t the fastest way to get around the city - but you just get a real sense of the size and the history of the city. I’m sort of obsessed with London, which probably isn’t healthy thing. But you get a lot of freash air on a boat trip, and that IS healthy.

DUCK: What’s your favorite restaurant in London?
RC: Fave restaurant is E&O in Notting Hill. I think it stands for Eastern and Oriental - but that’s a guess and might be wildly inaccurate.

DUCK: Who would win in a street fight, Mozart vs. Beethoven, Obi Wan vs. Luke Skywalker, and Prince vs. Michael Jackson?
RC: Mozart, just because he was Austrian. And I’m half Austrian. Really. Obi Wan in his prime could jump about a lot, and he DID beat Anakin, BUT that was in the (shudder) prequels and they don’t count, and he did keep getting into situations where he was hanging off ledges all the time (and he never suspected Palpatine? IDIOT). Luke, in his prime, was a little bit dark and a bit edgy. He was a bit tortured, though he did have 80s hair. But Luke would win, despite the hair. Prince, no question. Anyone who has to tell you several times that they’re ‘bad’, isn’t all that.

DUCK: What are your thoughts on joining DUCK?
I’m very excited about working with DUCK! I’m just blown away by them liking my work enough to take me under their wing (duck- wing - no?). Knowing that you’re stuff is getting a little bit of attention is amazing. I sure it’s going to be fun - how can it not be??

You can visit Richard’s website at http://www.pixelfing.com

Just about a year ago, I was awaiting the release of the first new single by UK-based singer/songwriter Darren Hayes. It was called “Who Would Have Thought?” and it was off Darren’s forthcoming double album, magnum opus titled, “This Delicate Thing We’ve Made.” Darren committed to making music videos for most of the tracks, the majority of which would be animated. So when i saw the promotional music video for “Who Would of Thought,” I immediately loved the animation and it reminded me a lot of Jamie Caliri’s work on the United Airlines spot for DUCK from Jan 2006. So after i listened to the song a few times, and being the animation afficianado and dork that I am, I started trying to figure out who animated it.

The animator’s name is Richard Cullen.

Fast forward to a year later, and Richard has now joined DUCK’s roster of directors. Funny how things work out, huh? Like the other directors at DUCK, Richard is an extraordinary talent and a friendly chap, as the Brits might say.

Thanks in part to the kind people over at Powdered Sugar (Darren’s label), I was able to track down Richard and ask him a few questions about his career, interests, best magic tricks, fave restaurants, and more!

Check back on Friday when i post excerpts from my Q&A with Richard. In the meantime, check out his handy work in “Who Would Have Thought.”