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ABOUT THE FILM
This hand-drawn animated story is based on the real historical events of the crew of the C.S. Mackay-Bennett. They were contracted by the White Star Line to recover the bodies of passengers who tragically perished just two days prior in the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic.
The conception of Come to Our Assistance originates from the marriage of the director's two passions: history and animation. He firmly believes the basis of any great story is owed in part to the records preserved from our ancestors for future generations. Humanity’s task is to not only learn from these accounts, but to be inspired.
The Titanic disaster of 1912 is certainly a fairly familiar historical record. The testimonies of that fateful night are well-known: the acts of heroism from the crew, the band playing til the very end to quell the panic, and fathers bidding farewell to their families as they are denied entry onto the lifeboats. Despite no existing pictures of the tragedy, these images are still etched into the collective conscience of our society largely due to artistic interpretations such as books, illustrations, and film.
Due to his lifelong fascination with the Titanic and its impact on the world, the director knew he wanted it to be the focus of his film. Knowing this event had repeatedly been presented, he wanted to expand the narrative through a unique approach. In 2021, he started researching stories concerning the fallout of the disaster and the many operations that launched in response. He initially considered storyboarding a short film about the survivor testimonies during the sinking with a goal of highlighting the personalized perspectives of the events as they unfolded. But then he stumbled across the journal of Clifford Crease, mechanic of the CS Mackay-Bennett and one of the first individuals to revisit the site of the sinking just two days after it occurred. The grisly ordeal Crease and the cable ship’s crew went through to recover frozen bodies in the North Atlantic instantly captivated the director and he immediately began pre-production on adapting this record into an animated short film.
Research:
Given that the film is based on historical events, the first part of production was research. Not only did the director want to fully grasp the story of the C.S. Mackay-Bennett, but he needed to immerse himself in 1912. He created copious amounts of folders containing images of vintage equipment, brand material, artifacts, fashion, and hairstyles.
Script and Storyboard:
Once fully committed to the concept of the story, the director plotted out the script and set up storyboards to convey a rough interpretation of the final product. Even though the final cut of the film differs quite a bit from initial storyboarding, this stage is invaluable for early production.
Character Design:
Before consigning months to fully animating the storyboards, the design of the two key characters of Crease and Captain needed to be finalized. Crease’s form was loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe. While Poe’s time period precedes the Titanic disaster, his personification of death and darkness seemed apropos for this project. Captain, on the other hand, went through quite a few revisions. In fact, his current and final design was a very last minute decision before animation began in earnest. The director wanted the character to be difficult to understand. His emotional state and thoughts are intentionally hidden from the audience. With that in mind, the original designs for Captain were cold and stoic. Even though he didn’t outright dislike the concept of an intimidating interpretation of the character, the director experimented with a softer, more approachable version. This rendition immediately felt like a better fit for the story arc.
Animate:
By far the most time consuming part of the production is hand drawing each frame of animation. Using the storyboards as a starting point, the director always asked himself, “Can this scene be more dynamic?” Many early drafts he found to be static and flat in their composition, so he made great efforts to find surprising angles and arrangements to animate each scene.
The Result:
Like most filmmakers, the director certainly has a list of aspects he feels could be improved upon with this project, especially since he was still a student when production began. However, he is immensely proud of the work and pleased with the outcome of this first film.