Chasing the sun
Posted on Jul 17, 2025 by Admin
We catch up with George Cook, winner of best fictional short at Stories in Motion, to discuss his film’s unique blend of stop-motion animation and mythology
“I’ve been doing stop-motion for about 11 years now,” begins George Cook, a second-year animation student at University for the Creative Arts (UCA). “I did it as a child, just in my room. I tinkered about with everything and, eventually, I got the hang of it.”
Cook’s unrelenting passion for stop-motion animation led him to pursue the medium during A-levels, and then at university. “I might as well at least try,” he recalls thinking. Now he’s regularly making films as part of his degree course, starting with one- or two-minute projects to hone his skills. His latest – From the Sun, You Fell– also happened to win big at Stories in Motion, taking home the prize for best fictional short.
A tragedy’s retelling
From the Sun, You Fell takes its inspiration from Greek mythology – specifically, the story of the fall of Icarus. The film focuses on Icarus’ father, Daedalus, and his experiences of grief and guilt. “Within that tale, there was a huge part that was understated; the father-son relationship that was lost,” Cook argues. “I felt like that needed to be tackled.”
Leaning on the work of animator and director Joseph Wallace (Salvation Has No Name), Cook created the miniature world all on his own. “A lot of Wallace’s films inspired my backgrounds, how they looked and even how the puppets would look in some parts. I was inspired to do my own spin on that type of aesthetic, while blending in some of the visual styles of Greek mythology and related paintings, to really give it a sculpted effect.” He crafted the Daedalus puppet partially using felt and created the sea with cling film.
To make From the Sun, You Fell – all two minutes of it – Cook shot 24 still images per second. “I started pre-production, did a month and a half of animation, and then spent a bit of time on sound and visual editing, to bring it all together,” he recalls. The whole process took him three months in total, which is a testament to the meticulousness required of stop-motion animators.
While directing the dialogue-less film, Cook initially struggled with the lack of human emotion – something that a live actor often brings to the table. “I wanted to give it that human feel; a lot of the time it would come off as very stiff, like a caricature. I didn’t want to make it seem too outlandish, to the point where you couldn’t connect with it. That was the biggest challenge,” he admits. To negate this, he added subtle sound effects to land those emotional beats.
Stories in (stop) motion
Once Cook had completed From the Sun, You Fell for his course, he heard about Stories in Motion – a competition aimed at young filmmakers, co-sponsored by Canon and CVP. “I saw the ad on Into Film and, already having this film done, I thought, ‘might as well have a look into it.’ They recently introduced a couple more categories, and they seemed willing to accept animation, so I sent it off two weeks before the deadline,” he continues, “and I’m very, very glad I did.”
Though he did win the fictional short category, Cook said he just appreciated the experience in general. “Just being selected, shortlisted and seeing not only all the equipment on hand, but also all of the connections I had access to… I don’t see where else I could have got that experience,” he explains. “The festival was held at Everyman Cinema. Having my film shown to an audience like that, and especially seeing other people’s films, was such a great experience that I hadn’t had before.”
Being ‘vaguely familiar’ with CVP before Stories in Motion, Cook has since gone to the company’s London headquarters to browse its kit collection and attend industry lectures. “The main way I found out about CVP was through this competition, and I’m really glad I did. Their work is amazing.”
Cook still has at least another year of university before he becomes a fully integrated member of the filmmaking industry, but he’s already seen success at other festivals too. At the Animated Histories Film Festival – which partners with the Aardman Academy, an educational initiative by the award-winning animation studio – he won best animation for From the Sun, You Fell, as well as taking the overall prize in his age group (18-25).
Back at UCA, “I’m currently working on a two-minute film called Eden Farewell,” Cook shares. It is another mythology-inspired project. In his spare time, he concludes, “I’m constantly trying to work on whatever I can, to really get myself out there.”
