Magic Light Pictures has adapted many of author Julia Donaldson’s books for the screen, in delightful 20-plus minute animated short films. The latest is The Smeds and The Smoos, about red and blue creatures who vow not to interact with each other. Two younger members of these families want to change that. Directors Samantha Cutler and Daniel Snaddon join me for this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This interview was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: What keeps surprising you about adapting Julia Donaldon’s stories?

Samantha Cutler: Julia’s stories seem simple but are actually very complex with finding the most perfect words to fit each moment. She always manages to get a delightful rhythm to her writing and is amazingly inventive and playful. I think that draws the children in and the fact that they’re such a joy to read that’s why parents love it too.

Daniel Snaddon: What’s also surprising is that there is a great variety of tone, genre and subject matter, so thankfully it always feels like we’re telling something new that we haven’t tackled before.

JM: What were your goals with how you wanted to present the power of friendships and getting along with someone else?

SC: Dan and I really wanted to leave the audience with a warm happy feeling and sense of togetherness. In the world there is so much focus on conflict and we wanted to bring something lovely, fun and positive with some silliness on the side. A bit of an escape with a sense of hope. That change is possible. We wanted all generations to find something they could relate to through our characters young and old.

DS: We also really wanted to earn the right to present the story’s point of view, by making sure we really understood why the conflict exists in the first place, and to track the steps to how they warm up to one another, showing that it takes effort and a shared goal before they can accept one another.

JM: Describe the effort that Sally Hawkins puts into her narration.

SC: Sally was a dream. Every line she did was interesting and different and more than we could have hoped for. She brought so much warmth and charm to the narrator and I think it’s absolutely beautiful. She draws you in straight away and knows when to push moments and when to let them breathe .She is a true star talent and we are so fortunate to have had her. The whole recording session we were in awe.

DS: She really went above and beyond, studying the animatic beforehand, learning all the strange and wonderful names that Julia made up for all the planets and the creatures that feature in the story, some of them are real tongue-twisters!

JM: How did you want to create a wondrous experience, especially as we venture into space?

SC: Dan and I wanted it to feel like a family road trip in a way. Creating great memories. We didn’t want it to feel too sci-fi or alien. We were looking for the perfect balance so it was relatable and stayed in the Magic Light realm. We also wanted to stay true to the book with the amazing planets Julia and Axel came up with and keep it exciting and the audience wanting to explore them too.

DS: It’s also such a pleasure to be able to use the medium to present worlds which have a poetic simplicity about them, focussing on the emotion of each environment and how it makes us feel on the journey, as opposed to just the physics. Having said that, physics can also invoke a sense of wonder, we were delighted that Axel had drawn the Smeds and Smoos operating in zero-gravity when they’re in the rocket, and tried to use it to good effect in the film!

JM: Those are fun moments when the antennae are rubbed together. How did you make that look fun?

DS: So the line in the book is “The two rubbed antennae and played all day long,” and we wanted to find a way to use this beat as a turning point in their relationship. However, visually having two aliens rubbing their feelers together for a prolonged period seemed a little uncomfortable for them (and for the audience)!

SC: Dan and I wanted it to be playful like static electricity and that it’s so surprising and unexpected that Bill and Janet can’t help but laugh. Perfect way to break the tension. A lot of the credit goes to our amazing screenwriter, beat-board artist, voice artists and animators for capturing it beautifully.

JM: What are the benefits of being able to tell a story like this in 25 minutes, as opposed to just five or 10?

SC: I think Smeds and the Smoos is such a rich story we could have never fitted it into a shorter format. I think the first animatic we ever did from Dan’s first boards ended up being 37 minutes or something hahaa. With 25 minutes we can really establish the relationships and give gran and grandpa time to warm up to each other.

DS: I think the trick to great story-telling is how the different layers weave together in a way that everything feels greater than the sum of its parts. Having the extra time allows us to weave a couple of different threads throughout the film, and hopefully tie them up in a satisfying way at the end.

JM: How have these characters affected you emotionally over the past couple of years?

SC: I think magic light characters always bring me joy with their immense charm. But the Smeds and the Smoos will always be close to my heart because it was my first time directing and given more control. I love the designs so much and just how appealing and fun they all are. The baby especially since it took us a while to find the right kind of cute and that my sister had her first baby while I was on the project. I feel like since the storyboards the characters had so much presence they lept off the page and we were almost documenting their day to day.

DS: The opportunity to bring this story to the screen has meant a lot to me personally: Being from South Africa and from a mixed race family whose parent’s marriage wasn’t legally recognised by the apartheid government in the 70s, my hope is to honour and celebrate the courage my parents and others have had, when they’ve crossed social and political boundaries in the the pursuit of love and happiness.

JM: Coming together as a group or a team is a big theme of this story. How did you see that firsthand in making this short?

SC: Smeds and the Smoos was a wonderful showcase of teamwork. It was a brand new team of people who hadn’t worked with each other before and it was remote. Dan and I had to make sure there was enough communication between teams and that people didn’t shy away from asking questions. We really wanted the film to be a collaborative experience where if someone had a great idea we would put it in the film. Our animation director Annike Pienaar was fantastic at creating a great team camaraderie in that she would have lots of fun coffee time sessions where animators would show and tell their drawings or favorite plushy or Annike showing off her new vacuum cleaner hahaa. I think all these things brought everyone together and really benefited the film.

DS: Also, as we started during the pandemic, we only really got to meet our team in London after the film was wrapped! So like in the book, we went on a long journey in pursuit of our common goal, and in the end, we found each other!

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Jackson Murphy

Jackson Murphy is a movie critic and entertainment columnist. He is the creator of the website Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

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