Meet the stars of Project S. Philip the pompous
horse, Mark the right-wing
sparrow, Winona the dog, Keiron the cat, Claire the
breast-infatuated rat,
Hugh the sex-mad monkey and Niall the call-centre
rabbit are the world's
first genetically modified talking animals.
This absurd gang are housed in
the cosseted confines of a research lab, in
which they are pampered with
all the creature comforts they could wish for.
But what's this? - A team of
anti-vivisectionists have infiltrated the center
and "liberated" the experiments,
and that means this ill-equipped and over-privileged
gang are forced to face
the uncouth horrors of the real world!
This satirical sideswipe comes from Steve Coogan's
Baby Cow productions,
via the animated talents of Tim Searle and Triffic
Films (of 2DTV fame). The
animals are extreme photomontage creations,
animated with CelAction software
and a pool of "alternative" comedy
talent provide the voices. The concoction
is an unsettling blend of highbrow humour, observation
and anarchy.
How unsettling? Well how about scenes with Philip
the horse on the toilet,
with his trousers round his ankles, soliloquizing
and reading from a James
Herbert novel. Then there's Claire the squeaky-voiced
rat with a little yellow
dress who is obsessed with the size of her breasts.
And in the background,
poor Niall gabbles a nonstop stream of nonsensical
call-centre
consciousness - his mind having been fried
in an earlier version
of the Project.
This controversial series was first announced
in November 2002, and it
immediately ruffled a few feathers. The BUAV
(British Union for the Abolition
of Vivisection) were swift to vocalize their concern
for such laboratory humour.
But it's only us humans who are being abused
here. The Project S animals
are boorish, tedious fellows, who use their
new-found wisdom merely to
naval-gaze and infatuate on the minutiae of
their lives - Why, they're
almost human!
The
title takes its cue from the David Lynch film "The Elephant Man",
(1980) in which the deformed
title character is heard to shriek the
immortal line "I am not
an animal, I am a human being!"
I
am not news
The
Hound: May 2004
I am not being broadcast....
The
Hound: November 2002
I am not a controversial series...
I
am not an episode list
1. London Calling
2. Planet of the Men and Women
3. Money
4. A Star is Hatched: The Glen Belt Story
5. My Fair Mare
6. Rat, Rabbit, Monkey, Horse, Bird
and Dog Day Afternoon
I
am not a DVD
I
am Not an Animal
All 6 episodes + Extras / R2 / BBC / April
2005
director: Peter
Baynham
anim dir: Tim
Searle
producer: Richard
Bennett
exec prods: Steve
Coogan, Henry Normal (Baby Cow
Helen
Nabarro (BBC)
script editor
& add. mat: Sarah
Smith
prod co-ord: Hilarie
Mendel
prod sec: Lisa
Brooks
studio man: Shaun
Brake
output man: Chris
Scott
scene
planners: Amanda
Jennings, Mark Nute, Alex Turner
designer: Scott
Millar
character
wrangler: Tim
Fancourt
character
team: Chay
Hawes, Lloyd Lugsden,
Jim
Nolan, Stuart Whiting
tech sups: Andy
Blazdell, Simon Lipowicz
source photo
& design: Emily
Conway
animators: Oliver
Brown, Joe Brumm, Jonah Buckley,
Christian Chessell, Phil Clarke, Julian Hanshaw,
Nick
Harrop, Martyn Jones, Cath Lloyd,
Chris Parior, Simon Tofield, Shane Barrell
sound:
Simon Couzens
music: Peter
Bakie, Willie Dowling
voices: Steve
Coogan (Philip, Mark)
Julia
Davis (Winona)
Simon
Pegg (Keiron)
Kevin
Eldon (Hugh)
Amelia
Bulmore (Claire)
Arthur
Matthews (Niall)
John
Shrapnel
I
am not on the web
I
am Not an Animal
http://www.iamnotananimal.com/
A character guide,episode
guide and background info
at the official site...
Baby
Cow
http://www.babycow.co.uk
Steve Coogan's company site, with
info on the personnel and
their various projects...
Triffic
Films
http://www.triffic.co.uk
Tim Searle's team are profiled here,
together with all their animated
projects and commsions...