Adam Rowland is a full time stop motion film creator originally from the UK.
How did you get into Stop Motion Animation?
As a child I was always intrigued by stop motion scenes in Star wars, King Kong & Jason and the Argonauts. It wasn’t till many years later I decided to stop watching TV and start making content in my spare time eventually turning it into a full time occupation.
What aspect of creating your work do you enjoy the most?
My favourite part is editing the work together as it's the result of everything I have planned to do... I especially enjoy editing out Rigs as this is often where the magic lies.
What is the most challenging aspect of creating your work?
For me it is all about the performance so I often don't like spending time on creating sets as the more time that goes into building a beautiful set means less time focussing on the performance. If I need to I will recruit a team to do that work so that I can focus on the performance of stop motion.
What have you currently been working on?
I recently did a TV commercial for the farming world which required lots of sculpting through lip sync, where I had to sculpt out each mouth shape to make the animals talk as well as put lots of character into all of their movements. It's great to see plasticine creatures come to life and talk and a very cool part of making this happen is to film myself doing the actions and using that as a direct reference to animate the characters.
I am currently working with puppet builders in Mexico who worked on Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio to bring Kiwi brands to life using amazing puppets... (top secret). I also have another children's music video to create alongside a potential Netflix piece which is already at a funding stage (very excited about that but it's also top secret).
Also on Sunday I won the Children's best music video award!
What is a favourite project you have worked on?
Favourite projects are nearly always personal projects and the most recent and most fun was recreating the death star trench run scene from Star Wars. I developed the idea from a rolling road concept and it came out far better than I could have imagined as I built up layers to create a scene that looks like its bursting out of an old bench.
Who are your main influences?
Patagraph due to his level of storytelling and stop motion skills
Kevin Parry for his technical skills in stop motion and video magic
Aelxander Unger for his sculpting skills combined with stop motion
Any favourite gear you use? Anything on your wishlist?
Favourite gear is my Edelkrone camera motion rigs with complete control over slide, pan and tilt that are able to convert movement into stop motion via dragon frame. On my wish list are three things... the Edelkrone Jib One, a super sturdy Tripod and overhead rigging for cameras and lights. I would say the must have piece of kit for a stop motion animator is a Manfrotto magic arm (or 4 of them) super useful in most setups for camera, lights, rigging etc.
Do you have any other interests or hobbies?
Stop motion forces me to be an expert in lighting, photography, stage building, rigging, post production, set building so yes, I have many hobbies but I also like doing big mountain bike days as I have completed La Ruta de Los Conquistadores in Costa Rica which is the worlds toughest mountain bike race and several big events in and around Europe and NZ including my favourite which is Old Ghost road. Oh and being a dad is my number 1 hobby for now ;o)
What are some achievements you are proud of?
I have trained for 6 months with the Aardman academy to learn walking, performance and lip sync sculpt through and at the end of the course they said I was the best they ever had on the course!
In 2021 I won the 48Hour film festival as a solo entry for Auckland city (missed out on the nationals) with this little beaut:
That year I also won a nationwide Kiwis make the break advert competition on seven sharp with a redo of a Pak n Save ad.
Check out more of Adam's work via the links below: