Abruptio Wins Best Animation at the Septimius Awards 2024 - directed by Evan Marlowe

The Septimius Awards 2024, held on August 20 at Amsterdam’s prestigious Tuschinski Theater, celebrated a standout achievement in the world of animated filmmaking, as Abruptio, directed by Evan Marlowe, clinched the Best Animation award. This dark and disturbing psychological thriller, which uses life-sized puppets to depict its harrowing narrative, captivated audiences and critics alike. While Marlowe himself could not attend, the film’s composers, Patrick Savage and Holeg Spies, accepted the award on his behalf, sharing their insights into the creative process and the film's impact.

A Bold Approach: Abruptio’s Unique Style

Abruptio is far from a conventional animated film. In fact, it challenges the very notion of what animation can be. Using life-sized puppets instead of traditional hand-drawn or computer-generated characters, Marlowe sought to create a visually distinct and deeply immersive atmosphere. The film follows Les Hackel, an everyman who finds himself ensnared in a deadly conspiracy after discovering a bomb implanted in his neck. As he descends further into a world of crime, violence, and betrayal, the tension is heightened by the unnerving use of puppetry.

This stylistic choice required an incredible level of attention to detail and creativity. The complex movements of life-sized puppets, combined with the film’s intricate plot, made the animation process particularly challenging. Each puppet had to be meticulously manipulated frame by frame, resulting in a time-consuming and labor-intensive production. Yet, this slow, painstaking process is what gives Abruptio its unique visual identity. The unsettling, almost surreal quality of the puppet animation heightens the film’s dark, psychological themes.

The Challenge of Animation: Crafting a Labor of Love

Creating an animated film—especially one as ambitious as Abruptio—is a monumental task. Animation, by its very nature, demands extensive work, from conceptual development to final production. Every single frame of animation requires intense planning, and in the case of stop-motion, as used in Abruptio, animators must manipulate physical objects and puppets millimeter by millimeter to create smooth motion. It is a painstaking process that can take days or even weeks to perfect a few seconds of film.

Evan Marlowe’s choice to work with life-sized puppets brought additional challenges. Unlike smaller, more flexible stop-motion models, these puppets required a higher degree of precision, especially in scenes involving complex movements or interactions. The team behind Abruptio had to solve numerous technical problems related to lighting, camera angles, and puppet manipulation to ensure a seamless and engaging viewing experience.

Despite these hurdles, animation offers filmmakers the chance to bring otherwise impossible stories to life. Abruptio is a testament to the power of animation to transport audiences into worlds that would be difficult, if not impossible, to create using live-action. Marlowe's dedication to the art form reflects the persistence required in the industry, where the balance of creativity and technical skill is tested at every step.

Music as a Vital Component

While the painstaking animation work deserves high praise, the film’s success was also due in no small part to its evocative score. Composers Patrick Savage and Holeg Spies, who accepted the award for Best Animation on Marlowe’s behalf, created an unsettling musical landscape that added another layer of depth to the film’s haunting narrative. Savage, a classical violinist, and Spies, an electronic music producer, merged their talents to produce a score that blends traditional orchestration with cutting-edge sound design.

The music in Abruptio plays a critical role in amplifying the film’s tension and atmosphere. Savage and Spies’ compositions underscore the growing paranoia and fear felt by the main character, while also echoing the dystopian world in which the story unfolds. As the plot darkens, so too does the music, guiding the audience through the emotional and psychological complexities of the narrative.

Upon accepting the award, Savage remarked on the collaborative nature of the film’s production. “Evan’s vision was clear from the start—he wanted Abruptio to unsettle and provoke. It was a challenge to match the film’s intensity with the score, but we’re proud of what we achieved,” he said. Holeg Spies echoed this sentiment, highlighting the bold risks taken in both the animation style and the musical composition.

Recognition at the Septimius Awards

Winning Best Animation at the Septimius Awards is a significant milestone for Abruptio, especially in the highly competitive world of animated filmmaking. The Septimius Awards, known for recognizing international and innovative talent, are a prestigious platform that celebrates groundbreaking work across multiple genres and categories. Abruptio was up against several notable animated projects, each bringing their own strengths to the table, but Marlowe’s distinctive approach and uncompromising artistic vision allowed the film to shine.

A Triumph of Innovation

The success of Abruptio at the Septimius Awards demonstrates the rewards of innovation and perseverance in filmmaking. Evan Marlowe’s commitment to creating a film that defies genre conventions and pushes the boundaries of animation has been recognized by one of the industry’s leading international film festivals. With composers Savage and Spies delivering a score that perfectly complements the film’s eerie, psychological tension, Abruptio stands as a powerful example of how creativity, determination, and collaboration can produce something truly extraordinary.