Peter Peake, BAFTA & Oscar Nominee talks on ‘Take Rabbit’

The Rabbit, the Man, and the Fox in Take Rabbit (Dir. Peter Peake)

Hey I am Peter Peake, in an age-old conundrum a man attempts to transport some unlikely passengers across a river in his tiny boat but soon realizes he’s taken on more than he bargained for. It is a comedy animation, and it has been to quite a number of film festivals such as, Go Shorts, Nashville, Krakow, Euganea, Edinburgh, Anima Mundi, Flickers’ Rhode Island, and LA Shorts.

indieactivity: Give a background of your personal experience with the story, writing, production and marketing
Peter Peake: I was intrigued by the riddle where a man has to get (in this case) a fox, a rabbit and a cabbage across a river in his boat. He can only take one at a time and he can’t leave the fox with the rabbit as it’ll eat it or the rabbit with the cabbage for the same reason. As soon as I decided I wanted to base a story on this I had a very strong template to follow which was both helpful and a challenge.

I took a year out from my day job to make this film and because I didn’t have a budget ended up doing as much of it as I could myself. In terms of marketing I’m sending it out to festivals myself and it seems to be getting a good reception so far.

indieactivity: Did you start writing with a cast (You or any) in mind?
Peter Peake: I had a vague idea of who I wanted but it was more ‘a type’ that I had in mind for each character. I am a complete fanboy of everyone we managed to get and I think they inhabit their respective ‘types’ perfectly.

The Rabbit, and the Man in Take Rabbit (Dir. Peter Peake)

indieactivity: How long did you take to complete the script? (Do you have a writing process?)
Peter Peake: I probably wrote the script in just a few days once I’d decided what it was about. I’m not one for endless rewrites and tend to get slightly overwhelmed if the goalposts keep moving. My script editor Al Wyatt was indispensable at offering sage advice – pointing out what needed fine tuning and encouraging me about what worked whilst always keeping things in the tone I was after.

indieactivity: How did you develop ‘your film’?
Peter Peake: It went pretty quickly from script to production because I didn’t have any backers to convince! Once I’d settled on a draft that both Al and I felt comfortable with I jumped into designing the characters and building the assets. I was quite excited to get started.

indieactivity: How was it financed?
Peter Peake: It wasn’t! There was no budget for this film so anything that cost money I paid for out of my own savings. Thankfully my tiny crew worked for peanuts and we managed to keep costs to a minimum.

indieactivity: Is there anything about the independent filmmaking business you still struggle with?
Peter Peake: Yup the lack of funding! When I started out in animation there were quite a few schemes around in the UK for getting your short film funded. Sadly these don’t seem to be around anymore otherwise I would have jumped at the chance to make my film through one of them.

indieactivity: How long was your pre-production?
Peter Peake: I probably spent three or four months designing and building characters and environments and setting up scenes. This allowed me to create a very polished storyboard (I love having one of those!) from which I could start putting the film together.

The Rabbit Fox and the Cabbage in Take Rabbit (Dir. Peter Peake)

indieactivity: What was your rehearsal process and period?
Peter Peake: None! I could only afford an hour in a recording studio with each of the actors. Given how incredibly good at what they do they all nailed it in that time!

indieactivity: You shot the film in days. How long were your days?
Peter Peake: I shot the film in months. Probably around 10 months. Given how long it was going to take I was very careful not to work crazy hours. I had to be super disciplined to make sure I didn’t work evenings and weekends – it was really tempting to do that but I knew I’d get burnt out before I finished it if I did. Being a bit more controlled meant I really enjoyed the whole process from beginning to end.

indieactivity: Did the tight shooting schedule make it harder or easier? How did it affect performances?
Peter Peake: There wasn’t a tight shooting schedule. I worked hard to get the film done as quickly as I could without having to cut corners but felt like I’d given myself enough time.

indieactivity: How much did you go over budget? How did you manage it?
Peter Peake: There wasn’t a budget

indieactivity: How important is marketing? Do you think a project can make any dent without it these days?
Peter Peake: I’m really not sure about this one! I’d love to think a film can do well purely on its own merits but if nobody gets to see it then it doesn’t stand a chance.

indieactivity: What was the experience like of working with such a small shooting crew (?)?
Peter Peake: It was basically just me making this film when it came to production. To save money I started working at home but once I started getting a bit stir crazy I rented desk space in a shared office/studio. To be honest if I did something like this again it would be much nicer to work with at least one other person during the production!

The Man, and Cabbage in Take Rabbit (Dir. Peter Peake)

indieactivity: The film looks stunning. How did you get such a good look when shooting so fast?
Peter Peake: I think this question probably applies to a live action film?

indieactivity: Did you look at rushes? On what format?
Peter Peake: No. You don’t have rushes in this form of animation

indieactivity: What were the advantages and disadvantages in the way you worked?
Peter Peake: One of the advantages of working on a no budget film is of course you have complete freedom to do what you want – that’s also one of the disadvantages! I really enjoyed making my own decisions and not having to go through a committee for every little choice but at the same time, once I’d finished the film, I became incredibly unconfident about it. Not having had the opportunity for feedback during the production made me extremely nervous once I’d finished the thing. I’d really lost a bit of objectivity by that point and had no idea whether I’d made a turkey!

indieactivity: What else have you got in the works?
Peter Peake: There’s a project that I’ve had on the back burner for years that I’d love to revisit. Again it’s a short animated film but with a very different tone to this one. It’s quite upbeat and potentially very heartwarming. I’ve had really great reactions to the script. To really do it justice it needs to be made in full 3D CG though so I’d need the help of a studio and a very modest budget.

Follow Peter Peake on Social Media
Website
IMDb
Twitter
Vimeo