It all started with... an illustrated Script

Written By David Bunting

Having just wrapped the film, I flicked through our earliest sketches.

Art Director James McKay and I started this huge undertaking mid Summer, sat in a ventilated conservatory reading Olivia Race’s script, breaking it into key scenes, story beats, locations, and talking ideas. Instead of viewing film adaptations, we went back to the book in the hope of coming up with a new visual take on this story, James captured a lot of these by illustrating on a copy of the script from which I started roughly breaking it down into storyboards.

Visual ideas always grow and change over time. What is amazing looking back is how many of the key shots came out of this afternoon collaboration.

James and I drawing and talking ideas.

James and I drawing and talking ideas.

James McKay, surrounded by research, creating his first rough concepts on the script

James McKay, surrounded by research, creating his first rough concepts on the script

David Bunting

I’ve been making animations since I was nine years old, filming on a Super 8 camera! Since then, I’ve worked across television, film and independent projects, collaborating with studios and broadcasters including Disney, BBC, Channel 4 and Netflix.

I studied Animation at Senior College Ballyfermot in Dublin before training in Visual Effects at Walt Disney Feature Animation in France. That led to work as a classical drawn effects animator on films including Disney’s The Tigger Movie and the title sequence for Thunderbirds.

A love of storytelling drew me into storyboarding and filmmaking. After training at Aardman Animations, I worked with studios including Aardman and Blink Industries on series such as Shaun the Sheep, Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed and Alley Cats, collaborating with talented teams across the UK animation industry.

Alongside commercial television work, I develop and direct independent films - most recently the award-winning animated documentary No One is an Island(2024) - that allow me to push my artistry and tell more personal stories. Through comedy, drama, or quieter moments of reflection, I’m fascinated by animation’s ability to bring people of all ages together — communicating stories through character, rhythm and visual language.

At heart, I’m still driven by the same thing that started it all: the simple magic of drawings coming to life.

https://www.buntinganimation.com/
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