The Directors: Bonnie Taylor Forsyth
Bonnie Taylor Forsyth is repped globally by Nexus Studios but is also a part of the tightly knit crew at Sydney studio, Mighty Nice. She has a thoughtful and fluid approach to her craft, earning her recognition by clients and film buffs alike.
Name: Bonnie Taylor Forsyth
Location: Sydney
Repped by: Nexus Studios/Mighty Nice
Awards: 2022 AWARD Emerging Director of the Year
LBB> What are some recent projects that you're excited about? Tell us about them.
Bonnie> I just directed the first ever fully 2D animated campaign for The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4. I’m excited about this project because, firstly, I love Bake Off and I’ve been watching it for years.
It’s a show filled with wholesome content and the whole heart and soul of Bake Off really oozes British humour in a beautiful way. Artistry, warmth and witty word-play all rolled together - and to get to be a part of this was a total delight.
Being a brand without much animated content gave me a lot of flexibility and whilst some directors might get freaked out by so much white space, that’s the sort of opportunity that I relish.
And the cherry on the cake was that I’m a huge Mighty Boosh fan so I really enjoyed working with Noel Fielding. Total career highlight. That was just really, really cool.
LBB> What excites you in the advertising industry right now, as a director? Any trends or changes that open new opportunities?
Bonnie> I’m feeling inspired by the growing levels of diversity in the advertising industry right now - clients seem to be actively searching for people with different perspectives. This has been growing slowly for many years and it's a slow industry to shift.
Being wanted for the perspective I bring as a woman or as queer is gratifying and I am more than happy to get involved in this discourse. Intersectionality can be a double edged sword and tokenism can be a dirty word but by expanding the type of work being created, we will change the sort of work that is viewed as worthy and good.
Creatively, after over a decade where 2D animation has been stuck in a flat vector space - with “pill animation” (geometric-shape based) being God for so long, it is great to see more ads embracing a more textural look as that’s a space that I really enjoy to play in.
I am also seeing more illustrators and artists crossing over from a traditional art background as technology develops to support them. Using programs such as Procreate, it's getting easier to create highly textural work that’s still in keeping with a cell animated process and this is allowing a greater diversity of artists into the production pipeline.
Industry trends can be self-cannibalistic but by encouraging more multi-disciplined artists into designing animated content we will open the doors for more varied and interesting work which could take us to some surprising new places.
LBB> What elements of a script sets one apart from the other and what sort of scripts get you excited to shoot them?
Bonnie> What I love about animation is that we can tell stories with big metaphors in ways that would not be written in a traditional script. The scripts that draw me in are the ones that leave space for visual storytelling - so we can create that dance between what you see and what is said.
When a writer understands how to leverage the visual potential of a metaphor it can create a whole new understanding of everyday ideas or unlock a character’s whole lived experience in a powerful way that requires just a few carefully chosen words.
My practice usually involves utilising very non-literal spaces, I lean into surrealistic cameras and transitions as techniques to push a story and take advantage of the sorts of things you can only do through animated film making.
I’ve done several projects for Apple recently, and in the Jay Balvin piece, the script came to me with no dialogue, but just suggestions of movement, colour, and tone, leaving a lot of space for me as a director to step in and add what I do best on top of it.
LBB> How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot?
Bonnie> First, I need to fall in love with the idea of the pitch.
We are our work in the eyes of the industry so I need to find what’s going to get me passionate about this job before I can begin crafting my treatment.
I’m always most in love with a job when I’m pitching it - that’s when those big, bright, beautiful ideas start to reveal themselves. I need to dig to find the heart of the campaign and then link everything back to that.
In the early phase you don’t have any restrictions and the clients are just getting to know you so you can start showing them possibilities they haven’t even imagined. When you get them to fall in love with the same thing as you, it means that later, when the rubber hits the road, it’s easier to bring them back and remind everyone of that big, beautiful vision they fell in love with in the first place.
LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?
Bonnie> The designer. To continue the dating metaphor, my designer is really my wingman on every project. It doesn’t matter how beautifully something’s animated, if the design’s lost, it's not happening.
As a director, my main approach is to find an illustrator or artist whose work may not fit the general look of what we perceive as animated. They are the 'make or break' of the beginning of a project. If the design is good, if the client is happy, if we are all on the same page from preproduction, the biggest battle is won.
Animation and design are fundamentally about communication. Right at the beginning of the design process when you create that first single static image that communicates the animation potential yet to come, then you’re totally rocking the casbah.
LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about - is there a particular genre or subject matter or style you are most drawn to?
Bonnie> I’m passionate about complex, hand- rendered 2D animation.
I’m greedy as a director because I want to do all the different art styles.
I’m hungry for so many types of illustration and to see them move. When I choose a designer to work with, it's fuelled by my desire and curiosity to see how their work could come to life.
LBB> What misconception about you or your work do you most often encounter and why is it wrong?
Bonnie> Probably that my work is more automated than it is. I don't think people realise that the majority of my work is hand rendered (supported by our amazing comp artists of course!).
To me, people probably thought that 2D animation would be the death of stop motion, and that 3D would be the death of 2D, but it all just creates a bigger creative pool to draw from and it’s really important that we don’t lose those skills. I don’t ever want to see traditional draftsmanship techniques be left behind, and there’s space for all these real hand crafted skills to come along on these new technological journeys that we are going on.
LBB> What’s the craziest problem you’ve come across in the course of a production – and how did you solve it?
Bonnie> For Bake Off, we designed the style to use little/no compositing on the characters to actively mimic vintage painted cell work. We decided this at pitch stage and it ended up becoming a key feature of the design language which won us the pitch. I think limitations make us better artists, especially if you lean into them rather than try and hide them.
Good design is invisible and for this project the digital and hand-drawn wizardry blended seamlessly. I constantly made jibes how this job didn’t even need a comp as it was all just good-old fashioned 2D magic which Mike, our comp artist, must’ve found constantly hilarious - not.
LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and brand client while also protecting the idea?
Bonnie> Anyone who has met me knows I'm a chatty person, which overflows into my client facing persona. I try to be very transparent with clients and agencies throughout a project.
And when that doesn’t work, it's the age old process of picking your battles. I'm learning when to let some things go in order to strengthen another area.
You can't assume that people understand the design or animation process. I'm comfortable explaining the “why” of a decision to guide them through the decision making process in order to win them over.
LBB> What are your thoughts on opening up the production world to a more diverse pool of talent? Are you open to mentoring and apprenticeships in the studio?
Bonnie> Big yes. Big, big yes. I actively try to find and work with artists whose style isn't traditionally animated. Especially people whose backgrounds differ from an advertising mould.
As for mentorship, I have worked as a tutor at UTS, back where I studied animation, helping shape that next generation. A big part of my teaching philosophy was about finding what makes individual students special.
The kids are all at different levels of artistic skill and I don’t think trying to squeeze a kid who can't draw into a traditional role works. Instead I like to see them lean into their own vibe early.
Drawing skill comes with practice, but individuality needs to be nurtured.
LBB> Which pieces of work do you feel really show off what you do best?
Bonnie> Great British Bake Off - Sweet Relief
She Creates Change - Keya
AEC - Your Vote will Change Australia
Apple Music: J Balvin
