Hello Substack.
It’s been a year. And I’ve just come back from the swamp.
Imagine a tightening around your legs, a faint aroma of old egg, and the occasional rising bubble. We were in Stewart Swamp, a wetland in Frontenac Provincial Park, a park which has dozens of bogs, marshes, and swamps. If you are like me and have been planning to shoot an animated film waist-deep in murky, bubbling water, then this is exactly what you’re looking for.
Bewrop! [byu-lop] is about a tiny, sentient splash living in a wetland, and the scientist who discovers it. A couple of years ago I figured out a technique for animating with water, which lead me to discover a living droplet splashing around the water’s surface. Ever since, I’ve been working on growing that seed of an idea into something larger.
This is the first in a new series of ‘Field Reports’ where I journal the development of my new film, Bewrop!
Here’s the original Bewrop micro-short, part of my Organima film, Witness.
Bewrop! will be an experimental hybrid of organic stop motion animation, time-lapse, and live action. This swamp trip was an effort to start a long-standing relationship with a place, and establish systems for making animation with it.
Previously my technique was mostly a one-person show, and I was limited by the restraints of my own brain and body (very limiting). Since then, a lot of people have lent me their time, expertise, and support to realize greater potentials.
Welcome to the era of the swamp.
In this report I’m going to talk about the place, the rig, and the shot. I’m not going to be going over the animation technique, but you can find a lot of that info in the original Substack post where I first wrote about Bewrop ↓
Wetlands. You may not realize, but wetlands are a very pleasant place to hangout; there’s such a great variety of life concentrated in them, so despite the stillness, there’s always something going on. Also for this animation technique to work I need standing water, otherwise our splash would be swept away.
My research into wetlands began when I googled ‘bodies of water that don’t move’, and then read the wikipedia page for wetlands, which at the time I knew nothing about.
So, wetlands: are cool. Carbon sinks. Safe place for wildlife. Natural water management. If you’re wondering about the differences between a swamp and marsh, swamps → trees, marshes → grasses (roughly).
In the spring of 2025 I bought a car and drove it around to all of the swamps and marshes I could find, location scouting. In each place I’d bring Bewrop and try some animation experiments, testing the waters. Despite not finding the right home for our splash, it was a great use of time because I experienced a sliver of the vast variety of shapes that wetlands take.
At the end of that summer, a new friend Micah offered to show me around some of the marshes and swamps in Frontenac Park. He brought me to Stewart Swamp, and there was a massive frog, sitting on a far away log, staring at me. It was like I was looking at a God. I had a good feeling.
Finding the right wetland for this project isn’t easy. The water must not get too deep, and the waterlogged earth underneath can’t be so mucky that it’s unstable. Other considerations are similar for any location scout: does the place have character, is it accessible, does it get nice light, etc.
When Kayli, Tristan and I returned this year, we tossed on our waders and dipped our toes, then most of our bodies, into the swamp. We were hit with a smell of sulphur, and the water bubbled like a faintly carbonated tonic. And, miraculously, it had stable enough earth under the water to not only stand, but also set up our camera rig (with electronics that really should not get wet).
This film needs immersive shots, where the camera flies through the swamp with Bewrop. Think of dynamic shots like in a nature documentary. My previous set up was very rudimentary, which worked perfectly for its purpose at the time, but was restrictive for storytelling. To achieve these higher level shots, we’ll need various different animation rigs, and this trip was to test the first.
Friends and collaborators have been entertaining my dry conversations about the best swamp rigs for a year now (thank you all). The one we tried out this time was a underslung camera mounted to a motorized slider sitting on two stands in the water. Also attached was our new drip solution, an IV drip-like syphon that solved for our drip problem.
Previously, I dropped every droplet by squeezing the top of a little pipette, which would hold maybe 15-20 droplets. There were so many problems with this set up: I had to be bent over the pipette constantly, the pipette angle would move slightly which caused the droplet position to shift, and it needed constant refills.
Our new solution was to create a constant drip. Since we’re filming constantly anyway, if the drip can go on continuously, all we have to do is move the drip emitter, and Bewrop is repositioned. This means we’re essentially filming a time-lapse, with both the drops and camera moves happening autonomously.
Underslung is an iPhone 17 Pro (shooting 4k 120fps), using the black magic app, controlled remotely via an iPad acting as a monitor. We had to carry all the bits into the swamp separately, holding them high above our heads while wading carefully in.
To my surprise, after we assembled the rig above-water, everything performed perfectly, allowing us to get our dynamic shots.
Take a look: here are some of our results from our trip to the swamp.
Thanks for checking in. In future field reports I’ll be talking about the experimental animation computer (the swamp machine) we’re making with my friend Alex, the script I’ve been labouring over with my old friend Jodre, and more swamp expeditions and camera rigs.
This film is going to take a while to make. Presently, I’m self-funding its production and wading blindly through the murky waters that are writing, producing, animating, and generally creating an experimental hybrid animation film. This wouldn’t be remotely possible without the generous and helpful support from so many friends and collaborators.
Thanks to Kayli and Tristan for joining me in the swamp this time, Micah and his family for lending us their cottage and wetland know-how, Ben for the ongoing production support, and everyone else who has been so supportive thus far.
See you!
N
PS.
Micah said he knew Stewart Swamp was perfect because the name is like Stew-Art. Still not sure how I feel about that one.
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