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Shaun Tan is a multi-award winning artist and author, who has developed an international reputation for his outstanding and original illustrated books. In recent times, he has relocated east from his home town of Perth to Melbourne, to focus his attention on directing and designing the animated adaptation of his illustrated book The Lost Thing.
The Lost Thing is a humorous story about a boy who discovers a bizarre creature while collecting bottle-tops at a beach. Having guessed that the creature is lost, he tries to find out who owns the it and where it belongs, but is met with indifference by everyone along the journey who barely notice the creature exists. Each person along the way is unhelpful in their own way and unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to their day-to-day life. In spite of his better judgment, the boy feels sorry for the hapless creature, and attempts to find out where it belongs.
Like a lot of Tan's other work, The Lost Thing operates on different levels, making it transcend the illustrated children's book genre, by exploring universal themes such as the basic existential question of man; that being where he belongs in his universe.
InFrame.tv recently spent the day with Shaun in the animation suite of Passion Pictures Australia, at his home studio and various other locations around Melbourne, where he has found inspiration for the illustrations of his recently released book Tales from Outer Suburbia. Shaun
shares his thoughts and motivations behind the animation adaptation
of The Lost Thing, and his unique views on creativity.
The animation adaptation of The Lost Thing is being produced by Passion Pictures Australia, and is due for release in late 2009.
Directed By Matt Hopper
Shot by Richard Hosking and Winfred K
Edited by Matt Hopper and Winfred K