Richard James directs New Balls Please as part of the Animator in Residence scheme. The film focuses on moments from televised tennis coverage and presents them as homoerotic sporting combat.

To do this Richard underwent an intense research period that involved collecting hours of video references and related articles from papers and magazines. Special attention was paid to the tone and delivery of particular sports commentators and to the physical attitude of the sportsmen. Before animation started, an animatic with a temporary voice track was finalized. The picture was locked so that animation could be dropped in as it was produced; the commentary however was changed continually. Rewrites took place frequently and were to continue until the final voice recording.

Character animation was drawn in Flash using a graphics tablet. Richard laid-out and key-framed the scenes ready for the animation team. A number of shots had complex camera moves that were modeled in 3D. They were rendered as SwF files that were imported into Flash. This enabled the animators to combine the animation with a moving 3D-environment.

Sound design played an important role in achieving the atmosphere and tension of a live tennis match. Samples of live tennis games were mixed with scripted shouts and whistles. At the point where the capacity crowd chants the name of a tennis player, groups of new voices were recorded, mixed and layered to recreate the excited audience.

Richard James was tremendously lucky to work with veteran sports commentator David Mercer, arguably the very spirit of tennis coverage. In a combination of adlibbing and script readings David notched up nearly thirty versions of commentary which were edited down into the final three-minute voice-over.

As a bid to further the film’s authenticity Richard also paid a visit to the legendary Wimbledon Tennis Championships. Here he was introduced to the customs of the sports and its devotees by standing alongside them in a queue for six hours.

Richard James (UK) is a graduate of the National Film and Television School. His film Dick was screened in festivals including Annecy and Hiroshima. Richard’s first year film Studs premiered on ITV in 2001 and was a finalist in the DepicT short film festival in Bristol. He also co-designed, illustrated and applied all of the 3D texturing on the NFTS graduation film The Trinket Maker.