Crocs and walking alarm clocks: Alistair Nicholls embraces “pure silliness” in his self-funded claymation

Alistair Nicholls has been busy since we last spoke to him in 2022. He’s created campaigns for Coachella and Renault, as well as giant claymation characters for a Charlie Puth music video. But between all the commercial success, finding the time and funding for personal projects has been tough.

“It’s strange as it’s almost like I was asking permission to make something,” he says. “You don’t get that if you paint or create music, you just make it.” That’s when the idea for his upcoming short film, Running Late, was born. “I wanted to make something that was entirely my own, not with a client or brand but my own ideas and vision,” he says.

Running Late follows one man’s “surreal morning routine”. The main character is a red alarm clock with stubby legs, inspired by the work of Czech surrealist and animator Jan Švankmajer. There’s also a Crocodile that dispenses toothpaste – a character that emerged out of a casual doodle.

The film itself is playful and dreamy with a faded, nostalgic feel – an atmosphere that was very much born out constraints. Alistair made the film with zero budget and in between paid work, which meant he had to create scenes in the real world, to avoid building sets. “I’d set up a scene, animate it for a few days then take it down and work on a commission…. This was the only way I could work as I needed to pay the bills and keep the lights on.” These restraints, though, gave him a certain instinctive freedom, forcing him to follow through with ideas as they came to him. “This gave the film its dreamy, strange feeling. It was a really organic way of working as I didn’t really second guess any of the ideas,” he says. “It was very improvisational.”

Building the characters was equally as intuitive. “I know what happens in the scene but the performance of the characters really comes in the moment. As I’m animating, I’m thinking of how the character will behave, it’s really like acting through the character but one frame at a time,” he explains.

After a year of production, Running Late is finally due to be released this November. “I really want to show that you can just make something for yourself, you don’t need to ask permission,” he ends. “Just go out there and start it, it will take time but eventually you’ll get there.”