Film Name: Absorption
Director: Debbie Lane
Writer: Debbie Lane
Voices: Debbie Lane, Jes Hammond
Musical Score: Adrian Lane
In the dark depths of the underground, the cave dweller lurks. Watching and waiting patiently for a chance to be reborn. Drawing on her powerful dark-arts mastery, she sets her sights on Sarah, a seemingly innocent victim. What ensues is a tale of infinite energy; a constant, unchangeable force that is merely converted from one form to another. Energy will never die… but people will.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got a chance to ask Writer-Director Debbie Lane a few questions about her latest animated film ‘Absorption’, which will have its World Premiere at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday, 17th January at 20:00hrs.
Q. Your film Absorption has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect?
A. I am hoping people can expect the same level of detail and intricacies within the sets, props, and puppets from my previous animations, but this time with a totally different, more organic design style and setting. The storyline is maybe a little more ambiguous than previous works too, a little less linear maybe! It’s nice to try something a bit different!
Q. What were your inspirations when writing the script?
A. I really wanted to create a set that was totally different to the previous animations I have done, so realistically I had to start with an idea for that before actually deciding on the storyline. I can’t really think of any specific inspirations for the story, other than maybe just years of watching horrors and combining some of those aspects! I’m obviously restricted by the amount of sets I can make in a limited time (in this case, two), so the story has to be able to be told within those.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of your film?
A. I wanted to create a witch’s cave dwelling with all the books, potions, skulls, candles, and various weird and interesting ‘witchy things’ scattered in all directions, so I did have a look at things like Tia Dalma’s shack in Pirates of the Caribbean (I know, it’s a shack and not a cave, but the styling inside is amazing!), and the witch’s lair in Sleepy Hollow, those were the kind of looks I was going for.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original concept whilst making the film?
A. Well I had a lot going on outside of creating this animation which meant my head was going from one thing to another, to another, and I think this effected the direction of the film. I had an idea of what I wanted originally, but yes, certain things altered as I went along as I couldn’t seem to settle on one solid idea. The biggest change was actually the addition of one of the main scenes towards the end of the film, things were originally going to end earlier than that, but a much better and fully-rounded idea came to me, and now I can’t even remember how it would have worked without it!
Q. How long did the animation take to put together?
A. I started building the sets and props in early February ‘25 and managed to get all of that finished late August ’25! Obviously you have to get on with day-to-day life as well, and work and other commitments do get in the way, but as far as animating time is concerned, I did 17 shoots altogether (in about 7 weeks), totalling around 78 hours animating. This doesn’t include the editing of the shots, the foley, and the end credits song. So for a 13 min 13 second film, it took a lot of time and effort!
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. I think the more animations I do, the more re-takes I am having to do as well! I can’t decide whether I am just being pickier or getting worse at doing them!! It’s quite hard to tell the scale I am working in from just seeing the films, but the puppets are about 7 ½” tall (roughly 19cm), and everything is shot within the set itself (so no green screens), so the issues are mainly around fitting the tripod and phone into such tiny spaces, and ensuring the puppets remain upright whilst doing their shots!
Q. What makes Absorption stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. With animations it’s very hard not to make things ‘cute’ and ‘puppety’, and admittedly I feel Absorption does still partially fall into that category despite my efforts, but I like to try to create a film, using the medium of animation, but keeping the more live-action type of story… if anyone cringes or feels slightly unnerved by it all, then I am happy! Liquids are quite unusual to use within animation too, so I always try to get some of them in there!
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I just hope they enjoy watching it, not just for the story, but for all the attention to detail within the set, props, and puppets. And my brother, Adrian Lane, has done an amazing score for this which massively lifts it all, so I like to see it as an ‘experience’ rather than just a film!
We see a lot of high-budget animation nowadays, and this is obviously on another level to what I can achieve, but hopefully people will appreciate what one person can achieve in a relatively short space of time, with virtually no budget at all.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I think I need a couple of months rest for now! But yes, I will start a new animation in February next year. I have two ideas bouncing around in my head, one set in a photography darkroom, and the other in a toy museum. Both ideas are quite simple, so I am hoping whichever one I choose won’t take up quite as much of my year again! But I do like the idea of making tiny little old-fashioned toys to fill the museum with, I can see this idea maybe being the one I go with!
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. I’ve probably said it before, but just do it! A festival like Horror-on-Sea, which really helps promote independent, low-budget film makers is an ideal place to start. Come along to the festival, get some inspiration, make some contacts, then just do it. Set yourself a deadline, festival submission dates are a good one, and just go for it! Everyone has to start somewhere, and what’s the worst that can happen?!
‘Absorption’ will have its World Premiere at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday 17th January at 20:00hrs.
You can find out more about Horror-on-Sea and purchase tickets for Absorption here
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
