Obviously I can’t take credit for CyberBrig. That
double-edged honour belongs to the one and only Steven Moffat.
This project started a few days before the broadcast of the
Doctor Who series 8 finales, when rumours began flying around the internet
about a Brigadier appearance, albeit a Brigadier converted into a Cyberman. As
the internet begun moaning and panicking about it, I had a different reaction.
It’s probably my love of comic books, of absurd situations and ridiculous
adventures, but this rumour started something growing in my mind…
To me CyberBrig sounded like a super hero; a crazy early
morning cartoon or Marvel Comic. I instantly began thinking of those old 60’s
super hero cartoons, with the stilted, only slightly animated, animation, and
for some reason realizing this concept of the CyberBrig as one of those old
fashioned animated heroes just seemed to click.
I spent the first few days of development with this style in
mind, things like the famous Spider-Man cartoon opening, (CyberBrig, CyberBrig, does whatever a Cyberman does…)
A lot of the shots were created while thinking in this
style, like the opening heartbeat, and the “look mummy, it’s CyberBrig!” However
at some point K9 and Company got
thrown into the mix there… I think I started thinking of the animation in terms
of being a Doctor Who Spin-off, and that there might be some potential and
angling it more towards being a poke at those. And of course, there is no
Spin-off intro to make fun of like K9 and
Company.
This new style brought in new concepts, like the wine
drinking shot, as well as the very 90’s sheen on the logo. I think it’s true
that drawing inspiration from a few different sources helps evolve something,
stopping it from becoming a rigid parody of something. It really comes into its
own as a video, rather than being a straight take on Spider-Man, or K9 and Company.
Of course there have been many different reactions to
CyberBrig, both in this video and in the actual show, ranging from finding him
a lovely tribute to the late Nicholas Courtney, to finding it super disrespectful.
I myself found it a nice tribute. Don’t get me wrong it’s absolutely
ridiculous, and this video is about leaning into the absurdity of that moment.
So there’s really no disrespect intended, I love the Brig, and Courtney was absolutely
fab in the role and a real legend. Hopefully that answers all the angry comments
on YouTube shouting, “AUGH How could you do this to the Brigadier you
disrespectful swine!!?”?”
Ideas in place, I moved onto production…
Mercifully the video was short in its concept, only lasting
the length of the K9 and Company theme, so I wouldn’t have a pile of animation
to do. I decided to do most of the work in After Effects, because I knew I
would have more control in that program, with more effects available, and it
being more familiar to me. As such my process was pretty much creating elements
in Flash, exporting them, and then assembling everything in After Effects. So
for example that early shot of CyberBrig flying was an image drawn in Flash,
exported as a PNG and then brought into After Effects as a layer which I could
scroll the clouds beneath as well as adding the lens flares and smoke trailers
off of the thrusters in his feet.
Another example is the “Wine drinking scene” which was
animated in Flash, just the normal way one would animate in Flash, but then
exported and brought into After Effects in order to add the camera zoom and
name credits. There’s probably a way to do most of this is Flash, however I
just felt I could get it done faster in After Effects, and with a short video
like this that kind of depends on coming out quite fast, I didn’t want to be
spending hours figuring out smoke trails and camera zooms in Flash. Maybe next
time.
The Flash animation actually had very little planning, no story
boards or anything. I took on an almost stream of consciousness like style,
just animating scenes as they came to me. I then edited them into the order
they appear in the finished thing in After Effects, as well as placing them so
they fit with the timing of the music. This is obviously not a highly
professional production process, but I found it pretty fun and creative.
One of the best parts of CyberBrig was actually its
inclusion in the 100% official and legit Doctor Who Magazine. Doctor Who Magazine??
That’s right! Flippin Doctor Who Magazine! That’s right, no longer am I a
simple humble video maker, now I am among the stars. Be the glory radiate from
this blog post. Bask in it. All right you right at the back, stop laughing.
But no, truthfully it was the most rewarding part of the
process and I shall explain why. The early stage of making a video, coming up
with the concept and such, always feels like a gamble. Is the video actually a
good idea? Will people like it, can it be fun? Does the idea justify how much
work it’s going to need? I’m not a very confident Flash animator, so these
thoughts were buzzing around my head even more when I thought up CyberBrig. My
main worry was that it was too indulgent, too in-jokey, and too rooted in a
very current topic. Would anyone be talking about dear old CyberBrig in a years’
time? Would anyone be searching YouTube for him, let alone remember he existed
for less than a minute of screen time. In the end I decided to go for it, not
because I had dispelled these doubts, but because the jokes at got too real in
my head. I kept chuckling at the very vivid image of CyberBrig drinking his
wine as his credit popped up, and knew I just had to slog through a few hours
of animating to bring it to life.
My point is to fight through all that doubt to make
something you personally find funny, but are not sure anyone else will, and
then to have that something recognized in a 100% official and legit magazine is
really really cool.
Of course they do say that it’s series “We’ll hopefully
never see” And wow. Like, how rude.
So, will there be more CyberBrig? I’ll waits and see. Like
this video I have to wait and see if inspiration pops up and starts burning at
the back of my mind, forcing me to pick up my drawing tablet. At the moment the
Cybernetic Soldier is relegated to a running joke, popping up in videos here
and there where a cameo makes sense. But
he’s out there… Waiting… Hiding… Biding his time…. He’ll wait for the forces of
evil to make their first move, and when they do… He’ll be there.
