Talking Open Movies With a Community Animator

We sat down with an animator from our Saturday group who has contributed to community film projects for a decade.

We met at the back table of a print night, where they were trimming a stack of covers with a paper cutter that should probably be retired. The conversation started there and moved to a café when the shop closed.

What keeps them going

Asked what advice they would give someone making their first zine, the answer came fast: finish it. A finished bad zine teaches you more than a perfect one that lives in a folder on your desktop.

A note on paper: we buy recycled 80gsm by the box and it runs through every machine we own. Heavier stock is lovely for covers, but it will jam the old copier if you try to feed it more than ten sheets at a time.

We keep a guest book by the door. Some people write their name, some write a poem, and one person drew the entire floor plan of the shop from memory. It is the best zine we have never printed.

Everything in this post works just as well at a library copier or a corner copy shop. You don't need a studio, just a flat table and about an hour.