Torture, Truffles & Truth

Mainframe has created this series of virals to accompany the release of James Palumbo’s debut novel Tomas, a timely book that sets out to chronicle some of the more sordid aspects of the age in which we are living (and as a co-founder of the Ministry of Sound this is a subject that presumably Palumbo knows well).

Champagne Fuelled Jungle

“Bloated bankers, Russian roubles, salacious socialites and filthy footballers: this is the meaning of life in the new millennium,” explains the website promoting the book, tomas-book.com. “Controlling it all is SHIT TV, the ultimate reality channel, which dares to put homicidal dwarves on rollerblades and obese mamas in tutus. Reluctant celebrity Tomas has had enough. Armed with a Tommy gun and a revolver, he sets out to teach the world a lesson and becomes a Messiah in the process.”

The book is illustrated by a series of drawings by Neal Murren, which bring some of its debauched scenes to life, and these form the basis of the viral films by Mainframe. “The artwork in the first place was great, really detailed and dark imagery,” says Mainframe director and animator Mark Warrington. “It was great to work with such a strange subject.”

Cocks Away!

Warrington turned the eight still images in the book into the one-minute animations. “I deconstructed each image into characters and background elements,” he says. “I animated around what I was given and then added new background elements.” The final films feature some imaginative moments including a terrifying torture scene involving a naked man strapped above a mob of baying and drooling pigs. “The book is quite surreal,” says Warrington, “Greasy businessmen are represented by hyenas grabbling over champagne and there is a huge-breasted woman on wheels who is a trophy wife.” It was not a run of the mill job – “Having to create dancing cocks is not in the everyday line of work," he remarks.

The original illustrations by Neal Murren which were commissioned by Baby who art directed and designed the book. Here are photos of the cover and some of the illustration spreads: