Laurie’s monster dreams

12:42pm Wednesday 27th June 2007

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MONSTERS, heroes and a whole world of sci-fi adventure is all in an evening's work for Laurie Calvert.

Mr Calvert, who works in the audiovisual unit of HM Revenue and Customs in Southend, has made a feature-length animated film in his spare time.

The movie, Monsters of the Id, took four years to make and will be premiered at Southend's Odeon Cinema on Sunday, July 29.

Mr Calvert, 45, who lives in Hornchurch, spent 2,000 painstaking hours individually making all the computer graphics. He explained the film was about people who become superheroes in their sleep.

He said: "By night they become superheroes and face their ultimate fears within nightmares - their very own monsters of the Id."

The Id is the part of the psyche which is the source of instinctive impulses and the demand to satisfy primitive needs.

However, it seems life is quite the opposite for Mr Calvert himself, as the nocturnal hours are when he gets to have most fun.

He explained: "I make training videos during the day, and feature films at night."

Monsters of the Id is Mr Calvert's second feature film. In 2003, he finished making War of the Starfighters, which went into the archives of the British Film Institute as the UK's first ever full-length computer-animated film.

It is also believed to be the world's first computer-animated feature with all of the visuals made by just one person.

For his latest film, Mr Calvert was able to persuade well-known actors to voice characters in the film. These include Warwick Davis, who has starred in the Harry Potter films and Return of the Jedi.

He said: "I met my actors mostly through sci-fi conventions, which I sometimes have to go to for work, and they have been happy to get involved.

"One of the funny things that happened on the film was when Warwick was recording his lines, making a roaring sound to indicate pain, and we both ended up laughing because he sounded like he was struggling on the toilet. It was great fun."

Mr Calvert said he had been influenced not only by sci-fi films such as Star Wars and Forbidden Planet, but also by his three sons, Laurie, 11, Jon, nine and James, five.

He said: "They help by sampling scenes and giving their input. They even had a role in the film."

To watch a trailer for Monsters of the Id, visit www.

monstersmovie.com