MATTHEW COLCLOUGH - www.mattghc.com

Papercuts (2012-2013)

Papercuts, the successor to Arbitrary Stopframe, originated from some sketchy ideas which occurred to me while I was filming the Darlan short Smells Interesting in December 2011.  In my earliest concepts, the show would have been much more similar to its stopmotion predecessor, with the characters living inside a dictionary and periodically venturing out to raid my desk for resources; I thought they would usually try to avoid me, but I even toyed with the idea of having them attack me directly in the occasional episode.  However, I decided this was going to be too complex, and too similar to other shows (Morph, for example), so I revised the plan and settled on a more self-contained narrative form.  The title stuck, despite the fact that the characters no longer exist as pieces of paper from a narrative perspective but only in terms of how the animation is produced.

I wrote three episode scripts in January 2012, followed by a fourth co-written with Tim Johnston in February, and it then took me four months to complete the first pair of episodes.  I started dialogue recording for Episodes 3 and 4 a few hours after completing Episode 1, and the fourth instalment remained in production until December.

Three more episodes, including a two-part story by Tim, were scripted over the summer of 2013, and produced in the second half of the year, with the last one being released on the 28th of December.  The production block also included a one-scene prologue to Episode 5, and a multi-part production vlog following the development of a new set for the two-parter.

The show has now been on hiatus for a few years, but as of autumn 2021 there are a handful of potential new stories in development.

Characters

Captain Lionel Frogmore - Pompous twit
'Captain' Lionel Frogmore is the de-facto leader of the mismatched trio, and the instigator many of their projects, including the most ambitious, the rocket ship.  Nobody actually knows what he's supposed to be the captain of, or where he got his captain's hat from, and it can't be said that his schemes often work out according to plan.
Pedro de Guacamole - Accidental hero
Pedro shows a gleeful enthusiasm for almost every plan which is suggested to him, tends to follow Frogmore's orders without question even when they make no sense, and often takes things too literally.  His confusing mish-mash of languages makes it uncertain where he comes from, although his name and his ever-present sombrero suggest he has some Mexican ancestry.  Other traits include left-handedness, trigger-happiness, moderate ability on the guitar, and an inordinate fondness for chilli peppers.
Millimetre - Incredibly destructive
Millimetre is very small for his species, speaks only in incomprehensible high-pitched shrieks, and does an amount of damage which is far out of proportion to his size.  Captain and Pedro seem to be rather fond of him in his better moments, but are often left frustrated by his inexplicable and unpredicable actions - especially his propensity to leave bite marks in things.

Episodes

Phase I (2012-2013)

#
Title
Writer(s)
Release Date
1
Lemon Juice for the Captain
Matthew Colclough
Fri 15 Jun 2012
Captain Frogmore, Pedro and Millimetre decide to have pancakes for breakfast, with sugar and lemon juice, but the menu doesn't prove as straightforward as you might expect
2
Germination Without Authorisation
Matthew Colclough
Sat 30 Jun 2012
Pedro discovers a flower growing where Captain Frogmore says it isn't allowed to, and before long Millimetre has managed to make matters even worse
3
Jalapeno to the Skies
Matthew Colclough
Sat 15 Sep 2012
The trio are busy researching fuels for their rocket ship, but not exactly having much success... until the answer is found from a somewhat unexpected source
4
Pedroelectric
Matthew Colclough & Timothy Johnston
Sat 8 Dec 2012
Pedro gets struck by lightning while fixing the TV aerial, and Captain Frogmore sees some business potential in the consequences
n/a
A Prologue to Episode 5
Timothy Johnston
Sat 23 Nov 2013
5
A Shed Too Small
Timothy Johnston
Sat 14 Dec 2013
Part 1 of 2: Captain and Pedro are busy trying to provision their new rocket ship simulator, while Millimetre's more interested in getting a free lunch
6
Minimetre
Timothy Johnston
Sat 21 Dec 2013
Part 2 of 2: Millimetre has gotten even harder to manage than usual, leaving Captain and Pedro at their wits' end
7
Debt of Gravy-tude
Matthew Colclough
Sat 28 Dec 2013
Captain Frogmore gets a nasty shock one morning when the gravy bill arrives - how could anyone possibly have used so much of the stuff in one month?

Screening Room

Collaborators & Contributors

Categories