Making The Trouble with Love and Sex

This chapter is an autobiographical and critically reflective account of both the making and reception of the first full-length animated documentary made for British television, The Trouble with Love and Sex (2011). The chapter is written by the film’s director, Jonathan Hodgson. The chapter discusses Hodgson’s pre-production concerns regarding animation’s capacity to effectively and engagingly convey subtle nuances of body language on display within emotionally and psychologically complex and challenging spaces (the counselling rooms of Relate, a professional marriage guidance service). The chapter also discusses the highly positive audience response to the finished work, arguing that animated documentary aesthetics and form in fact allowed for notably non-prejudicial, non-judgemental forms of audience engagement with the film’s protagonists. The chapter also discusses at length the pre-production, production, and post-production methodology employed Hodgson and his key collaborators during the making of their film.