What Are the Possibilities? - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 13

tended to be figurative in nature and often had cultural and ethnic themes.
The relatively low cost of producing this technique allowed independent
filmmakers and financially challenged countries to compete on the world stage
in animation. The late twentieth century had several successful applications of
cutout animation. Most notable was the Russian Yuri Norshtein and his film Tale
of Tales , produced in 1979. This is a haunting tale of a family, community, and
the effects of war. Norshtein uses drawings and cutouts, superimposed layer on
layer, to create a very dreamy and often frightening memory full of atmosphere.
This is a very controlled and time-consuming technique, and Norshtein is one of
the masters. He continues to work today on a feature called The Overcoat , which
has been over 20 years in the making.
Fig 1.14 Yuri Norshtein working
on The Overcoat , © 2000.
photograph by Maxim granik,
courtesy of Clare Kitson.
Other contributors to cutout animation include Terry Gilliam's work in the
British television series Monty Python's Flying Circus . Gilliam, an expatriate
American artist, cobbled together strange, surreal, and entertaining animated
shorts for the series featuring drawings of his own and a large collection of
Victorian illustrations and photographs animated together in the cutout
approach. They were so offbeat and unusual that his animation became a
signature part of the Flying Circus series.
Fig 1.15 two-legged portrait of
teddy roosevelt. Courtesy of Roger
Saunders. © Python (Monty) Pictures
Ltd., 1969.