Shaping Ideas - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 119

Stripping it back
The development of Achilles happened alongside the design; the two elements bounced of
each other, hopefully provoking something interesting. As I usually do, I started with a visual
image or a novel way to tell the story; in this case it was a Greek chorus telling a story. I then
had to work out what to do with that image. I knew I wanted to do something with a large
group of characters, and I had imagined all manner of wild and grand choreography and
relentless energy, probably inspired by the Bolshoi Ballet's epic Spartacus .
An image briefl y glimpsed in Achilles , and shamelessly borrowed from the Bolshoi's Spartacus .
This may not be the best way to start, and I would probably encourage students to have
something to say i rst, and then i nd an interesting way to say it. But I'm guilty of simply wanting
to use a Greek chorus on a totally stripped back set. I had just i nished i lming Rigoletto , whose
gorgeous and lavish sets and costumes got in the way of the animation. So with the next i lm,
which turned out to be Achilles , I wanted to concentrate on the animation. A crumbling stone circle
suspended in space seemed an appropriate image and i tted the Greek chorus idea perfectly. But
what to do with the Greek chorus once I had got them onto this stone area?
Achilles , of all the i lms I have done, drifted of in all manner of unnecessary
directions before i nally coming into focus. My i rst idea was the story of Orpheus
and Eurydice told with an interesting structure that allowed a lot of visual play-
acting and the creation of dif erent illusions. I wanted to tell Orpheus's story
of rescuing Eurydice from Hades, but to stop as he starts to turn round to see