Preparation - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 182

in one shot he does have a constant appealing smirk. His eyes, too, give him life. I'm usually
frustrated by puppets that have painted eyes, as this limits the acting considerably, and the
majority of any communication and character comes out of the eyes. I don't know whether
Shakespeare's eyes were pale blue, but they give the puppet an instant life. He doesn't blink
throughout the i lm (blinking would have meant extra costly mechanics) and I wasn't going
to put any Plasticine blinks on such a beautifully sculpted puppet. Blinking would have added
something to the performance, but I was still happy with his expressive eyes. A tiny pinhole
in the pupils enabled me to move them a millimetre each frame and get some great nuances
out of the character, although sticking a pin into his eyes was most uncomfortable. I felt that
somewhere a human might be screaming in pain or going blind.
Along with the eyes, hands are hugely expressive, at least in my style of acting. My own hands
l ap with their own busy incomprehensible language, but I can control a puppet's hands with
precise expression and elegance. The puppet, on display at the National Museum of Film,
Photography and Television in Bradford, gets people asking why his hands are so big.
When they move they don't look out of proportion, although they are bigger than natural
proportions. I wanted to feature these hands. Throughout Richard III , the title character
is likened to numerous crawling insects, and I thought it would be an interesting conceit
to interpret that play with just his hands being beetle-like. To help these hands stand out
clearly, we made the costume black. My immediate instinct was to have the most elaborate
costume, showing of my love of things Elizabethan, but common sense made me think about
a neutral rehearsal outi t. I was keen to see his beautifully lithe physique, but also be true to
the Elizabethan peasecod silhouette. This curved shape gave him a great dignii ed bearing. I
was pleased we resisted the idea of giving him slightly comical doublet and hose, and instead
going for pantaloons that emphasised his great long legs. The vertical lines inherent in the
fabric give him a rei ned upright bearing. I was keen to give him a ballet turnout, and his legs
were sculpted with very shapely calves. This is the most beautiful of puppets, and he naturally
dictated his poses. He simply had to stand up tall and poised.
The design of the puppet and the design of the costume all work together as a complete
whole. I liked this black rehearsal idea but I knew that the backgrounds, necessary for the tricks
that made the space so l uid, would also be black. Anticipating how this i lm might be lit, Nigel
Cornford, the great costume-maker, found particular black silks and other fabrics that caught
the light as the puppet moved, highlighting his shape and letting him stand out against the
darkness. The dozens of tiny beads not only pick out his torso, but the V-shape of their pattern
highlights a satisfying triangular feel to his jacket, giving him elegant proportions. I knew that
Shakespeare would work with his mirrored rel ection to suggest the twins from The Comedy
of Errors . CG trickery could generate a second image, but I wanted to see Shakespeare become
the two twins, and then watch as the puppet became one again in one take. The inevitable
edge of the mirror was clearly visible, but vertical seams in the costume, and his symmetrical
pose, confuse the moment when the mirror is removed. Smoke and mirrors, quite literally, are
often the most ef ective way to approach such problems. Another point of the
tiny beads in the doublet was to disguise the tiny black i shing hooks needed
to take the i ne i shing line that would support the puppet as he jumped. They
are still there, making me sympathetic towards i sh. Not being a i sherman, I had
no idea what line to use. The best had the name of 'Shakespeare. Most puppets
today can have a rig inserted, to help the puppet jump or support it when the toe
joints cannot help. This rigging point needs to be thought about in advance and