On the Set - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 218

How you secure the puppet to the set is usually dependent on what the set is made of. I have
worked on a very soft i brous wood, and hated every frame of it. The only way the puppets
could be secured to this was by nailing or pinning them on every step. The particular puppets
had a small bar running down the length of the foot, which could only be accessed by peeling
back the material of the shoe, then rather clumsily banging a small nail through a hole and into
the set. It didn't of er much secure contact, and to remove it, you had to peel back the shoe
again and then lever out the nail with a pair of pliers, usually knocking the puppet with the
force required. Just getting to the foot was time-consuming and way too i ddly.
A more productive way is with tie-downs. This takes a good deal more planning, as you need to
plot the path of the character through the frame, before you start the shot. Ideally, you would
drill holes in the set, and then plug them with Plasticine. The set could be thin wood, perforated
steel or any suitably thin but strong material. These tie-downs consist of a long thread and a
tightening wing nut. You place the preferably l at foot over an appropriately predrilled hole,
then screw the thread through the hole and into a corresponding hole in the foot. Once you
have a good contact, you lock it into place tightly with the wing nut. This is a strong method
of securing puppets and you can hold the body tightly and bring it forward a few millimetres,
forcing the heel to peel naturally of the l oor and into the next position. If the joints are strong
enough, the puppet can balance in even the most precarious of poses. One disadvantage is
that you leave holes in the set, but these can be rei lled, and you need to be pretty specii c
in working out in advance where the puppet is going. You usually need an assistant to do
the screwing of the thread while you hold the puppet on the set above, unless you are lucky
enough to be able to reach both the screw and the puppet at the same time. You cannot let
a foot land then decide to drill a hole. This entails sticking to your plans. Very small tie-downs
can allow the puppet security on the tiniest of surfaces such as a step or a branch, and are
especially good for small, delicate feet. The Cosgrove Hall series Brambley Hedge needed the
mice to be on tiptoe and not on the full l at foot, and this method was perfect. Fiddly but
perfect. You could even put a hole for a tie-down in the toe of a character should they want to
be en pointe . Tie-downs are also particularly good for shoes with high heels. This method allows
for animating on some pretty uneven surfaces. I i nd it a bit time consuming and tricksy, and
much prefer working with magnets.
Magnets are such a boon to an animator. Time and time again they of er a strong bond while
being totally removable. Securing a foot to a set with a magnet depends on having a rather
l at surface, and like tie-downs, the set must allow access to both the magnet under the set
and the puppet above the set at the same time. I have a long and happy history of working
with perforated steel sets: the perforations are brilliant as they seem to localise the magnetic
i eld, and when you are looking from underneath the set, you can generally see the position
of the foot under which you are trying to place the magnet. I have worked with inexperienced
model-makers who had heard about this idea of magnets, and thinking to make things easy,
put the magnets in the foot itself. This is pretty disastrous since it makes it pretty
impossible to place the puppet's foot just millimetres above the surface, as the
magnet will drag it down straight away. By having the magnet under the set, with a
metal surface, you can remove or place the magnet in position only when you need
it. If you need to lift the foot of the l oor, just take the magnet away. Again, I have
worked with green set-builders who did not understand the magnets and made
some rather gorgeous sets with unmagnetic surfaces; the magnets would only