On the Set - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 224

There is no way getting round the bending, stretching and twisting. Fewer i lms shot on
35 mm cameras has made things a little easier for animators. These cameras were huge but
fantastic monsters. Put one of these near a set for a close-up and there is little room for an
animator. With the dexterity of Houdini that animator has to manipulate himself carefully at
very odd angles, being careful not to knock the camera, and twisting to avoid large sheets
of poly board and carefully positioned hot lamps (many animators carry scars from intimate
contact with these lamps). Once into the set, the animator plays with the puppet, feeling
every muscle in his lower back grinding away from such an unnatural position, before sliding
out of the set backwards. Doing this some 250 times a day inevitably causes back problems.
Many studios hire a masseur or a chiropractor, or make sporting activities easily available.
One studio had the genius idea of having the camera mounted on a motion-control rig out of
consideration for the animator. After an exposed frame the camera tracked back, courtesy of a
computer, out of the way, letting the animator do his stuf in comfort. Once done, the camera
resumed its position. It made life easy for the animator, but it needed an extra person and
slowed the process down, and I'm not sure that I trusted the camera to i nd its exact mark
in each frame.
Proximity to hot lights does little for the skin or hair, and the close-up work of manipulating
eyelashes on a small puppet does strain the eyes. Animators drink a lot of water as by the end
of a day the studio can be relentlessly hot. Fans can be secreted on the set, but there's the fear
that they will move something. There's no way round the heat and all the bending, but it is
worth considering the physical side of animation before jumping in. Good set designers and
lighting cameramen will make the set as accessible as possible, but inevitably there's a lot of
climbing, kneeling, hunching, squashing and stretching. At the end of a day's shooting, with
the intense concentration and the physical side of things, you feel every frame.
I have found being able to type useful (I learnt to type to music, which still makes me speed up
or slow down depending on the music I'm listening to) and numerous attempts at playing the
piano have given me, if not quite the dexterous and versatile hands of a marionettist, hands
with a ten-note i nger stretch. This is advantageous when working with puppets, as often
you are called upon to clutch a puppet with the thumb and next two i ngers of one hand,
while trying to manipulate its limb with your outstretched little i nger. If there was a word
for digital (as in i ngers) gymnastics, then it is dei nitely to be encouraged; presdigitation is a
good word, and it relates to the magician's art of working with the i ngers. Simple piano scales
are ef ective in loosening the i ngers. Having short, fat dumpy i ngers is not going to make
animating easy as you need to get your i ngers into extraordinary positions, and be able to
poke and lever small things. Having decent i ngernails helps with the i ddly side of easing out
eyes or replacement pieces, although the disadvantage of nails is that they can tear the skin of
a puppet too easily. Playing the piano or working on a keyboard also develops a precise mental
muscle memory in the i ngers. I never look at the keyboard any more when I'm typing, and
am very aware of where my i ngers are spatially, always a good skill when handling a puppet.
Strange, the things we need to think about.
I fear that hours spent in bright lights peering at something inches from our faces
doesn't do the eyes much good, especially with the constant moving from the
bright light to the darker of -set areas. Still, I'm lucky enough to have only started
wearing glasses a couple of years ago, but it did get to the point where I simply
could not focus on the puppet's face.