Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
the shot, but again this is the beauty and the very nature of stop motion. It is unpredictable,
and that is what gives it an edge over other animation.
Humour
I i nd timing gags very hard, especially gags that need setting up with a subsequent pay-of .
Most of the humour in my i lms is contained within a single shot, or comes out of a bit of
character business or a visual pun. Plotting gags throughout a i lm does not come easily to me,
and to some extent it is a mathematical process. A gag falls l at if it is mistimed by even one
frame, and working in such scrupulous detail, it is easy to lose sight of the gag itself. A favourite
gag is in Nick Park's A Grand Day Out . Wallace and Gromit are on the moon and they kick a ball,
with the gag being that after an exquisitely timed pause and a suitably nonplussed expression
from Wallace, the ball doesn't l oat back down. It's funny for numerous reasons, but especially
for the absurdity of while they spectacularly ignore the laws of science, the ball unexpectedly
obeys them. This is a nod towards the ridiculousness of it all. The introduction of a beautifully
textured cooker on skis turns up the absurdity, but the real laugh comes much later when we
have forgotten all about the ball, and the adventure over. Suddenly the ball reappears. In a
script of mine, I have a similar gag which works on the page, but who can tell whether I would
have Nick's perfect timing. A group of Venetian tourists, who just happen to have bird heads, is
attacked by birds. This is very much an Agatha Christie/Hitchcock i lm, and the victim is a small
child holding a red balloon. Avoiding seeing his gruesome demise, we would see a l urry of
wings and the red balloon, miraculously unscathed, rise slowly out of the mêlée, with a small
hand still attached, and very little else. A gruesomely black gag, perhaps, but an ef ective way
of showing the death. Again, the i lm carries on, and all the plots are resolved. As the credit roll,
there's a hiss and the balloon, hand and all, falls with a squish. Cue blackout. I want to make this
i lm, pushing animation into a very dark-humoured area. One day.
Another favourite gag is from Bill Plympton's i lm Sex and Death . A man late for work rushes of ,
forgetting his car keys. He rigs a noose up over a ceiling light and proceeds to hang himself.
The laugh is the man's unexpectedly extreme reaction. There are more laughs as the man's
life l ashes before him, full of beautiful sight gags. Bill rightly saves the biggest gag for the last
image; in his l ashbacks he suddenly sees where he left his keys. He untangles himself and is
of , confounding the audience's expectations several times. The secret is probably to lead an
audience in one direction, and just when they know what to expect, the director outwits them.
Is comedy as simple as that, I wonder? Is it about the unexpected? But that's another topic.
My all-time favourite gag is from Keaton, and Buster must have liked it too, as he used it in
another i lm. Why not? Rossini recycled his best tunes. In One Week , Keaton and his bride are
transporting an eccentric mobile home. The house balanced perilously on lopsided wheels is
funny enough, especially as, true to Keaton's persona, buying a new house might make them
more socially acceptable (this hubris is a common theme for comedy). They build the house
from a kit, but thanks to the meddling of a spurned lover, the house is a distinctly
odd shape. They have survived all manner of chaos and storms only to i nd the
house is literally the wrong side of the tracks. So they tow it behind a car. And sure
enough, they cross the track, the car breaks down, and a train whistle blows. In a
succession of great slapstick moments Buster tries everything to move the house
of the tracks. The approaching train builds the tension (a ticking clock and a sense
of imminent danger are essential to most gags) and just when it looks like being
Search WWH ::




Custom Search