Production - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 298

experience … but why? They are only statues, but the fact that these lifeless characters have
been given a dramatic context, staged and composed in a setting full of resonances and
movement gives them a suggestion of life and character. They have been given a story, and even
though it's an enigmatic one, it still has a beginning, middle and an end. The water provides
the drama and tension, and although these characters are supposedly identical, barnacles and
rusting give each one a dif erent personality.
These i gures are held in such af ection and, along with the expected crude grai ti, are often
dressed up for occasions such as Christmas and the World Cup. Clearly, the public has imbued
these lumps of iron, very much like the rather innocuous Mannequin Pis in Brussels, with some
sort of soul, and visit them regularly as old friends. They bring other friends to meet them. I saw a
dog repeatedly dropping a ball at the statues' feet, waiting for some response. These i gures have
been animated, like animation itself, by the lack of movement. We get paid for doing the same.
It may be strange to imbue images or lumps of clay, metal, plastic, latex or wood with
personalities, but it has been going on for centuries, and meets some psychological need. I still
hesitate before throwing away a photograph, and to cut one up would be downright impossible.
The Wicker Man
Director Robin Hardy's terrifying
original The Wicker Man. (Richard
Haynes)
We can give even the most basic of representations a personality and a spirit. Corn dollies and
ei gies still carry much weight. The central image in the original unsettling i lm of The Wicker
Man is a huge ei gy, doll or puppet, simply designed, but no-one can look at it without feeling
something close to awe. I gather the production team treated the i gure with huge respect,
feeling considerably uncomfortable when called upon to burn it. If we imbue these i gures with