Directing - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 305

trust you and your advice and those situations tend to not crop up again. However, those situations have
been few, thankfully.
We did slip in something once, on a commercial for a pizza company whose logo was a frog. It was in a
kitchen scene with the puppet being around ten inches high. Terri Wozniak was a traditional animator,
and a great seamstress, and all-round artist. She suggested some small tole plates on stands in the
kitchen. Sure. When the set was dressed, I thought they looked great. A closer look at the plates showed
she'd painted the blue tole pattern … as a border of fl ies. It was pretty funny, and appropriate. I decided
to leave it in because the image plane was softer there and the fi lm would diffuse it even more. No one
ever even said they saw that, but it was there.
But nothing truly objectionable, that would be unprofessional.
DC - I aim to please, it's their fi lm after all and my challenge is to get their vision on screen. I've never
put anything in to be spiteful but I have snuck things in for my own amusement. There's a photo of
my daughter in Curse of the Were-Rabbit and my toy Shrek was in the church for a while. Sometimes
background characters do things they're not supposed to!
SB - I'm good at understanding what people want. And no, I tend not to put in little jokes, I fi nd it hard
enough just getting what I'm meant to be doing right.
RH - I've got on very well with all the directors I've worked with. I learn a lot from them and, since I aim
to work towards directing myself, fi nd I've a good 'one to one' relationship with them. I keep it at a level
so that we bounce off ideas with one another.
JC - Generally I take direction well. You need to make sure you are on the same wavelength quickly.
It's not always appropriate to do what you think is best, as ultimately the project is the director's vision.
I do get into dialogue about shots, questioning the director you for a clearer idea. I will make appropriate
suggestions. I've occasionally added my own touch, but never in a situation where there would be
hell to pay.
Directing Gilbert and Sullivan
In keeping with its subject, I wanted to give this i lm a very energetic, spontaneous feel, as
if we were watching a live performance. I also wanted to nod towards bits of business often
incorporated into typical stagings of the operas. I tried to suggest that we were perhaps
shooting on multiple cameras, catching the action, rather than the action being played to the
camera. There is no awareness of the camera, other than the excerpts played as if to an audience,
but the characters do have a general focus of playing to the front of the bed, helping to plant a
geography where there was none. Helping the idea of spontaneity, we composed
the shots loosely, and not as regimented as in my other i lms. I endeavoured to
let the cutting of the i lms be dictated by big gestures and signii cant movements
(all rigidly done to the music), so we were following the puppets rather than
anticipating them - such an important dif erence. On a few occasions I let the
characters come into focus at the start of a shot, as if the camera almost missed
them. Again, what the camera lacks in movement, the characters make up.