Directing - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 307

Carte had installed, but our vision was actually on set as a large Pepper's ghost, with a piece of
glass diagonally across the set rel ecting a piece of drawn-in reverse artwork. It was i ne, but
looked like an easy double exposure. I should have related it to the physical space by having a
character walk behind it. However, I like the rawness of tricks like Pepper's ghost.
Stop motion shoots seldom go exactly as planned, and the i nal shot of pulling back from
D'Oyly Carte's bed to reveal a montage of all the operas did not work as I had hoped as it was
too dark to read. This is again down to schedules and getting one chance. This is a shame
as, like the Shakespeare i lm, I'd referenced every Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration in this
montage, something I didn't quite manage in the singing.
I am pleased with the i lm, especially its musical structure and storytelling, although now I would
have done things dif erently. It's not great animation, but the characters are alive and the i lm
races along. I had hoped to make it even livelier and spectacular, but budgets, schedules, blah
blah blah … I'm becoming a stuck record. I'm pleased that the familiar words take on new and
fresh meanings about the relationship between the three men, and the relationship between
commercial work and art. It captures a good sense of Gilbert and Sullivan, the icons, and gives
them, and D'Oyly Carte, the respect they deserve. I am pleased with the people I managed to
work with on this i lm … it boasts an impressive credit list. It was not the easiest i lm to make as
I lost my father during it, thus making the death scene of Sullivan particularly hard to i lm.
An empty bed is such a powerful image: a prop full of implied meaning.
The i lm did alright, and won many Best Film and Best Director awards in some surprising places
like Russia. This has puzzled me, but also pleased me, as if you take away the Gilbert and Sullivan
element (and I'm assuming that G&S is not big in Russia), there must have been enough left,
about relationships and humour, for them to have enjoyed the i lm. It took some criticism for
being too élitist (which I i nd not just surprising but depressing) and also for being too British
(which I don't i nd surprising but I do i nd the notion depressing), and I'm not going to apologise
for either of those notions. I dread the idea that something is too British (or French or Italian or
American or whatever) and that this is treated as a criticism. Shouldn't animation be celebrated
for individual or cultural characteristics, rather than appeal to some dull, vapid lowest common
denominator? We have the potential to make dif erent i lms. Not knowing about certain cultures
doesn't make them less interesting. How boring it would be if everything followed the same,
albeit winning, formula. A good director can make even the driest of subjects interesting. It would
be appalling if i lms contained nothing new. Every i lm I've made has required the learning of
some new skill or seen me gain a new insight. I would hope to get that whenever I watch a i lm.
What sort of homework do you do with a new character, and have you ever
taken acting classes, studied body language or learnt a new skill for such
homework?
JD - I learnt to tango for a Pillsbury doughboy commercial. I've never fi lmed myself or studied pantomime
formally, but I watch a lot of silent fi lms.
TB - Any competent actor would tell you that if they don't do homework for the character they are
playing, they might never fi nd the character. I learnt a bit about martial arts when working on Celebrity