Directing - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 312

Can you list your fi ve favourite animated fi lms, and is there one particular
moment that stands out?

JD - Can't do just one. The scene in A Midsummer Night's Dream with the rustics rehearsing and the script
getting edited with a meat cleaver - an unexpected pragmatic solution.

The stegosaurus sequence in Kong because of the 'naturalistic' way it is staged, the grotto-fi ght close-ups
in King Kong because I feel a real struggle going on; the scene in Son of Kong in which the styracosaurus
chases the adventurers along the stream.

The skeleton fi ght in The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad because it's dynamic, and presents something that
couldn't be shown satisfactorily by any other means than stop motion.

Many moments in the Pal Puppetoons and Joe Young getting drunk, showing how well stop motion can
depict 'acting'.

Rosina Rubylips in Hansel and Gretel , but that's due largely to Anna Russell's voicing.

Five favourite fi lms: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Song of the Prairie, King Kong, Mighty Joe Young . I'd put
Next here, but I've only seen it once or twice.

Joe Young would be my favourite character, but some from Corpse Bride give him competition.

TB - The Talos scene from Jason and the Argonauts . A giant bronze statue coming to life is about the most
surreal thing I've ever seen. The animation is fl awless.

Jason and the Argonauts (Ray Harryhausen), one of the greatest fantasy adventures ever lensed; Next (Barry
Purves), possibly one of the best examples of key pose I've ever seen; The Black Scorpion (Willis O'Brien),
the nightmarish quality of the animation; The Mascot (Ladislav Starevitch), outstanding examples of
different types of material to use for animation; Pas de Deux (Norman McClaren), not necessarily a stop
motion fi lm, but a fi lm of exquisite, haunting beauty.

KD - Favourite scene - Nowhere Man in Yellow Submarine , for some reason it gives me goosebumps, he
just looks so lonely.

Favourites: Nightmare before Christmas - I love the design of the fi lm; Cousin - all of Adam Elliott - the
script, and the narrator and simplistic style of the fi lm, E is for Eat … so touching; Next - I love the golden
wings and the tapping of the chin; Secret Joy of Fallen Angels - because I don't get it and it looks amazing;
Vincent - it makes me laugh.

DC - The slow-motion Hammy towards the end of Over the Hedge because it's so simple and not like
anything I've seen before. I expect we'll see loads of it now. Hammy is so hyper fast you couldn't imagine
him any faster so they went the extreme opposite and time stood still in comparison to how mega super
hyper fast he was! The Mime Frog cell phone section of Flushed Away seems very fresh and original and
gets a huge laugh every time.

Top fi ve:

1. Balloon by Ken Lidster: fi rst stop-frame piece that totally enthralled and mesmerised me. Beautifully

animated with a simple little story of nastiness getting its comeuppance! Only one colour and a very
minimal soundtrack. Beautiful.