Directing - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 314

and acting. Well-detailed drama and emotion. A superb colourful cast with only one human which is
good because people are still the weak part of any CG movie.

5. Wallace and Gromit in The Wrong Trousers : brilliant story, brilliantly told. It opened my eyes to what

you could do with Plasticine and made me think, 'that would be better than getting a proper job! '
and three feature fi lms later I've decided it is!

Favourite puppet: Animal from the Muppets, the Clangers and the Wombles and Windy Miller and his
friends and The Magic Roundabout were all inspirations and big infl uences, but Yoda from Star Wars is
cool, the new all-action kickass CG Yoda!!!

Oh, oh, oh! And of course Hamilton Mattress ! He's so 'anty'!

AW - My favourite puppet is the small furry creature in the Russian Chiburashka , by R. Kachanov, 1972.

SB - The Incredibles; Toy Story; My Neighbour Totoro; The Iron Giant; Pinocchio . But the skeleton swordfi ght
in Jason and the Argonauts takes it for best scene.

KP - The 'Poor Jack' sequence from Nightmare before Christmas , for the emotional arc Anthony Scott's
animation brings forth. Will Vinton's Closed Mondays , for its variety of techniques, funny character
animation and ground-breaking historical importance. Every frame of Nick Park's Creature Comforts ,
for the masterful character animation. Ladislas Starewicz's The Mascot , for its simultaneous charm
and creepiness. Ray Harryhausen's skeleton fi ght
with the Argonauts, for its technical and cinematic
brilliance. Len Lye's unreleased Peanut Vendor , because
it's creepy. And a student fi lm by Jim Pinard called
Crosspaths , for its simplicity and spiritual signifi cance.

BP - The Talos scene from Jason and the Argonauts .
Favourite animated fi lms are: Tango, The Monk and the
Fish, The Sandman, Overtime and Harvie Krumpet .

RH - The Wind in the Willows , 'May Day' episode.

JC - A very short fi lm by Paul Driessen that had a little
black spider in a white square bouncing on a web string.
All you can hear is a 'boinging' noise and a little giggle.
As the bouncing becomes more vigorous the spider
hits the bottom of the frame. Instead of bouncing back
it appears its legs are stuck. Gradually the legs stretch
then, one by one, ping off. The spider shoots up and as
it hits the top of frame, a red splat appears. So simple
but very funny, everyone laughed (poor spider).

Favourite fi lms: Rargh , a charming drawn animation
about a world that exists only when a man is
sleeping. I loved its quirkiness Nightmare before
Christmas , for its dark story and wonderful design.

The Sandman (© Berry Batty Mackinnon).