Directing - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 315

Screen Play , simply a beautifully told story - some gore and a shock ending. The Sandman , atmospheric,
dark tale, beautifully animated and great design. Shrek , funny script, some good animation (some
appalling) … I loved donkey!

DS - I found Tales of Tales to be a very moving fi lm when I fi rst saw it and at the time I hadn't seen many
fi lms of this quality. It made me realise that complex emotional issues can be handled in subtle ways
through animation. The others are the classic clichés, Jason and Argonauts, Clangers , some of the work of
George Pal.

AC - Next - the audacity of trying to 'do' Shakespeare in fi ve minutes, but it works wonderfully - the
character himself is so human and although silent speaks volumes; he's also very Barry! Also you, the
audience, have to work hard to see how many plays you can recognise. Bambi , one of the fi rst fi lms I can
remember, it was totally real and I wept buckets. The Cat Came Back , very funny, lively, annoying and
simple. Hill Farm , beautifully drawn, wonderfully visual and lots of humour. Screen Play , visually stunning,
highly complicated from many points of view - story, animation techniques, symbolism, sign language,
etc., lots of theatre but again makes the audience work hard.

PRW/MG - Favourite moment in all animation has to be the wolf singing to the baby as he rocks it in the
cradle in Norstein's Tale of Tales .

Top fi ve animated fi lms:

1. Tale of Tales (Yuri Norstein) because it captures the essence of Russia and of Norstein.

2. The Public Choice (Lejf Marcussen) for its totally original concept - I almost stop breathing now that

I know (and wait for) the very surprising ending.

3. Father and Daughter (Michael Dudok de Wit). My love of this fi lm has a lot to do with my own

relationship with my father. But the beautiful drawing, the shadows, the passing of time all
contribute to this masterpiece (Margot says her favourite moment in animation is almost this
entire fi lm).

4. The Big Snit (Richard Condie): we both love this because it is hilariously funny while carrying a

message that is so subtle. If you have ever played Scrabble, or loved anybody for their idiosyncrasies,
you have to love this.

5. A Grand Day Out (Nick Park) for Gromit because in spite of some of things he does (knitting for

example) he is a real dog. And he is cleverer than his master - and he knows it! This is my favourite
Nick Park fi lm because it has a rough-edged look but is a masterpiece of detail and so British!

Others: Screen Play - we both love this because it relates to Japanese culture (which we love) and because
we worked with a mime company and studied mime and movement which gave us understanding
of movement and stillness. Next - for our love of Shakespeare. I love the fi lms of the Brothers Quay,
particularly the Street of Crocodiles . This had a very profound effect on me - I loved the mystery, the
strange sounds and the broken dolls. They were some of my dreams brought to life. I told the Quays this
and they said I was mad! Early TV series we both loved: Clangers and The Magic Roundabout . We loved
these before we even knew what stop motion was. The most recent addition to the stop motion greats
is Suzie Templeton's Peter and the Wolf . We have always loved her work, especially Dog , but this latest