Evolving into Stop Motion - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 13

What was the fi rst stop motion fi lm of which you were aware?
JD - Trnka's The Emperor's Nightingale , particularly two translucent swans swimming on a mirror-like
surface.
TB - Jason and the Argonauts . I'd seen the Rankin-Bass stop motion, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer , but it
didn't make me want to animate, as Jason did.
RC - Mighty Joe Young or Son of Kong . I knew it was somehow animated, but I only knew cel animation,
and these characters had shadows and details one could never draw.
KD - Bagpuss , or The Wombles , or Paddington Bear ? Nightmare Before Christmas stopped me in my tracks.
I stood in the living room thinking 'this is amazing!' Wallace and Gromit made me aware of
animation.
DC - Trumpton and the Clangers . Mosschops later.
AW - A Polish children's series - I ended up making two episodes myself.
SB - The skeleton fi ght in The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad scared me s**tless.
KP - My fi rst stop motion was Sesame Street , stuff like the Queen of Six and King of Eight and abstract
psychedelic stuff. I saw 16 mm screenings of Will Vinton's Martin the Cobbler and Co Hoedeman's
Sandcastle in class, and was rather intrigued by them. The fi rst behind-the-scenes was a TV special on
The Empire Strikes Back demonstrating the Hoth sequences. I was blown away particularly by was Vinton's
Meet the Raisins .
TD - The Gumby TV series in the USA (Art Clokey).
RH - The Wind in the Willows .
TA - Nightmare Before Christmas blew me away and in many ways woke me up, especially the scene of Jack
Skellington in ragged clothing lying on a statue singing. Such an emotional and visually powerful sequence.
I wanted to do this! I later animated on Corpse Bride , alongside Anthony Scott, who did that sequence. I was
the age Anthony had been on Nightmare . I felt very complete. Determination to chase your dreams really
can make them come true.
JC - I watched most of Ray Harryhausen's fi lms as well as shows like Chiggley , Trumpton , Clangers , Morph ,
Paddington and many others. The fi rst moment I realised what 'stop motion' was came during a 'Making
of …' documentary about Return of the Jedi . The scene where Luke had been put in a pit to fi ght a monster,
eventually killing it by shutting a 'portcullis-type' gate on it. The documentary showed how the creature was
animated. I was amazed at the fi nished result. It looked like everyone was having a good time. I thought …
'that's a great job'.
FL - Clash of the Titans on TV when I was 7. I didn't know it was stop motion, neither what 'stop motion'
was … I was very impressed at the time, but I never saw it again.
DS - It must have been on Watch with Mother or an east European fi lm in the Tales from Europe series. I
was intrigued by the way things could magically move in stop motion and I found this more interesting
than the drawn animation, because it was more magical.
AC - Jason and the Argonauts - the skeletons were pretty scary.