Recurring Images - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 50

Even so, birds do get everywhere. One of the many stop motion projects that have got away is
Aristophanes' The Birds , in which two Athenians leave the city looking for Cloudcuckooland,
an idyllic society free from man's laws, populated by birds and half-birds. Of course, the men
arrive and change everything. It sends up interfering buf oons, bureaucracy and the arts, and
would be a perfect vehicle for animation, being self-conscious, full of gloriously eccentric
characters, music and great opportunities for interesting movement. Aristophanes knew the
trick of distancing his characters as avian or animalistic equivalents of humans, allowing them
to say something they could not in human form. His choruses are full of birds, frogs and even
wasps.
This recurring theme, almost an obsession, of humans with animal and bird heads, may stem
a little from dissatisfaction with my own face, and it is dei nitely an erotic image, but it is more
about transformation and seeing things from a fresh perspective. Transforming into characters
that we are not is a huge part of stop motion's appeal. Another project that got away features
characters with bird heads, with the particular bird informing their movements and character
more than dialogue could.
Somerset Down, Major Fly McNaughton and Commander Hugh Featherstone from my
unmade Toucan Tango .
Swan Lake
The ultimate piece about transformation must be Swan Lake , something that has
inspired me for so many reasons. The music is rich in drama, and even without
knowing the narrative, clearly something powerful, sexual and emotional is going
on. The music in the last i ve minutes has the power to reduce me to tears. I love the
marathon that the show demands of the prima ballerina and the company. Each