How To... Succeed With Stop-Motion

I’m really thankful I grew up when I did. I talk about this with friends all the time, but we’re the last generation that knows what it was like before the internet.

We had to entertain ourselves, be bored and be inventive. Whether it was building forts out of what we could find, like the times my brothers and I used drift wood, lobster cages and buoys that were strewn about after a storm to make our hideaway. Or creating houses out of twigs and moss for the fairies. Or just sitting still, listening to cassette tapes over and over and daydreaming.

It sounds cheesy writing that all out, but I think this time to just 'be' was really important. I try to keep the same playful and exploratory feeling alive in my work. I have so much respect for CG and new technologies, it blows me away what is possible, but for me, it’s important to retain the presence of the hand. For me, stop-motion animation provides this mode of expression.

Each project tends to develop differently based on the brief, but the part of the process that never changes is research and experimentation. My studio practice revolves around experimentation with physical materials like paper, fabric and fibres, found objects, natural materials etc. The exciting thing about stop-motion is anything can be transformed into a living, breathing thing.

Before beginning a project whether it’s a commercial or a music video I spend time collecting references images from the internet and library to create mood boards. I read and take notes on the subject to get a better understanding. Once I have a basic idea of the look and feeling I want, I ask myself “What materials and technique will work best for the story and atmosphere I want to create?” The materials usually lead the way for me. For instance, if I choose paper as the medium I spend days playing with colour combinations, textures, how it can be folded, scored, layered, ripped etc. Manipulating materials with my hands allows me to see how they play with light and shadow and from here the style and stories develop.

Once I have some fabricated characters or objects, I test these mock-ups. Sometimes a material that I thought would work, may have limitations when animated. Through these tests I can determine what works and what doesn’t work and can make adjustments, or rethink the approach.

Re-purposing materials is essential in my work; for example, in Bounce Bounce [above] I wandered through flea markets and antique stores in search of materials and forms that could be shaped into creatures of the sea. A fleet of crabs were fashioned from a vintage scarf. A grandma’s doily was reimagined into a star fish-like-creature that pranced along the sea floor and camouflaged itself into its surroundings, sink strainers were bases for sea anemones, a toy piano strewn on a sidewalk became a reef for sea snails and ocean plants, maple tree seed pods transformed into underwater fauna. Through the energetic and sporadic pacing of the music, I activated these forgotten and static objects with new life.

I enjoy exploring in-camera effects and lighting that heighten the textures and tactility of the handmade forms. In the music video Joy I began mixing gestures of real world objects with projected animated paintings and patterns, as a way to combine the two-dimensional image within three-dimensional space. The merging of these two elements creates a playful distortion between the object and light that cannot be achieved digitally.

In The Ecstatics for Explosions in the Sky, I was given the brief to create something inspired by the “wilderness of the mind.” I thought of the beautiful chaos that is in the mind space and how that space has a multitude of transitions, whether it’s a transition from life to death or going from unknowing to knowing. To articulate this abstract concept, I thought translucent objects would express this idea. I experimented with glass blowing and melted plastic to create sculptural and ethereal set pieces for this project.

My music videos are usually much more experimental and spontaneous than commercial projects. In commercial projects, I still play with materials, but also do more preproduction by drawing character and set designs, storyboards etc. Even though the commercial work is a bit more structured, I still hold onto the playfulness and the excitement of discovering new ways of making.