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.With its famous Taun-taun scene, Tippett’s Go-Motion method of animation makes its premiere. Go-Motion was developed as a way to create more realistic animation through achieving “motion blur” in stop motion. It involved rod-controlled and computer-assisted puppets, and became its own distinctive sub-form of the medium. Beyond this technical achievement, the film also has one of the greatest Hollywood stop motion scenes ever created: the fabulous Walker fight scene on the ice planet of Hoth. This film marks the beginning of the peak of the medium’s use as a special effect method, and is as essential as King Kong when it comes to charting the history of stop motion in Hollywood.
This highly entertaining sword and sorcery film has a wonderful dragon called Vermithrax Pejorative. Besides the coolest name in dragon history, it also has a fantastic character design. The animation in the film is truly remarkable stuff, and is of further note as it showcases further refinements in Tippet’s Go-Motion method.
This film is worth checking out for its excellent stop motion work, and also because it marks the conclusion of Harryhausen’s feature film animation. This film, along with Svankmajer’s Alice, really left a mark on me when I first I first saw it in the theatre. I clearly remember the car ride home, my older brother at the wheel, while I stared out the window and imagined mythical Greek creatures stomping around in the passing moonlit fields!
Directed by a young Tim Burton, this spooky but charming story is a loving tribute to horror icon Vincent Price. At the time, producers at Disney didn’t quite know what to do with it, and shelved the film- but today it can be seen as setting the stage for later Burton stop motion efforts.
George Lucas’ first effort at producing animation, this is a very distinctive (and not widely-seen) feature film. It uses, among other techniques, cut-out animation to tell an ambitious story, that sees the forces of “good dreams” pitted against “bad dreams,” in a battle to stop time. Many of the beautiful cut-outs are formed from translucent plastic and backlit on light tables, giving the work a really gorgeous look.
The Endor battle scenes have lots of beautiful stop motion work, some of it Go-Motion, and some of it “normal” stop motion.
This feature-length adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s story is one of the first major productions from a studio that would go on to create many memorable shows, including a series based on the same property. With beautiful puppets, sets, and animation, this particularly British production is a quietly charming knockout.
Cook creates some wonderfully monstrous performances in this famous supernatural comedy, via the Terror Dog puppets. Some great “four-legged” animation is on display here, for any animator faced with a similar puppet challenge.
From the U.S. master of clay animation comes this feature film story, that follows the renowned author on a series of fantastical adventures. Stop motion is tricky in general, but animating realistic, “on-model” characters for a feature film in clay is a challenge that would strike fear into even the bravest stop motion animator. This film is an incredible achievement.
The mischievous little clay bird first airs on television. The series features penguins living in igloos, and despite some North Pole/South Pole confusion (or perhaps because of it), the show is hugely successful. Pingu and his world are great examples of what makes clay so attractive. It’s real, it’s squishy, and it’s fun.
This utterly mad and extremely fun television series had a serious love for animation in general, and stop motion in particular. With lots of short pieces done by central Aardman artists like Richard Goleszowski and Nick Park, it’s a treasure chest of stop motion entertainment. Look for Penny, the clay girl with coins for eyes.
This landmark art film by the notorious stop motion twins is inspired by the mysterious and poetic written work of Bruno Schulz. Often imitated for its lens, camera, and animation methods, it’s safe to say that there is nothing quite like this in the history of cinema. It’s a dream-like exploration of stop motion dust and fragments, within a world of broken toys and rusted objects. All the living things seem to carry out their mysterious lives beneath (or beyond) the world of human experience. Watching this film is like seeing into a fantasy world made real (or a real world made fantasy), and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched it. It’s a landmark piece in the truest sense of the word.
The “Dancing Corpse” stop motion sequence in this Sam Raimi cult classic is a very distinctive piece of stop motion. Like the movie, it’s gross and funny- but also eerie in its beauty. It’s a great piece to study, and it also features a very distinctive exit for the puppet that never fails to make me laugh and shudder.
The Czech maestro takes on the classic tale, with remarkable results. The film blends live action and all forms of puppets including stop motion, and is responsible for some truly stunning and shocking moments of movie magic. It’s a version of Alice that is purposefully raw around its edges, in both its look and its method of storytelling. It’s beautiful and strange… and left a big impact on yours truly when he first came across it many years ago.
The ED-209 robot in this ultra-violent satire is a very memorable bit of stop motion machinery. It’s a cross between a chicken and a machine gun, with extremely homicidal tendencies.
Staged as a series of interviews with zoo creatures, this short film wins Aardman it’s first Oscar. It’s a landmark in character animation in clay, and should be closely studied by all stop motion animators for its subtle and insightful character work.
About as far away as one can get from Neighbours, this intensely disturbing live action fantasy film about a metal man nonetheless has some great pixilation. Check it out, but be prepared for serious madness.
