Do you know what a Zoetrope is? I would be pleasantly surprised if you do as they have become very outdated. Once you googled it you can come back here and you will begin to realise why I have mentioned it.
A Zoetrope introduced the world to the thought of what animation could be like. Animation has evolved a lot over the years, with 2D Cartoons such as The Lion King and The Jungle Book, to 3D CGI like Shrek and Toy Story. There’s been a middle ground between these two types and that is where I’d like to bring you to Stop-Motion.
How It Became Popular
The legendary Ray Harryhausen popularised the medium and turned it into a commercial property with films such as Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans and King Kong. There had been early uses of Stop-Motion in feature films since the end of the 19th Century with The Humpty Dumpty Circus where using sculptures of animals was a more ideal solution over using real animals in a circus show. This proved successful at the time, but was far from a commercial commodity.
The moving image is a complex art form and yet is considering the highest form of art. The visual image can express many thoughts and feelings, it captivates audiences and acts as a window into someone else’s imagination.
Live-action films are restricted at the fantastical elements that Stop-Motion offers. This is why in mid-20th Century filmmakers were pursuing different methods of storytelling. Stop-motion is not a cheap form of art, but is more expressive than reality. This is due to the amount of effort that goes into it. This goes from character design, set development and use of perspective.
Bringing It To Modern Day
As we look in the past few decades, one would assume this art form is declining, but this is far from true. Aardman Animations and Laika are two of the biggest Stop-Motion studios working in the business today. Wallace & Gromit, Coraline and The Boxtrolls are just some examples of how these films can still be popular. Looking ahead into the future there are films such as Chicken Run 2 and Missing Link which continue to use this technique.
A lot of people love the genre and I for one wish to see more of these films made, and this is one of many reasons which is why I want to make Awake. To captivate young people’s imaginations, to show everyone how expressive the medium can be and to keep the filmmaking process alive.
For more news on Awake, keep an eye on our blog and be the first to know when we begin talking about it in detail.
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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