|
|
In August
of 2000 Jesse Rosensweet, the director and producer of The Stone of
Folly, visited my studio to see if I’d be interested in collaborating
on a stop-motion animation film with him. For the past couple of years
I’d been working on sculptures that included boxes depicting strange
mise en scène, still frames involving bizarre creatures and characters
in a moment of puzzlement, anguish and humble acceptance. Motion seemed
like a natural step for this work. I had already planned a box series
loosely based on a medieval hospital theme and we both agreed that this
would be a good starting point for the film. It would allow plenty of
room for dark humour as well as potential parodies of modern TV hospital
dramas.
In the course of doing research for the film, I was looking at a book
called The Story of Medicine. There I saw a Hieronymus Bosch painting
titled Removal of the Stone of Folly, whose description spoke of
medieval charlatans who claimed to cure madness by removing stones from
the head. A perfect ailment for our medical team!
Early meetings with Philip Marcus, the gifted animator of The Stone
of Folly, clarified for me what would be necessary to make the characters
move convincingly. The actual making of the characters, sets and props
took me about six months. I approached the construction in much the same
way as I make my sculpture, incorporating found objects and scraps of
fur and fabric, working in quite an abstract way to balance the forms,
colours and textures. The patina of rusted metal and worn cloth, along
with consistency of scale (1:6) bolster the illusion of reality. The armatures,
or skeletal structures, on which the figures are built were constructed
of wood and aluminum wire of varying thicknesses, with aluminum blocks
for the feet.
Jesse and I would imagine outrageous scenarios and contraptions and he
would then go away and pull these ideas together, writing out narrative
possibilities and bringing them to our next session. The script ballooned,
with many interesting scenes of interchanged brains and bizarre dream
sequences ultimately being axed due to harsh realities of budget and the
demands of the extremely labour-intensive stop-motion filmmaking. When
Jesse came up with the great idea for the ending of the film, the story
structure fell into place. The idea of the stone of folly being ground
up and fed to newborns seemed to come directly from Jesse’s experience
of being a new father.
This project was an incredible experience for me and I am grateful to
Jesse for envisioning this possibility for my artwork. Jesse went to great
efforts to realize this film, a true labour of love spanning a two-year
period. Jesse’s direction and detailed attention to every stage of
production, Philip’s animation, Jeremy Benning’s cinematography,
Goro Koyama and Andy Malcolm’s foley work and David Buchbinder’s
soundtrack have created an outstanding picture.
The Stone of Folly was awarded the Prix du Jury for short
films at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. It was an official selection
of the 2002 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the 2002 Toronto
International Film Festival and the Hiroshima Animated Film Festival.
It won 2002 Best Animated Short at the Chicago Film Festival.
TOP
|
|
|
 |
|
