Are
you an animator?
I was asked the question maybe a dozen times, on what was Animated
Encounters' Industry Day - a gathering where enthusiasts and delegates
could mix to gain an insight into the industry in Britain, with seminars,
masterclasses and training sessions.
Truth be told, I'm not an animator. My interests lie in comics and
images in juxtaposition - like storyboards - on the printed page rather
than on the screen.
 |
| A relaxed
Terry Gilliam before the interview |
By 6pm, those that
remained were here for just one thing: Ex-Python animator Terry Gilliam's
Desert Island Flicks with film writer and critic Mark Kermode.
As I'm a behind-the-scenes guest, mixing with the great and good,
I get to meet the man himself.
I interrupted his dinner (salad and potatoes by the look of it) but
he graciously allowed me to take some snaps.
As far as the evening was concerned, I was interested to hear what
Gilliam had to say about the production of animation and the films
that inspired him and how this may relate to comics.
What also intrigued me about the event was the fact that the Watershed
was running an audio-visual link its digital cafe, so that I was able
to experience the whole sold-out interview live on a big screen. This
had two benefits, a free gin and tonic and a large back corduroy sofa
to stretch out on.
Others in the digital cafe made the most of the big screen as the
audience filed into the auditorium. One group spotted a friend and
called him on his mobile so he could give the cafe posse a wave!
 |
| Terry
Gilliam: I am a punter, like you |
Now for Gilliam.
He and Mark Kermode
(clutching a pint of lager) enter to the strains of the Desert Island
Discs theme.
And so the journey into animation's impact on Terry Gilliam begins.
The top film director, who has worked with the likes of Brad and Bruce,
as he calls them, is clearly down to earth:
"I am a punter, like you," he tells the crowd, as he reveals
his diverse selection of films - many of which have clearly influenced
both his Python animation for TV and big-budget live action movies.
Gilliam gets a kick out of the movies, not the movie-makers, although
he obviously admires and respects them: "When I was a kid,"
he tells us, "I wasn't interested in Walt Disney the man, I just
loved his films."
| Gilliam's
Top Ten |
| Pinocchio
(Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen, US, 1940) |
| Red
Hot Riding Hood (Tex Avery, US, 1943) |
The
Mascot
(Wladyslaw Starewicz, France 1934) |
| Out
of the Inkwell (Dave Fleischer, US, 1938) |
| Death
Breath (Stan van der Beek, US, 1964) |
| Les
Jeux des Anges (Walerian Borowczyk, France, 1964)
|
Dimensions
of Dialogue
(Jan Svankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1982)
|
| Street
of Crocodiles (The Quay Brothers, UK, 1986) |
| Knickknack
(John Lasseter, US, 1989) |
| South
Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (Trey Parker, US,
1999) |
| |
Just
glancing at his top ten, you can see that Gilliam is by no means
a purist - he loves old and new, traditional and modern and "sweet
and dark" as he puts it.
One of his choices is the ultra-slick Knickknack
made by John Lasseter for Pixar in 1989. This epitomises Gilliam's
theory that the job of the animator is to: "Inject humanity
into the bits and bytes of pixels."
If Knickknack is sweet, Svankmajer's Dimensions of Dialogue
is most definitely dark. Gilliam calls it "dark and subversive"
and cites this - and the fact that it is "rude and offensive"
- as some of the reasons why he likes it.
What emerges throughout the evening is that Gilliam is interested
in the "juxtapositions" which exist in life.
How, by cutting up images and sticking them together, you can produce
interesting narrative - which, for me, is what comics do too.
A Q&A rounds off the evening and Gilliam is asked whether he,
a clear fan of the genre, will be returning to animation.
To the audience's dismay, he says no. Gilliam says he loves making
movies with "real people", and as someone who is so engaging
and animated, you can see why.
|
Motorway
gridlock special
