Jan Svankmajer
(1934) Czech Republic
(1934) Czech Republic
Jan Svankmajer, one of the great Czech filmmakers, was born in Prague. Trained at the Institute of Applied Arts he worked at the Black Theatre of Prague and the Laterna Magika before making his first puppet film in 1964. Although he made a number of significant films incorporating a variety of animation techniques and live action it wasn't until the 1980s that his work made an international impact. A committed Surrealist since joining the Prague group in 1970, his aggressive, dark and even sadistic work reached its apotheosis with the stunning 1982 filmDimensions Of Dialogue. In 1987 he completed his first feature film, Alice, a characteristically witty and subversive adaptation of Lewis Carroll, and follow this with a range of subversive and innovative featuresFaust(1994), Conspirators Of Pleasure (1996), Little Otik(Otesanek) (2000) and his most recent film Lunacy (2005).
Jan Svankmajer
13 min
Czech Republic 1982
Svankmajer, one of cinema's most innovative animators, created this pessimistic comment of the possibility of dialogue, both personal and political, where the violence and aggression of humanity are brilliantly depicted in a series of Arcimboldian, figures which devour and regurgitate each other.
PASSIONATE DIALOGUE was the foundations of my inspiration and influence into experimental animating using wet clay. The way in which Svankmajer could manipulate the clay in creating quite a beautiful savagery to a intimate scene and the effectiveness it brought into invoking specific feelings into a person was something I very much wanted to accomplish. The overall surreal look and darkness to his work, the clay took it to a more human level, and I felt that this would fit into my Final project and the story that I wanted to tell about defilement and destruction between Matriarchy and Patriarchy.
Ray Harryhausen
California, USA
The name Ray Harryhausen may not be familiar to everyone but to those who do know it, his name stands as a landmark in the history of a genre and cinematic art, the art of dimensional stop-motion animation.
Ray made his name by developing fantastic stories and creatures based on legends and mythology and creating a unique genre of fantasy films during the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s. He stands as a beacon to today’s fantasy filmmakers as the creator who inspired them and made the impossible possible.
Ray is my oldest influence for me becoming and loving stop-frame animation. 'Clash of the Titans' being the film that formed the bases of what my project was to start off from, and grow into the film it is now! Taking his realistic approach to animation, removing itself from the stylised "cartoon" interacting animation with live action.
