From: Simon Palmer <simon-AT-illustrated-history.net>
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:59:50 +0000
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] Mackinnon and Saunders (Tim Burton and more)


I had the pleasure of having some of my designs made into stop-motion  
puppets by the team at Mackinnon and Saunders some years ago. They  
had (and obviously still have) a very impressive team of sculptors  
some of whom I managed to annoy with a series of apparently obscure  
corrections and amendments (actually they were all very patient and  
good-humoured). The puppets can be seen in the Tindersticks' "Dying  
Slowly" video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icC4O5mq_-4

The main character was supposed to be a caricature of Jean-Paul  
Belmondo circa "Pierrot le fou" and was modelled by Colin Batty (who  
designed and made the characters for Paul Berry's well known  
"Sandman" short).

The figures were originally for a short film "The Trojan Horse"  
directed by my brother Matt (who was an animator on Tim Burton's  
"Corpse Bride").


Simon Palmer
Illustrated History
+44 (0) 161 611 0739
+44 (0) 7944 804414
www.illustrated-history.net
www.doodleblog.co.uk




On 18 Mar 2010, at 21:54, Steve Abrams wrote:

> I saw the Tim Burton retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (fondly
> called MoMA) in NY
> It is there until April 26
>
> There are 100s of drawings and paintings. There are notebooks and  
> poems.
> There are film clips (some obscure)
> There are costumes, props, masks and models
>
> At least 25 finely crafted stop motion puppets are on exhibit  
> mostly from
> "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride ."
> The show is inspirational and overwhelming.
> It is also a huge success. If you plan to go you need to plan ahead  
> and get
> a timed ticket.
> It is always crowded
>
> It occurred to me that Burton is loved by serious film geeks, but  
> his work
> is also appealing to masses and masses of "non-specialists" in  
> other words,
> the public.
> Is it because nearly every teenager has dark fantasies and loves  
> monster and
> sci-fi films?
>
> Effort was made to credit the builders.
> Tim Burton's earliest puppet builder from his days at Disney in the  
> early
> 80s seems to be Rick Heinrichs.
> It isnt too often that I see sculpy listed as a material in an art  
> museum!
>
> The Chiodo Brothers are mentioned
>
> More recently he has worked with Peter Saunders and Ian MacKinnon of
> Manchester England
> Peter Saunders worked on Dark Crystal. Ian MacKinnon worked for Gerry
> Anderson
> The two met working on Wind in the Willows and formed their company  
> in 1992.
> They built the figures for the Fantastic Mr Fox (not a Burton film)
>
> Also at MoMA
> An exhibit devoted to William Kentridge, the artist and film maker  
> who has
> collaborated with Hand Spring Puppet Theatre of South Africa.
> There are several shadow films.
> Two rooms surround you with projected images. There are  3  or more  
> screens
> on each of the 4 walls.
> One gallery features his designs for Magic Flute.  A large model or  
> toy
> theatre is used as there area where the designs are projected into/ 
> onto the
> model theatre.
> The final gallery features the films and designs used for the opera  
> "The
> Nose" currently at the Metropolitan Opera, directed by Kentridge
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