Péter and Joseph’s World of Stop Motion (2017)

For Primanima 2017 acclaimed animation directors Péter Vácz and Joseph Wallace led an intensive four day stop motion workshop. Twelve international participants joined the directors to learn the practice and theory around their methodologies of creating cinematic puppet animation from simple materials.

The workshop included a mix of lectures, screenings, practical sessions, mini-masterclasses and one-on-one talks with participants. Each day started with a screening where Joseph and Péter shared various puppet animation shorts and making-of videos which were discussed by the group.

During the first two days, participants were taught puppet making techniques using aluminium wire, paper, wood, foam and glue to make puppets that were easy to animate but also durable. The puppets were ‘dressed’ with found objects, papier-mâché and acrylic paint to give them a strong visual identity. For the third and fourth days, the participants learned about cinematography and how to light and shoot their puppets to get the most out of an economic set-up and achieve a cinematic look. The participants shot with Canon DSLR cameras and iMacs with Dragonframe software and were encouraged to explore expressive movement and striking lighting.

Over the 4 days, in total, the 12 participants created 24 puppets and over three minutes of animation. The group showed great focus, energy and enthusiasm throughout the whole workshop and Péter and Joseph were thrilled with the group’s progress and results.

“The experience of the whole workshop and festival was incredible. I feel excited to experiment with the knowledge and ideas that came from the workshop and more ready to say YES to projects.”
Heather Colbert, Workshop participant

“It was very inspiring. I find that working intensively on something changes your way of approaching stuff and you see things differently. I’m motivated to step up my work.”
Abel Carbajal, Workshop participant

If you are a university or animation festival and would like to book Péter and Joseph to facilitate a workshop, please make contact here.

The participants
Abel Carbajal, Alberto Hernandez Mérida, Bettina Boros, Brigitta Boros, Dani Diószeghy, Heather Colbert, Melinda Lokodi, Panna Surnovszky, Dóra Szabó, Etelka Szendefi, Zuzana Bahulová, Piotr Chmielewski