Stop Motion Geek

Angela Poschet. Source: http://en.animarkt.pl/masters/masterclasses/ “I have worked for many different producers and production companies based in different European countries, and I’ve had to adapt to the specific needs for each production,” Angela Poschet—a veteran in the stop motion industry, whose credits include production supervisor of Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs , head of scheduling of Tim Burton’s Oscar®-nominated film Frankenweenie , director of photography of Bob the Builder , as well as numerous others credit on feature films, television series, and commercials—tells Stop Motion Geek. “Therefore, you have to be very open and you have to approach each production individually to get it up and running for their needs and the capacity they can deal with.” Poschet began her career in the stop motion industry in 1998 as the director of photography on the preschool series Bob the Builder for BBC UK—on which she worked for three years across thirty-nine episodes. She pr...

Carlos Bleycher profile photo. Source: http://carlosbleycher.com/index.html “The most important thing for any genre are the characters,” Carlos Bleycher—veteran scriptwriter, content consultant, and story editor, with numerous credits spanning animated and children-oriented content in his native Spanish as well as English for the likes of Disney xD, Cartoon Network LA, and Discovery Kids—tells Stop Motion Geek. “That’s why it’s so important to have strong characters that feel real, and then use your premise as an ‘excuse’ to flesh out their personalities, dreams, fears, everything.” After getting his start in the industry writing for sitcoms, Bleycher—inspired by the “countless hours of watching cartoons” he consumed as a child along with a healthy dose of ambition—made a conscious shift towards writing for animated programming aimed at children—an oft-snubbed dimension of scripted programming. To Bleycher, however, respecting such an audience is his highest priority in crea...

Billy Whiskers: The Mystery of the Misplaced Trowel  title card. Source: Vimeo. “I think it must have been early Aardman stuff that first got me interested in stop motion,” filmmaker and animator James Wilkinson tells Stop Motion Geek, identifying the traits of his influences in animation that fashioned his own cinematic sensibilities, and were, at least in some small way, part of the genesis of his latest film—the charming, funny, and gorgeously realized noir spoof, Billy Whiskers: The Mystery of the Misplaced Trowel . “The gentle English ambiance and humour were so appealing to me as a kid and I just wanted to try and replicate it!” First seen as a youth, Wilkinson’s stop motion inspirations made a lasting impression on him, giving him a passion for the medium that initially took shape as a hobby. As an adult, that passion stayed with him, fueling his studies of film production at university. After graduation, it blossomed into a fully-fledged career as the Managing Di...