I recently stumbled upon Alexis Garland Waller's first Stop Motion Animation, 'Dante's Inferno' on YouTube and was so impressed that i contacted Alex and asked her about her inspired creation.

Alexis Garland Waller - "Svankmajer and Bickford are two of my favorites.  (And I absolutely LOVE that gloriously surreal documentary about Bickford, "Monster Road"…)  Svankmajer's Conspirators of Pleasure sort of changed my imaginary life, too.

I started making animations when I was a kid, probably inspired by Will Vinton's Mark Twain and Rip Van Winkle claymations. All I had for a camera, though, was a super 8 (or was it hi-8?) video camera. I'd set up the scene, then click the record button on and off really quickly, move the figures, then click the button quickly on and off again. Those would be the "frames." The editing process involved two VCRs and an old four track sound mixer that my babysitter's husband handed down to me.  It was a pretty crude set-up, but I would spend hours and hours during the summers creating surreal clay worlds and bringing them to jittery life.

I quit making animations when I went to college.  It was Dante and my degree in Italian lit that brought me back to visual art in general, and a mini epic clay Commedia was born out of those studies two or three years ago when I borrowed a friend's 16mm Bolex.  Soon after, I bought my own camera and equipment and I began designing Inferno and Purgatorio.  I've only shot two-thirds of Inferno thus far.  The devil is ready and waiting for his minute upon the stage, but relegated to a shoebox in my closet for now.  I just haven't had studio space or time to finish the film.

I'm currently eking out a living as a freelance writer in Charlottesville, VA. I make art and study the occult and astrology on the side."

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 1:06 am by Jon Beinart
Categories: Animation.
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