Secondary Research

Project Developing

‘The Street of Crocodiles’ By Brothers Quay (1986)

Stop motion animation

Music by (composer) 

Leszek Jankowski

Tech specs

Runtime: 20 mins Color: black and white color Sound mix: mono

Based on:  The Street of Crocodiles (book) (1933)

                    by Bruno Schulz

‘In that city of cheap human material, no instincts can flourish, no dark and unusual passions can be aroused. 

‘“The Street of Crocodiles” was a concession of our city to modernity and metropolitan corruption.’

‘The misfortune of that area is that nothing ever succeeds there, nothing can ever reach a definite conclusion. Obviously, we were unable to afford anything better than a cardboard imitation, a photo montage cut out from last year’s mouldering newspapers. Obviously, we were unable to afford anything better.’ (The Street of Crocodiles, 1933)

Background

Reflect Jewish life in the early 20th century (1901 – HOLOCAUST 1933/1945 – 2000)

The nature of memory, how it shapes us, and the idealization of youth.

Memory and Childhood

Surrealism and Fantasy

Metaphor

Employs surreal imagery and fantastical elements to explore the inner lives of characters.

Family Dynamics

The complicated relationship between the kid (narrator) and his parents.

Cultural Identity

Reflect Jewish life in the early 20th century and the impact of historical changes in this cultural context.

First Research

Project Development

After I watched few times of the animation ‘the Street of Crocodiles’, I sorted out my understanding of the timeline of this animation.

As far as I can see, I organised this animation to 6 different parts by the character development and scenes switching.

Characters:

The adult: (the kid) the main character who is deeply attracted by the world outside home.

The baby doll / dolls: The former protagonist, the protagonist before he grew up.

The Robert: The protagonist’s father, a person who lives in the old times, old-fashioned and immersed in his own world.

Watching Notes / Analysis:

The 1st scene,

Start from a adult who saw pairs of hanging arms above the roof, and a kid is running above the transparent glass roof.

Escaping? The restriction of family?

And the first time of screws are screwing out.

The awaken of self awareness.

The 2nd scene,

Transferring to another space, the interior space, a ‘ROOM’,

Exploring status.

The conflicting between the kid and the father is appearing.

The 3rd scene,

The space is changing, the adult is going to the outside, which leading by ‘Rope’.

The entrapment / the connection between the unknown world outside and the inner family.

The dust is moving.

The protagonist’s opinions is changing.

The 4th scene,

The man is observing by the ‘dandelion’? He is gazing outside from a Hole.

The desirable.

The Rope are reconnecting from 2 sides, the ice is melting and frizzing again and again. The protagonist saw himself though the hole.

The 5th scene,

Transferring to the space ‘ROOM’ again.

The decorations, the toys, slapping the windows of different boxes in the galleries.

Start Fighting.

The baby doll be dressed up (remake), and the colors appears.

The innocence of childhood is turning to adulthood.

The 6th scene,

Calming Down.

Getting back to the peaceful.

The protagonist is picking up the screws from the floor, and remakes them with the eye of the doll, the heels or putting them back to the shelf.

Grew Up, Self Reconciliation.

Secondary research

Idea Developing

As I like the director Jan Švankmajer’s style, and I’m starting to think about other animation directors who have similar styles as Jan Švankmajer.

Then the director Brothers Quay came up from my brain.

I remember the Brothers Quay mentioned in an interview before that they were also influenced by Jan Švankmajer when they were interested in animation or film making in the early days.

The Brothers Quay

‘The Brothers’ works from 1979 to the present show a wide range of often esoteric influences.

Most of their animation films feature puppets made of doll parts and other organic and inorganic materials, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere.’

Then I started to watch all of the stop motion animations made by the Brothers Quay which I could find. After watching all of their works for the first time, I was deeply impressed by one of their works, ‘the Street of Crocodiles’.

This animation can be said to be one of their classic representative works, presenting the story in a dark and abstract style.

And it just happened to meet my needs. The original soundtrack version of this animation was very musical. The composer Leszek Jankowski made very good music to guide the audience to feel the emotional changes of the characters. This gave me the opportunity to recreate a different sound version of this great animation.

‘The Street of Crocodiles’

Secondary research

My Inspiration

The film director and animator: Jan Švankmajer

‘Jan Švankmajer explored informel, which later became an important part of the visual form of his animated films. In his film work, he created an unmistakable and quite specific style, determined primarily by a compulsively unorthodox combination of externally disparate elements.’ (Wikipedia)

As someone who has seen many works from Jan Švankmajer, the animation Food stands out as my favourite anime from him. I watched this animation 4 years ago, but I still remember the foley background and the whole animation. Jan Švankmajer’s Food is an extraordinary exploration of human desire, consumption, and the absurdity of existence, all wrapped in a surreal and visually striking package.

The animation Food is one of the most unique and unsettling experiences in the medium definitely. Though not a traditional anime, Švankmajer’s signature stop-motion style, combined with bizarre, almost grotesque imagery, gives the film an otherworldly quality that leaves a lasting impression.

Then I thought, could I also choose an old animation that its original sound track with more musical style, and then make a new version of this animation in my own style with more foley recording sound effects?

First Research

Developing

At the beginning,

when I knew that the direction of choosing sound for screen required me to pick a video (clip) and make a sound track for it, I literally didn’t have any idea. Even though this clip could be a part from the movie, animation or even a game.

Then I’m trying to find my inspiration from my daily life. I usually enjoy though sketching to record the beauty I see in my life or my current feelings. Also, that I like and I am keen to watch animation and play some nostalgic pixel games, such as Pac-Man is my favourite game.

I knew that the clip I chose should be the thing I interested in at first.

Then, an idea came up.

What if I choose a nostalgic anime, and making the soundtrack for it?

GIGS

‘ Boundary Condition III Anniversary ‘

Performer: Roxanna Albayti presents SHEKARE AZADI

‘A performative conversation about generations, the conflict between the inner and outside worlds, and the need to face and find healing space. In honour of Iranian women, the audience is invited to participate in a diasporic quest for freedom. created in cooperation with Arghavan Majd, Rebecca Moradalizadeh & Zora Za, Sur, Marat Ingeldeev, and Soraya S.‘

This was the most impressive performance among the six performances at this event. This performance made good use of the immersion space. In a church with a very high convex roof, it is very easy to produce ethereal echoes. The performer Roxanna Albayti made good use of this. With her excellent natural voice and the blessing of clean and rich cello playing, the performance was very immersive and unsatisfying. After watching her performance, I was deeply fascinated by her cello skills and her singing. Also, that I feel how important it is for creators to make good use of the space in a performance to perform or design better creations.

GIGS

In the whole performance, I was very impressed and interested in this ambience style performance. When the singer’s voice came out, I felt as if I was healed. It also made me realize that whether it is a musical performance or ‘Sound for Screen’ works, the background needs to be related to the characteristics of the performer or the role.