Adam Elliot | |
|---|---|
 Elliot in 2010 | |
| Born | Berwick, Victoria, Australia |
| Education | TheVictorian College of the Arts. |
| Known for | Clayographies – Clay Animated Biographies |
| Notable work | Mary and Max,Harvie Krumpet,Memoir of a Snail,Ernie Biscuit,Uncle,Cousin,Brother |
| Awards | Academy Award,FiveAustralian Film Institute Awards, Young Achiever of the Year for Victoria – 1999,Australian of the Year Award |
Adam Benjamin Elliot is an Australian animator and filmmaker based inMelbourne. Established as anindependentauteur ofminimalistic narrative-driven films in animation, all of his films have generally use oftragicomedy genre with themes of bittersweet nature and psychological development to the characters; based loosely on his family and friends, each of his films is considered aClayography – aportmanteau genre ofclay animation andbiography, coined by himself.
Adam Benjamin Elliot[1] was born inBerwick, Victoria, and raised in the Australianoutback on aprawn farm by his father, Noel, a retired acrobaticclown, and his mother Valerie, a hairdresser; he has three siblings, Samantha, Luke and Joshua. After the farm went bankrupt, Elliot's father moved the family to the city ofMelbourne, where he bought a small hardware shop.[2]
Elliot attended the Pinewood Primary State School in the suburb ofMount Waverley, and thenHaileybury College, Keysborough.[3]
Elliot had an early ambition to be aveterinarian but did not obtain the necessary grades to enter university. In extra-curricular activities Elliot was a member of the school's HighlandPipe Band. He also pursued acting and in his final year was awarded the school's highest honour, the A. G. Greenwood Trophy for an outstanding dramatic performance asDr. Watson in theSherlock Holmes play "The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca".[4]
Born with a hereditaryphysiological tremor, Elliot incorporated his disability into his visual aesthetic with his work displaying uneven lines and an organic feel. After completing his year twelve, he spent five years hand-painting T-shirts at theSt Kilda, Victoria Esplanade Craft market.[5]
In 1996 he completed a postgraduate diploma in film and television, specialising in animation, at theVictorian College of the Arts.[6][7] There he made his firststopmotion film,Uncle, which won numerous film awards and participated in various international and local film festivals.[6]
In collaboration with theAustralian Film Commission,Screen Australia,Film Victoria (formerly Cinemedia), and theSpecial Broadcasting Service[8] (SBS), Elliot made four more short films:Cousin,Brother,Harvie Krumpet,Ernie Biscuit and a feature,Mary and Max. Elliot isgay and thanked his boyfriend, who he was still involved with as of 2016, in his acceptance speech upon winning anAcademy Award for Best Animated Short forHarvie Krumpet, becoming the first LGBT+ winner in that category.[9]
Elliot is a voting member of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and in 1999 was awarded The Young Achiever of the Year for Victoria.[10]
He received anAcademy Award nomination for Memoir Of A Snail and a win forHarvie Krumpet.[11][12]
Made in 1996, Elliot's firstshort film was created at theVictorian College of the Arts under the tutelage ofSarah Watt,[13] Robert Stephenson and Ann Shenfield. With a running time of six minutesUncle won numerous international awards including anAustralian Film Institute Award for Best Australian Animated Short.[14]
The film was shot with a 16mmBolex camera using completely traditionalstopmotion techniques, and edited on aSteenbeck, a now obsolete linear editing system. These traditional techniques taught Elliot a craft that would influence his later works and provide a strong respect for handcrafted films. To date he refuses to apply any digital effects to his films despite economic and aesthetic pressures. The budget forUncle was approximately A$4000.Uncle is semi-biographical, about an anonymous uncle narrated by an anonymous nephew, voiced byWilliam McInnes. Extremely static andminimalist, the story is driven by the narration and is a balance between comedy and tragedy, humour and pathos. Using strongarchetypes, the story has a timeless and universal feel. To date, the film is still popular atFilm Festivals[6] (often as part of a retrospective on Elliot).
In interviews he has cited the popular adage, that "I never let the truth get in the way of a good story."[15]
Made in 1997,Cousin was Elliot's first professional film funded by theAustralian Film Commission,SBS Independent andFilm Victoria. As withUncle, Elliot chose aminimalist approach and sparse narration to drive a very simple remembrance of a childhood relationship he had with his cousin (based on his real-life cousin), who hascerebral palsy.
LikeUncle,Cousin has agreyscalepalette but was shot on colour stock. This film was shot in a small storage unit in the outer suburb ofMoorabbin, inMelbourne, at a facility owned by his father. This time Elliot employedAVID digital equipment to edit the footage shot on16mm film.
Cousin has been shown at many film festivals and won Elliot his secondAFI Award for Best Australian animation.[14] Narrated again byWilliam McInnes, the budget forCousin was $42,000 AUD.
Thanks to the success of his first two shorts,Brother became the natural conclusion to what is now referred to as a trilogy. Funded by theAustralian Film Commission andSBS Independent, this short explores the childhood memories of Elliot's brother.
Brother marks the height of Elliot'sminimalist approach andaesthetic. He made it in a friend's spare bedroom abovefalafel shop in thebohemian inner city suburb ofFitzroy,Melbourne. Elliot set strict rules for himself: the film should be made in a completelyanalog fashion using a limited amount of tools and equipment. In keeping with hispurist ideals, he edited it on aSteenbeck.
Like the two previous chapters of the trilogy,Brother was narrated byWilliam McInnes. It travelled to many international festivals, winning Elliot twoAFI Awards: one for Best Australian Short Animation and one for best Australian Short Screenplay.[14]
The budget to the film wasAUD380,000; it was narrated by the Academy Award-winning actorGeoffrey Rush, with character voices byKamahl,John Flaus and Julie Forsythe. In 2004 the film won an Academy Award for Best Short Animation.[16]
Elliot's firstfeature film had its world premiere at theSundance Film Festival in January 2009 and was the first animated film and first Australian film in the festival's 25-year history to screen in the coveted opening night slot.[17]
From 2 March to 6 June 2010,Mary and Max was showcased in a free exhibition at theAustralian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).[18] "Mary and Max: The Exhibition" provided a behind-the-scenes insight into the making of the film. Items on display included character models, costumes, storyboards, props (meticulously crafted miniature hand-blown wine glasses, a working typewriter, light bulbs) and footage of the animators at work.[19]
Elliot's most currentclayography short,Ernie Biscuit, is a 20-minute black-and-white short animatedstop motion film exploring the life of a deaf Parisiantaxidermist.
In a similar style to his Academy Award-winningHarvie Krumpet, this film is a bittersweet biography that has both comedic and tragic elements. For the first time, Elliot has explored stronger themes of love, and the overall style is quite dynamic and fast-paced. It is lighter in tone to his other shorts and is narrated by long-time collaboratorJohn Flaus, who has voiced Elliot's previous filmsHarvie Krumpet,Mary and Max andUncle.[20]
The film was selected into official competition at theAnnecy International Animation Festival and had its European premiere in June 2015.Ernie Biscuit wonBest Short Animation at the5th AACTA Awards.[21]
Elliot's second feature film,Memoir of a Snail, released in June 2024. The film centres on Grace Pudel, a lonely hoarder of ornamental snails who lives in Canberra and is based on people in Elliot's life.[22] The film starsSarah Snook,Jacki Weaver andKodi Smit-McPhee as the main characters, whileEric Bana reunites to work with Elliot afterMary and Max.[23]
The film premiered at theAnnecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2024 and was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Animated Feature.[24]
Elliot is noted for his use of traditional "in-camera" techniques, which means every prop set and character is a "real" miniature handcrafted object. He does not use digital additions or computer-generated imagery to enhance his visual aesthetic.[25] Each film takes up to five years to complete, although his latest filmMemoir of a Snail took over five years to complete due to lengthy animation and craftmanship.
His company, Adam Elliot Clayographies, produces the films and Elliot's work practices adhere to the Frenchauteur methodology. Each film has featured voices by notable actors, includingPhilip Seymour Hoffman,Toni Collette,Geoffrey Rush,Eric Bana,Sarah Snook,Kodi Smit-McPhee,William McInnes,Barry Humphries,Nick Cave andJacki Weaver.
Theportmanteau term "clayography" was created by Elliot, who struggled with ways of describing his animation technique and so created this word to express his artistic style. A combination of the wordsclay andbiography, the term is similar to another portmanteau termclaymation, which is a registered trademark in the United States, registered byWill Vinton in 1978 to describe his clay-animated films. Clay is often used as a general term forplasticine in thestop motion animation community. As Elliot's films explore the details of real people's lives and are the basis of all his animated films, the wordsbiography andbiographical are suitable words to use in describing his work. Each of his films is a Clayography (singular) and as a body of work they are Clayographies (plural).[26]
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