KNOT
DIRECTED BY MARIE LECHVALLIER
UNITED KINGDOM // 2020
8 MINS
Balanced on a tightrope, Blue lives his life in fear of falling into the terrifying abyss below. But when he meets carefree Orange, he is drawn into a sensual dance that encourages him to confront his fears and heal the wounds of his past.
Reflective Encounters
“Knot represents a particularly promising debut from new director Marie Lechevallier, whose background largely centres around puppet-based stop-motion animation. Her production approach here combines these stop-motion skills with 2D animation sensibilities, constructing an atmospheric world of fantastical acrobatic characters in a multiplane environment. Said atmosphere is in no small part due to Knot’s striking colour theory and meditative soundtrack, courtesy of musical outfit My Octopus Mind. At the film’s heart is the interplay between Blue, whose fearfulness of stepping out of their comfort zone inhibits their performance, and the comparatively free and easy Orange. Through the encouragement of Orange, Blue is able to take their first, faltering steps toward a less reticent way of life.
A painted paper cut-out approach to the characters retains the appealingly tactile quality of stop-motion and informs their unique design while also freeing up the potential for movement. As such they are able to meet the demands of meticulously choreographed performances that draw on the director’s own involvement in improv theatre. This experience also bleeds into the fundamental themes of the film; the inevitable resistance we all feel when stepping into the unknown, as well as the personal fortitude and support systems that help us push through it.”
— Ben Mitchell
Filmmaker Q&A
A Q&A with filmmakers from the Elemental Moods programme at Encounters Film Festival 2021.
Filmmakers - Marie Lechevallier (Knot) and Matthias Lerch (Pandora)
Hosted by Ben Mitchell, Animation Selector.
Director’s Statement
Over the last few years, I discovered and participated to clowning and improvisation theatre workshops, both revolving around an eye-opening concept : ‘Play ‘. The idea of play, which first is to engage in activities for pure enjoyment rather than practical purposes, within those workshops extends to gradually remove any kind of structural support to freely explore individual creativity.
Being pushed to step out into the dark was naturally scary, yet thrilling for confronting me to a most common and deeply anchored fear: the unknown. Most of all, Play is a way to connect. Meeting B. last summer was a remarkable experience in that sense: we created a safe bubble for us to thrive, so our persons could freely unroll to empower each other to play and create almost transcendental moments to reach blissful levels of energy.
It pushed our boundaries and shifted our perspectives beyond familiar frames of reference. An invigorating adventure that defined the first lines of Knot: a dance about Love and Play. Dance has always been another passion of mine which I like to confront to visual arts, playing on the movements and the physicality of the bodies against a dark theatrical space to express Love in all its facets : sensuality, confrontation, care, trust, ...
Knot is leading the audience through a dynamic emotional journey to transcend the fear of the dark and reach a euphoric energy. With its introspective creative process, the technique of cut out paper on multi-plane allows access to animation and painting skills in their most expressive form, using the full potential of stop-frame to support the storytelling. This technic has the advantages to keep the flexibility of 2D animation, freeing the characters from gravity and allowing the shapes to be squashed, stretched and dismantled, combined with the textured look of stop frame for an organic and tactile feel.
Filmmaker Bio
Knot is Marie Lechevallier's debut short, partnering with BAFTA winning, Oscar nominated producer Chris Hees (The Bigger Picture) and BAFTA nominated producer Millie Marsh (The Alan Dimension). Marie is a French animator specialising in stop motion animation. She graduated in France from the Ecole Supérieure Arts Appliqués et Textile (ESAAT) with her stop-motion project “The Last Chance” and studied at Volda University College in Norway where she directed the commissioned stop-motion film Frankulstein.
After working as an assistant director, animator and puppet maker on the award-winning short animated film Manolo, Marie animated on multiple children series and short films before obtaining a certificate in character animation from National Film and Television School and Aardman Academy. She animated on Nick Park’s new feature Early Man and is currently working as an animator on Shaun the Sheep 2 at Aardman Studio.
Beside character animation, Marie gives talks, run animation workshops and develops her personal work. Knot will be her first credit as a director since graduating.