THE BROTHERS QUAY

Presented by Chelsea Butler, Catriona Barbers, Raian Brand and Mailin Berg

INTRODUCTION

Our Presentation will be about the animated short “Street of

Crocodiles” by the Brothers Quay who are identical twins born in

America and opened an animation studio in London in 1970. They refer

to themselves as a stereophonic single voice.

The references we have used for this presentation include The Brother

Quay – Into a metaphysical playroom by Suzanne Buchan, Animated Worlds

edited by Suzanne Buchan and Unsung Heroes of Animation by Chris

Robinson, including the likes of Zeitgeist.com and Senseofcinema.com.

WHO

Born in America June 17 1947

Stop Motion Animators

Famous for production of dark and

gloomy puppet based animations.

Now Reside in England

Figure1. Brothers (N.A.)

INFLUENCES

The brothers Quay seem to take much of their influences from

Polish literature and art.

The brothers quay were heavily influenced by Bruno Schulz,

Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica.

Much of the brothers quays animations with puppets is based on

interpretations of existing short stories from various authors.

STREET OF CROCODILES

Their greatest master piece was

the “Street of Crocodiles”.

This work was based on the

short story by Bruno Scholz.

Bruno Schulz had a massive

influence on the brothers Quay.Figure 2. Still of Puppet (c1986)

STREET OF CROCODILES

Depicts several scenes from a

trashy neighbourhood.

Nothing is what it seems.

Puppets are almost disassembled,

maybe relating to Frankenstein's

monster.

All shot in a gloomy and dark

setting. Figure 3. Remodelling of Character

(c1986)

STREET OF CROCODILES

Michael Adinsons review in Film Comment gives insight in critics

thoughts and reviews of The Street of Crocodiles.

“[The Street of Crocodiles] are all ferociously hermetic films whose interface

with everyday culture is both undeniable and nearly impossible to articulate. No

where else has film so leanly and effortlessly rippled the dark subconscious waters

ebbing under the surface of our collective experience.” (Adinsons, 1994:12)

WORDS FROM THE QUAY

BROTHERS

The quay brothers describe how they find inspiration in literature

around them.

“The fact we might use a literary source but transpose it into an image/sound

realm happens only if we intuitively feel that it can be transposed and then augmented,

opened out. Musicians through-out history have taken literary sources to compose tone

poems, symphonies, and even opera and then on top of that music, a choreographer

creates a ballet, and on and on it goes.” (Brothers Quay, N.A:12)

“they are masters of miniaturization and on their tiny sets have created an

unforgettable world, suggestive of a landscape of long-repressed childhood

dreams.” (N.A.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adinson, Michael. (1994) The Quay Brothers – Into a Metaphysical

Playroom. UK: University of Minnesota Press

Brothers Quay. N. A. The Quay Brothers – Into a Metaphysical

Playroom. UK: University of Minnesota Press

N.A. (N.A.) The Short Films of the Quay Brothers.

http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=quayretrosp

ective&mode=filmmaker (accessed on 6/11/2014)

ILLUSTRATION LIST

Figure 1: N.A. (N.A.) Brothers. Available from:

http://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/media/1057/Brothers%20Quay.jpg (Accessed:

6/11/2014)

Figure 2: Brothers Quay. (1986) Still of Puppet. Available from:

http://historyofourworld.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/2098039509_7c2aafe5e0_o

2.jpg (Accessed: 6/11/2014)

Figure 3: Brothers Quay. (1986) Remodelling of Character. Available from:

http://www.flixist.com/ul/212397-brothers-quay-moma-retrospective-new-york-

city.jpg (Accessed: 6/11/2014)