Mechanical Sympathy

When Tom McDermott was given a brief for his dissertation to create, using stop motion animation techniques, a short movie which would breathe new life in to an inanimate object. So, then he almost perversely chose to capture the last minutes of life of the inanimate object of his choice. The result is Mechanical Sympathy, created in five weeks and using 6,300 individual photographs.

Creating something like this is something of a knack – as it is difficult to judge whether or not the inanimate object will truly have a life of its own until it is almost too late to go back and start again. Fortunately, the risk pays off marvellously here with the use of an old reel to reel tape recorder a complete blinder. The story too is told with great pathos so that by the end you are almost ready to get the hankies out. Well, perhaps not but this is still a sterling piece of stop motion animation - and you just can't beat a soundtrack by the Electric Light Orchestra!