Life, Imagination and Motion

“It is possible that somewhere in all this is a clue to what sets a creative

 climate of any time, including our own.” 

The creative climate in which Eames’ film ‘Toccata for Toy Trains’ (1959) is conceived is indeed a unique one, at its nucleus a film of creation, life and perhaps more aptly reanimation Eames film provides a unique insight into the making of animation and imagination. ‘Toccata for Toy Trains’ essentially attempts to create life through the sound and movement of the inanimate, a foci that is common amongst many of the Eames films e.g. ‘Kaleidoscope Jazz Chair’. The prescribed film involves the use of childhood toys, more specifically the use of toy trains, as Eames uses a variety of common and antique toy trains to create life and movement within otherwise stagnant objects.

Toy trains in motion

What most struck me about this film was interaction between life and motion, as Eames consistently uses motion as a means imaginative re-animation. We would all be familiar with the universal childhood practise in which one would imaginatively ‘reanimate’ toys through motion created via direct physical interaction (a depicted Toy story scene comes to mind). Eames employs a similar tactic of re-animation as through movement created via physical interaction (although not explicitly shown) a form of false livelihood is created and illustrated.  This illusion to childhood play is further enhanced through the application of toys, as I would argue that Toys are a symbol of childhood imagination. This animation is further perpetuated through the use of sound, as Eames superimposes sounds of trains, crowds and individual passengers to complement the use of movement and enhance the illusion of life.

A prime example of the use of motion in the imaginative animation of the inanimate

This use of motion has became a common form of animation in film media, often through the use of stop motion techniques movement has long been used to bring life to the inanimate. Notably, as mentioned by a previous blog was even used in the production of Merian Cooper’s 1933 King Kong, in which a series of malleable 18 inch figures were animated through the use of implied movement. Recently popularised by various Tim Burton films such as ‘The Corpse Bride’ and ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, such techniques have became commonplace in main stream media in contrast to Eames avant-garde film.

Stop Motion Animation in modern film

 

In summation, Eames’ Toccata for Toy Trains’ provides a unique and imaginative visualisation of imagination, life and motion, as through a variety of means life is brought the inanimate e.g. Toy trains. I could not help at feel that perhaps it was films such as this that pioneered the use of the inanimate in modern media and perhaps defines the re-animative abilities of motion and sound in film.