San Antonio Man Creates Stop-Motion Film

March 10, 2010 · San Antonio artist and filmmaker Eric Fonseca has spent the last four years painstakingly moving tiny figurines around a detailed set.  By photographing their gentle movements, he’s created a 40-minute stop-motion animated film that premieres at the Alamo Drafthouse Park North this week, The Fall of the House of Usher.

Stop-motion is a notoriously labor-intensive process.  Fonseca says for every three hours of work, he got about 10 seconds of footage.  “You learn to be patient,” he says.  “Hopefully you have a nice, supportive team of family and friends behind you that can be patient with you in turn.”

Fonseca says he’s thought for a long time about why he’s drawn to macabre subject matter like Poe.

“My birthday’s at the beginning of October,” Fonseca explains.  “My mother used to always theme a birthday/Halloween party.  I just knew that when I would go to the grocery store and start seeing pumpkins, it was my time of year. I just felt a connection.”

Fonseca created all of the puppets and sets for The Fall of the House of Usher by hand.  Fonseca’s previous short film, Funeral March of a Marionette, won the grand prize at the 2009 San Antonio Film Festival.

The Fall of the House of Usher premieres Thursday, March 13, at 7:00 p.m. at the Alamo Drafthouse Park North.