Adam Elliot

Adam Benjamin Elliot is an Australian animator and filmmaker based in Melbourne. Established as an independent auteur of minimalistic narrative-driven films in animation, all of his films have generally use of tragicomedy genre with themes of bittersweet nature and psychological development to the characters; based loosely on his family and friends, each of his films is considered a Clayography – a portmanteau genre of clay animation and biography, coined by himself.

Early life and education Adam Benjamin Elliot was born in Berwick, Victoria, and raised in the Australian outback on a prawn farm by his father, Noel, a retired acrobatic clown, and his mother Valerie, a hairdresser; he has three siblings, Samantha, Luke and Joshua. After the farm went bankrupt, Elliot's father moved the family to the city of Melbourne, where he bought a small hardware shop.

Elliot had an early ambition to be a veterinarian but did not obtain the necessary grades to enter university. In extra-curricular activities Elliot was a member of the school's Highland Pipe Band. He also pursued acting and in his final year was awarded the school's highest honour, the A. G. Greenwood Trophy for an outstanding dramatic performance as Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes play "The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca".

Born with a hereditary physiological tremor, Elliot incorporated his disability into his visual aesthetic with his work displaying uneven lines and an organic feel. After completing his year twelve, he spent five years hand-painting T-shirts at the St Kilda, Victoria Esplanade Craft market. There he made his first stopmotion film, Uncle, which won numerous film awards and participated in various international and local film festivals.

Elliot owns two pet Pugs which serve as the inspiration for his book, The A - Z of Unfortunate Dogs.

Elliot has cited My Life as a Dog, The Elephant Man, Nuts in May, and Alice as his favourite films.

Recognition and awards Elliot is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and in 1999 was awarded The Young Achiever of the Year for Victoria.

He received an Academy Award nomination for Memoir Of A Snail and a win for Harvie Krumpet.

Films

Uncle (1996) Made in 1996, Elliot's first short film was created at the Victorian College of the Arts under the tutelage of Sarah Watt,

Cousin (1997) Made in 1997, Cousin was Elliot's first professional film funded by the Australian Film Commission, SBS Independent and Film Victoria. As with Uncle, Elliot chose a minimalist approach and sparse narration to drive a very simple remembrance of a childhood relationship he had with his cousin (based on his real-life cousin), who has cerebral palsy.

Like Uncle, Cousin has a greyscale palette but was shot on colour stock. This film was shot in a small storage unit in the outer suburb of Moorabbin, in Melbourne, at a facility owned by his father. This time Elliot employed AVID digital equipment to edit the footage shot on 16mm film.

Cousin has been shown at many film festivals and won Elliot his second AFI Award for Best Australian animation.

The film was selected into official competition at the Annecy International Animation Festival and had its European premiere in June 2015. Ernie Biscuit won Best Short Animation at the 5th AACTA Awards.

Memoir of a Snail (2024)

Elliot's second feature film, Memoir of a Snail, released in June 2024. The film centres on Grace Pudel, a lonely hoarder of ornamental snails who lives in Canberra and is based on people in Elliot's life. The film stars Sarah Snook, Jacki Weaver and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the main characters, while Eric Bana reunites to work with Elliot after Mary and Max.

The film premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2024 and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Filmography Feature Films Mary and Max (2009) Memoir of a Snail (2024)

Short Films Human Behavioural Case Studies. Series One. (1996) Uncle (1996) Cousin (1997) Brother (1999) Harvie Krumpet (2003) Ernie Biscuit (2015)

Style and themes Elliot is noted for his use of traditional "in-camera" techniques, which means every prop set and character is a "real" miniature handcrafted object. He does not use digital additions or computer-generated imagery to enhance his visual aesthetic.

Clayography The portmanteau term "clayography" was created by Elliot, who struggled with ways of describing his animation technique and so created this word to express his artistic style. A combination of the words clay and biography, the term is similar to another portmanteau term claymation, which is a registered trademark in the United States, registered by Will Vinton in 1978 to describe his clay-animated films. Clay is often used as a general term for plasticine in the stop motion animation community. As Elliot's films explore the details of real people's lives and are the basis of all his animated films, the words biography and biographical are suitable words to use in describing his work. Each of his films is a Clayography (singular) and as a body of work they are Clayographies (plural).