By Jake Blevins

Chris and Nathan Smith have the patience of Job.

Which is only fitting, because these two talented brothers are devoting their careers to bringing well-known Biblical figures to life.

Animators Chris and Nathan Smith on the set of Jonah: A Great Fish Story.

Through the magical process of stop motion animation, the nimble-fingered Smith siblings last year unveiled Jonah: A Great Fish Story, an award-winning short film based on the story of the prophet Jonah. Their follow up project, the soon-to-be-released Davie and Golimyr, is a clever reworking of the classic confrontation between David and Goliath.

“What the Smith brothers do is magic,” says God’s Army director Richard Dutcher. “Only instead of working their wizardry with spells and hocus pocus, they do it with their bare hands, one painstaking frame of film at a time. It’s really quite extraordinary.”

Animator Chris Smith puts finishing touches on the clay figure of Jonah in Jonah: A Great Fish Story.  

Dutcher sat on the panel of judges at the recent Eclipse Film Festival, which awarded Jonah the Best Animated Film trophy.

“We were all charmed by it,” Dutcher says. “It frankly just blew away the competition.”

Animator Nathan Smith puts finishing touches on the clay figure of Jonah in Jonah: A Great Fish Story.

Tim Burton’s ghoulishly comical Corpse Bride is a recent example of a movie employing stop motion effects, but the process has been around almost as long as there have been motion pictures. Peter Jackson used the best computer fakery money could buy for last year’s epic King Kong remake, but the original Kong (1933) was little more than rabbit fur on a metal skeleton, manipulated with patience and skill by stop motion pioneer Willis O’Brien.

The process was further perfected by O’Brien protégée Ray Harryhausen, who wowed moviegoers with creature features such as Mighty Joe Young (1949), The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and Jason and the Argonauts (1963), a film highlighted by what some special effects experts call the greatest stop motion sequence of all time — an extended swordfight between heroic Jason and a platoon of swirling, bloodthirsty skeletons. Though the sequence takes up just minutes of screen time, it required over four months (and presumably gallons of Harryhausen’s sweat and tears) to complete.

Director Nathan Smith makes adjustments to the clay figure of Jonah on the set of Jonah: A Great Fish Story.

Asked how stop motion animation works, Nathan says, “You start with the clay figure, photograph one frame of film, move the figure slightly, take another frame, and so on and so on. Twenty-four frames equals one second of film. Some say the process is tedious and time-consuming, but the results are absolutely spectacular.”

“You are seeing something that should not move or be alive,“ Chris adds. “So it’s very rewarding to see your work in the finished form when it is alive.”

Director Nathan Smith positions the character of Sartan, the hermit crab, on the set of Jonah: A Great Fish Story.

Ten years ago the Smith brothers were students at Brigham Young University, where Chris studied sculpting and painting, and Nathan pursued a degree in filmmaking. Both seemed content in their chosen fields when fate intervened in the form of a sweater-wearing, cheese-loving British inventor and his endlessly patient pet pooch.

“Chris and I were watching Nick Park’s `Wallace and Gromit’ back in 1999,” Nathan says, “and we knew immediately that this was something we wanted to do.”

Director Nathan Smith makes adjustments to the clay figure of Jonah on the set of Jonah: A Great Fish Story.

Chris’s expertise in sculpture and design combined with Nathan’s filmmaking background proved a perfect combination for the talented tandem. That year they launched their own Utah-based film company, Ageless Animation, making Jonah: A Great Fish Story their flagship production. Inspired by the fantastical artwork of LDS artist James Christensen, Jonah’s look might best be described as a slightly kooky hybrid of Arnold Friberg and Dr. Seuss. The inimitable Christensen style is everywhere, from the vibrantly colorful background sets to the great fish itself, a bejeweled behemoth with blue and scarlet scales, gold trimming and mischievous eyes. Who knew the Old Testament could be so… surreal?

“James Christensen’s work has a really fun fantasy feel we thought would be perfect for animation,” Chris says. “He’s been wonderful.”

Production designer Nebel Luccion makes animated character sketches for Jonah: A Great Fish Story.

Despite the obvious passion and enthusiasm they have their work, the Smiths would probably concede that people with Attention Deficit Disorder probably ought to seek employment elsewhere.

“Not many filmmakers could do what they do,” Dutcher laughs. “They’d go stark-raving mad. But these guys have an amazing gift, and it‘ll be fun seeing where their talent will take them in the future. The sky‘s the limit with these two.”

Even if their job might have driven Job himself to pull out his beard.

Ageless Animation, located at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, is open throughout the summer for tours.

To learn more about Jonah: A Fish Story, visit http://www.jonahmoviesite.com/.

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