Stephen and Timothy Quay have made a variety of animated and live-action films, each bearing the mark of their distinctive aesthetic, often paying homage to predecessors in the traditions of British Surrealism and European avant-garde cinema As lonathan Romney remarks m Sjgfit and Sound m 1992. "Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies is built entirely around avatars of the Ime-the lines that compose a Fragonard engraving, a computer bar code that drifts in and out of focus, the strings that cross the street, twanging imperceptibly, even the strings on the soundtrack, above all. the line of sight".