Raidohead is Back

Radiohead just released a new song with a cool stop-motion music video from director Chris Hopewell.  It seems to be some sort of tribute to The Wicker Man.

World's Largest Stop Motion Film

Gulp

Gulp is the world's largest stop motion film. It was shot on a Nokia N8 phone to showcase the abilities of the phone's camera (The world's smallest stop motion was also shot on a Nokia N8).

While the animation on its own is already impressive, the making of video shows just how much work went into the film.

A lot of the animators were used to shooting in a stable indoor environment, but because they had to shoot on a beach they encountered a lot of new challenges. Because they are using drawings in the sand to create a good portion of the animation, they have to be really careful about not letting the sand get swept away by the changing tides. Time also becomes an issue, as lighting is completely different at night. In the making of video, they talk about how they had to bring in lighting on cranes.

Gulp- The making of

Stop - Motion Animation

I have been a fan of animation for as long as I can remember. My parents were the first to notice my passion in it and suggest I look further into animating. This is when I took a drawing class where one of the projects was to create a charcoal animation; ie destructive animation where you erase and redrawn your frame every time. So far I haven't been able to devote a great deal of time to actual animating, but in my spare time all I do is watch and analyze animated films.

Animation has been around as long as film has been around. With early innovators like Méliès in 1896 already attempting stop - motion, the animation industry has evolved along with traditional narrative films.

While animation has gone through many phases, many pioneered by Walt Disney and his company, the type of animation that interests me the most is stop - motion animation. Many beloved films are produced through stop - motion including The Nightmare Before Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Coraline.

Stop - motion animation is the process where an animator will move the figure by a small amount, take a picture, and repeat. When all of the photos are put together the figure now has the appearance of fluid motion. One of the best examples of this is The Nightmare Before Christmas with dance numbers and multiple characters in each scene. Even though most of the scenes were shot at 12fps, there are two exceptions.

My favorite studio, and a studio that only does stop - motion productions, is studio Laika. Laika is responsible for the stop - motion films of Coraline, ParaNorman, and their upcoming project Kubo and the Two Strings, just to name a few. Studio Laika has 10 years of experience producing stop - motion films, with several Academy Award nominations. Laika has put out stop - motion films that never cease to amaze me. From color dynamics in Coraline to the incredibly accurate representation of bullying in ParaNorman, Laika has been using stop - motion animation to create incredible pieces of art for 10 years, and I can't wait to see what their next 10 hold.

Many of my friends claim that stop - motion animation is weird or disturbing for them but that's almost the reason why I like it. It's physical objects that are manipulated into giving the appearance of smooth motion, and I think that's fascinating. Hopefully with Kubo coming out in August and Anomalisa already out in theaters, people will be more open to stop - motion animation come to understand and respect the incredible amount of work that goes into these beautiful films.

The Bigger Picture - Oscar Nominated Short

An Oscar nomination for a feature film is a huge deal. I think ever more so for a short however. Christopher Hees, co-creator of the Oscar nominated short animation The Bigger Picture, describes how ecstatic he was when he learned he was nominated.

The Trailer

Directed by Daisy Jacobs, the short is about the struggle of two brothers as they face dealing with their ageing mother. The most clever part to it though, is how the short is 2D animated in a 3D space. Characters are painted onto the walls, while Papier-mâché versions of their arms protrude out and grab objects. These objects are brought back into the wall and become 2D painted versions.

I think the style of the short is awesome, and it's incredibly interesting seeing behind the scenes. You get a real appreciation for how difficult is must have been, and the patience they had. 

Behind the Scenes

My Love for Stopmotion

Back when I first got into filmmaking around the age of nine, I had my heart set on working for Pixar, I just adored their animation (and the fact they rode scooters around the office). As my interest slowly moved to live action with CGI, animation has still always held a special place in my heart. I enjoyed making the occasional stop-motion, and experimenting with 3D animation. This has lead to a great appreciation of the art of stop-motion, knowing how painstaking the process can be.

Being a long time YouTube/Vimeo user, I've gathered a quite a collection of "favourites" over the years. Someone who I'm a big fan of, and I'm sure many people are familiar with, is PES. This video, Western Spaghetti, has to be one of my all time favourite animations.

I think one of the things which really sells it, is the sound. It's a simple, yet matches perfectly with what's being seen, and gives the video that little extra "oomph".

Sound is something which I feel is often overlooked with animations. The visuals are such an important part, so much attention is paid to it, that good sound is often missing. But when it is there, it makes for all the more better video.