Author: Chandi Marsh

For my last post, I would like to share some of my favorite stop motion music videos in the hip hop scene. I know I have done a couple of posts related to music but I love seeing artists team with other artists to create something grand. So many creative juices flowing into one project produces greatness! Also, I just really enjoy music and I want to create animated music videos.

I love this music video made for the song Shadrach by the Beastie Boys. This song is iconic and I love how abstract the style is. I can tell what is happening the entire time and the color palette is super appealing. You can clearly tell that they are performing in front of a crowd and I wonder how the animator was able to capture how it feels to attend a Beastie Boy concert.

This characters for this music are so funny to me because the main subject is a donut. Also, the song is about a heist and the rapper (which is a donut) is running from the cops. If you don’t know, cops are stereotyped for always eating donuts. Also I have never seen a cut out animation for a music video. Even though the lyrics are pretty vulgar, I enjoy watching. I even like how at the end, the animator uses his hand as a shadow to snatch the soul out of the donut (kind of like the hand represents God)

During the Golden Age of Animation, Tex Avery has a game changing idea. He wanted to make animations for adults and started making parodies. One of his parody films that was successful was Cinderella Meets Fella (1938). This film was a parody of the animation Bosko the Ink Talk Kid (1929).

Parodies became popular mainly because of all the cultural references. If you were someone that followed the media at that time, mainly adults, then you could understand the references. Parodies are meant to be funny and to make fun of things popular in our society.

This was a game changer in the animation business because parody animation were really big on YouTube. There are mainly channels devoted to only creating animated parody videos and some are even music videos.

One popular channel that I used to watch in middle school was How it Should Have Ended. It’s literally a channel full of parodies about funny ways a popular movie should have ended. Although I haven’t watched any recently, i remember my favorite one being to The Hunger Games. I will share the link below. I hope it’s as funny as 13 year old me thought!

In class, Professor Jake showed us the film Crac! by Frederic Back and I thought it was super cool! I love how unique his drawing style was and it reminds me of children’s books. It also reminds me of one of my art styles also.His style is slightly different in each film he has.

His film Abracadabra definetly looks like it could have been on the TV channel for PBS kids or Qubo. Super cute.

Not all of Back’s films were childlike but some looked depressing and had no colors added. He also used a realistic style while animating instead of childish characters.

Coldplay is one of my all time favorite bands. Their music is incredible and they really know how to entertain their audience; live in concert and through music videos. they do a lot of stop motion/pixelation music videos that I want to share with you all.

First, my favorite is the music video to their song Strawberry Swing.

This was super cool to me because they literally filmed the entire music video on one chalk board. Yet, in the music video, it looks like h is travelling all across the world. I love when he is fighting against the giant squirrel above the city haha. Such a cool idea and everything goes perfetly with the music.

This is a pixelation music video that uses spray paint on buildings to make a lyric video. the colors are super childlike and fun considering the song is called Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.

I am a big stop motion film fan. I enjoy a lot of movies from Tim Burton especially. For a long time, I thought movies like Coraline, The nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach were directed by Tim Burton but I learned that Henry Selick was the director of them. Like Tim Burton, Selick gives off a creepy vibe while bringing his puppets to life.

James and the Giant Peach was made in 1996 and I am amazed that such fluid stop motion films were made at this time. I know it took a lot of work and must have been very time consuming due to the limited resources they had.

I love how the bugs were animated because they look so human like and it creeped me out as a child because it was too realistic. I remember thinking that the Grasshopper in the film looked like my 4th grade teacher.

Wes Anderson is hands down one of my top 5 film directors. His style is very distinct and his color palettes are so aesthetically pleasing. Acually, everything that he directs is aesthetically pleasing. Even though most of his films are live action, he incorporates animation within. One of his movies that has the most beautiful hotel scene is from his movie “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and it is a MUST see!

He also has done a few stop motion films. Those films are Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and Isle of Dogs (2018). The style of the puppets used are similar in each film and it makes it recognizable as a Wes Anderson film. Also, both movies have animals as the main subjects! It’s super cool to see these animals come to life. In Fantastic Mr. Fox to be exact, I loved seeing all the foxes animated like humans.

Watching cartoons on Saturday mornings with a big bowl of cereal was definitely a tradition for me. I know most young girls loved watching Disney but I always went straight to Cartoon Network. If CN was on a commercial, I would flip to Nickelodeon! I enjoyed so many shows but I LOVED the style of the Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.

For those who haven’t seen the Powerpuff Girls, its about a scientist who was trying to create three girls by mixing sugar, spice, and everything nice but spilled “ingredient X” into the mixture and made three superheroes instead. It was such a cute show and I loved how the animators animated the personality of each Powerpuff girl. They each had a demeanor that stuck with them throughout the entire series until it ended and it never changed.

The video below shows the personality of Bubbles (my favorite character).

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends was a unique show because of all the wacky imaginary characters! Even the story line was different. It was bout imaginary friends who ended up in a foster home when their child grew up and forgot about them. The theme song and visual was always my favorite too.

Chandi Marsh

I came across an animator that intrigued me. Her name is Lila Babington and I first saw her film “Tunnel Vision” about a year ago. Honestly, my favorite part about this animation was the shoelace that was made to look like a worm. It looked so smooth and if I was not wearing my glasses, I know I would’ve thought it was a real worm!

After the pixelation lecture that was given in class, I did more research on her since I remembered her videos involving pixelation. She incorporates live actors with clay sculptures.

I love her animation she did for a Christmas song and my favorite part was the main character looking through the peephole to see the Christmas carolers outside. It took me awhile to understand what was happening but once I did, I appreciated her creativity even more. Also the song fit well with the mood.

Here is her show reel and website if you arfe interested in looking at more of her work!

https://peardrop-art.wixsite.com/lilababington/animation