Author: Chandi Marsh

In today’s society, I notice that animated visuals are getting more and more popular each year. There is just something about animations that make the song so much better.

One animated music video that I enjoyed this summer was “Feels like Summer” by Childish Gambino. Social media went crazy over this video because it showed other popular music artists in our industry in the US and even had Michelle Obama in it. The character designs were done by illustrator Justin Richburg.

Another music video that I enjoyed that came out earlier this year was “Audio” by LSD ft. Labrinth, Sia and Diplo. It was a mixture of live action and 2D animation. everyone knows that Sia never shows her face in music videos so my favorite part was definitely how the animators made Sia the balloon and animated the balloon singing.

Chandi Marsh

Pixelation animations may be some of my favorite animations to watch at the moment. they are super creative and fun!

My favorite that we watched in class was “her Morning Elegance” by Oren Lavie. I loved how they kept the woman sleeping the entire time while it looked like she was going about her everyday life. I also loved how everything was made with sheets. the video fit perfectly with the title of the song and what the singer was singing about. The cutest part was how they used pillows as clouds and when it was night time and underwater, they changed the sheets to black.

One of my favorite bands did a pixelated music video and it was Coldplay. The song was Strawberry Swing and it was done entirely on a chalkboard. This is one of my favorite videos because even though he is staying in one area, it looks like he is actually travelling the world. The This was such a creative video and you can tell a lot of time was put into the production.

Chandi Marsh

I believe visual music falls in the category of experimental animation because it does not follow tradition (or at least not at the time it was founded).

Oskar Fischinger is the founder of visual music and we had the pleasure of watching his videos in class.

Viking Eggeling, a Swedish artist and film maker, established a theory of a universal language based on visual elements and music. I believe that this is true because any culture, no matter what country you’re from, can follow music without lyrics and visual effects that do not have a plot. Visual music is fascinating to look at and it is something that everyone can enjoy.

I did more research and found other examples of visual music that I enjoyed throughout history

What’s popular in today’s society is psychedelic or “trippy” animations. I’ve always watched videos like these but did not think of them as visual music. I was just always mesmerized by the sound and images acting together like the rest of the audience. Here is an example of trippy music videos.

Chandi Marsh

Lotte Reigner stood out to me in class not only because she was a woman, but because her cut out animations were so beautiful. Also, her animations told stories about princes and princesses. We only learn about Disney doing animations about this but she actually was the first and she did it completely with cut outs! She was a German film director and animator in the 1900s and I know it must have been hard to prove herself in a time where men did all the “important” jobs and women worked behind the scenes. Usually women assisted male animators but she ended up making plenty of her own films. She also pioneered silhouette animations with her film “The Adventures of Prince Achmed.”

She also produced other films such as Cinderalla, Sleeping Beauty, and Thumbelina.

Disney who??

Chandi Marsh

In class, Professor Jake showed us a few experimental animations that I was so fascinated by. The two animators that stood out to me were Daisy Jacobs and Blu.

Daisy Jacobs created animations with wall paintings and also incorporated inanimate objects as well. The story line to her films were intense and kept me engaged the entire time. I thought the various methods she used were creative. Below is a short trailer of her film “the Full Story” that debuted in 2018.

Blu on the other hand did not have a story to follow through his animations. He also animated with paintings. When I first saw the animation “Muto,” I was in shock. My first thought was “wow, I wonder wow long this took!?” I notice a lot of morphing happening in his works and the transitions were just so smooth. I found another one of his works on YouTube that you may also enjoy. I haven’t found anything super recent though and this one is from 9 years ago, titled “Big Bang Big Boom.”

My favorite thing about this video is that you literally cannot tell where this is filmed and they are done in secluded areas. Also, the inanimate objects that the animator Blu uses wouldn’t be considered “fancy” and in fact, is considered trash in my eyes. He utilized anything that was in the way of his paintings and nothing went wasted.

Chandi Marsh

In class, I was very fascinated with a French illusionist whose works were shown in class; his name was Georges Melies.

Melies used camera tricks to wow the audience and his films were produced in the late 1800s. I did not even think to realize that people had the idea of making films with illusions so early in the animation and film industry! His influence of today’s films is seen everywhere. A current illusionist is Zach King who creates vines and YouTube videos with obvious “magic” tricks. Also, the baby’s face on the sun in the children’s TV show “Teletubbies” reminds me of how Melies used human faces on the sun and moon in his films!

My favorite George Melies film was the Nightmare. Melies had a great sense of humor. It’s crazy to think that he spent so much time trying to create illusions when there are apps you can download on your phone to do the same thing in minutes today! He paved a large concrete path in the film industry for illusionists to thrive.

Trying to decide who my favorite animator is challenging because there are so many talented animators out there! Because of this, I want to introduce you all to an artist that I currently am amazed with and following; Micah Buzan. Buzan’s style is very experimental and psychedelic. What fascinated me about his work was the bright colors he uses and how fluid he makes his animations. I believe that he is an underrated artist for sure because all of his animations are done traditionally on paper and is self taught! That’s talent!! You can tell that Buzan spends so much time on his projects. He makes animated music videos and sometimes will even make his own beats to go along with his work.

Buzan’s animations usually consists of various loops. I notice that he even uses the cut out method. If you enjoy trippy weird visuals, you should definitely check out Micah Buzan. You will not be disappointed.

Chandi Marsh