I stumbled upon a project completed by Kansas City Art Institute students, Jeremy Casper, Stuart Bury, and Isaiah Powers, who co-wrote and directed the animation, “Dried Up”. I found this extremely impressive because the whole set plus the dolls were made from materials found at the junkyard. It was also a very inexpensive project too because they only had to use Dragon Stop Motion, a software that allowed them to create this. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that this mini-movie was all directed by hand, literally. The entire animation was shot through still images and the objects had to move a couple of millimeters between each shooting scene. This project took them about four months, but with long days of shooting (approximately 80 hours a week!).
There is also a story behind this animation. In summary, it is about a quiet old man who, surrounded by desolation perseveres to remain true to the nature of his own beliefs and character. The story shows how he attempts to bring hope and life to a faithless, drought ridden old town.
It is no wonder that they won the 37th Student Academy Awards.
Watch the entire video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdCUvFXQzSk
I adore animation, especially projects that put in time and effort to create a beautifully innovate piece – such as this.
This is an extension of the idea that \one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.\ Simple objects found in a junkyard (of all places) were transformed to create a wonderful artistic development. I also like the message of hope that the character displays. It’s an uplifting tale and highly creative work, very impressive as a student project!
What a great video! This kind of stop-action video has been around for a long time. You are too young to remember Gumby:
And of course there is Wallace and Gromit, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk6zbY8i4_8
What I found so interesting about this particular video was not only the details of the various shots, but the idea that in a drought, when the trees are literally turning to dust before your eyes, the main character is only concerned with building a giant organ! Very cool! Man cannot live without art!