Good evening!

Following my passion for food, this week, I decided to have a dig into the world of animation inspired by food.

I noticed that animation and food most often cross paths in the field of retail marketing. Although those were very interesting and extremely aesthetic, I still found myself most drawn towards something a little different.

Background:

That is this Academy Award Nominee titled ‘Fresh Guacamole’ by PES. This short is a 1 minute 40 second stop-motion. It is part 2 of a trilogy series created by PES. It is also the shortest ever film to be nominated by an Oscar.

My experience as the audience:

For me, it was like a surprise after surprise. The fact that the real ‘food’ keeps transforming into artificial goods is so smart yet surprising. As soon as a new food is introduced, I’m just anticipating another transformation.

Therefore, I think that this short can be credited for its ability to capture the audiences attention.

The aesthetic style. The use of real handles mixed with various textures such as play-dough and plastic creates a really interesting contrast. There is a sense of pace and real-ness in this piece, yet the artificial foods remind us that this is a form of art.

As much as I appreciate every second of this short, I personally cannot gauge what the story is – or if there is a story with a real meaning behind this short. As someone who watched it for the first time, there doesn’t seem to be a really clear message. However, the fact that each piece of food transform into a good that represents ‘money’ and provides hints of ‘gambling’ (using snooker balls, gambling chips and dice), I presume that this may be a metaphor for food / health and money. I was not entirely sure after my first sitting.

The audio behind the track is really fitting. The use of sounds for cutting vegetables is effective as it lets the audience know what kind of texture the food is. Moreover, it provided really good ASMR.

 

The general idea of transforming food (in a very attractive aesthetic style) into other goods to share a message is really enlightening.

I’ve always assumed that ‘animating food’ means that the food has to have a face to be ‘alive’ but in this piece, it really dawned on me that there are more subtle ways to give a character some life.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Until next week,

Katie

 

References:

PES (2012). Fresh Guacamole by PES | Oscar Nominated Short.

Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNJdJIwCF_Y [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].

Good evening!

This week’s blog of the week is inspired by a short titled ‘Divers‘ by Paris Mavroidis!

I stumbled upon this short while flicking through the Vimeo Staff Picks. As I’ve recently gained the courage to animate a bit more in 3D, I really did enjoy this piece.

Parts that really stood out to me:

The Composition

The composition of each frame was something that I particularly enjoyed!

Paris Mavdroidis uses alot of simulataneous as well as ‘wave’ motion on the divers – creating interesting patterns that are really mesmerising to watch. This is especially drawing for me to watch as they are human divers.

The Music

The main soundtrack behind this animation was by Kaki King. The fact that this soundtrack doesn’t start playing until the first diver has dived is effective – as the silence of the first few seconds makes the audience feel intrigued and expectant.

The mood behind this soundtrack is very soothing and calming – it makes the idea of diving into the air something that is to be enjoyed. As diving into the unknown may usually been seen as a scary thing – the opposite is portrayed in this animation and I believe that the music has definitely carried this.

The use of ‘wind’ sound effects behind this soundtrack also creates a sense of realism throughout the entire animation, while adding to the ‘soothing’ mood of the fall.

The Concept

The concept is really interesting!

Having divers dive through the clouds as such great heights is not something that we often see or imagine in everyday lifer – which is why this short has a sense of abstraction to it.

The underlying  sense of unpredictability also draws the audience to keep their eyes glued to the screen.

The Colour Palette

Very basic yet bold colours are consistently seen throughout the entire duration of the animation.

The primary red colours of the divers swimming suits contrast well with the pale blue and dark greysof the sky. This makes the divers stand out against the background, allowing the audience to enjoy each motion with ease.

Main things to take away: 

Motion: The effect of having multiple divers moving in unison as opposed to having the one diver.

Pattern: Using characters to create something more abstract.

Music: Using an effective and suitable soundtrack to portray a certain theme.

Composition: Very clean and clear frames – put the audience at ease as we know exactly where to look.

That is all for now! Until next time!

Katie

 

References:

Video & Images:

Mavroidis, P. (2010). Divers (Short Animation. [image] Available at: https://vimeo.com/8658994 [Accessed 18 Jan. 2019].