Hasta La Motion!

May 16

Phantom Limb

Posted in: General

Alex Grigg’s “Phantom Limb,” created for Late Night Work Club, is now online in its entirety (and apart from the LNWC compilation film).

Poignantly minimal, the short film tells a story of loss and regret with painful clarity. Its emotional power steadily builds until reaching a literal breaking point at the exquisitely paced climax.

Grigg’s explains the writing process:

One of the big things I learned while making the film is the separation between premise and writing. The premise itself didnt connect with any part of my personal life but I wanted to make sure that the writing of the film did. I think the premise I chose could have turned into loads of different stories and it was really interesting to start figuring out what my version would be.

I think I’m a bit exhausted by the perfectly rounded out stories that seem to held up as the bench mark for animated film making. I wanted to keep things looser and almost dream like but still have a clear emotional through line. I ended up moving away from this idea a little, but it was my starting point.

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Like some of Grigg’s recent 2D work, the film uses a limited palette to play with negative space and suggested forms. Fluidly animated sequences of the disembodied arm sell the idea that it is both a spectral thing and an outgrowth of the protagonist’s beleaguered mind.

The sound design by Oswald Skillbard deserves attention, as it adds a tangible realism to many of the shots and underscores the tension throughout the film.

Making Of

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Grigg posted a fantastically detailed making-of write up on Medium that’s definitely worth the time to read.

Credits

Written Directed and Animated by Alex Grigg

Additional Animation By Alexis Sudgen, James Hatley, Jean-Gui Culot, Jarrod Prince, Bill Northcott,
Backgrounds by Colin Bigelow with German Casado, Jason Pamment, Alex Grigg, Bjorn-Erik Aschim
Sound Design & Audio by Oswald Skillbard
Music Written and Performed by Kirsty Tickle and Jonathan Boulet,
Doctor Voiced by Clifford Hume,
Martha Voiced by Sarah Jones,

Compositing: Ryan Kirby, Alex Grigg, Scott Benson
Digital Ink and Paint by – Rimon Bar, Alexis Sudgen, Jasper Parker Trenfield

Special Thanks:
Rosie Afford, Jake Armstrong, Greg Sharp, Ben Leon, Scott Benson, Bruce and Bronwyn Grigg,
Produced for Late Night Work Club

May 16

Plasticine Rhythm

Posted in: claymation, Colorful, General, music video, Stop-motion

Animator, illustrator and musician Andy Martin took a series of stop-motion animations he created for Vine and used them as a launchpad for “Plasticine Rhythm.”

Martin’s explanation:

Using the iPhone app ‘Vine’, I created a series of stop motion loops over a period of about 6 months. It was a good way to experiment quickly with plasticine in motion and they were fun to make. As this series of animations developed they became more focused on animations that produce sounds, this gave me a bigger idea…

This is how I produced Plasticine Rhythm; allowing each stop motion loop, made using Vine, to dictate a sound and combining these sound loops on screen to build a compatible interplay of rhythm and melody. Once this was established I then played with all the elements, including the background colour and the mini TVs containing the loops, so every element was intrinsically linked with the music.