Start Your Week Off Right: Deadline

Ok, so this video was making the rounds on the internet a few weeks ago, and rightfully so, in my opinion. It is a well composed piece of stop-motion animation (can you tell that I like stop-motion animation, yet?!) using one of my favorite things on the planet as a medium: Post-its!(to be read in a high-pitched, sing-song voice) More on Post-its in the future, but come on, what's not to love?!?! (And if you want to see some more Post-it awesomeness, I strongly suggest that you check out The Post-It Project.)

Anyway, back to the video: Post-its serve two purposes in this short film (a senior project at the Savannah College of Art and Design by Bang-yao Liu). First, they serve to set the mood; to give the back story. And then, once the viewer understands that there are things to be done, he gets to take a peek into the mind of the main character, hard at work...or not. The Post-its transform into pixels on a computer screen, showing us exactly what he is "working on." A very cool piece, and worth the watch!




There's also a really interesting making-of video which gives good insight into the labor and preparation that goes into making a stop-motion video.





Well done, Bang-yao Liu, Well done!

Start Your Week Off Right: Oren Lavie

The internet (let alone the world) is a vast place, filled with beauty and oddity. Some of the things you find out there are just so incredible that they make you stop in your tracks. They make you sit back and say "Hmmm." They make you think, and they make you want to make something beautiful and incredible yourself. Thus, I give you my little homage to the incredible with Life is Phantasmagorical's first weekly segment. Here I'll show you some of the things that I've found that have stopped me in my tracks. Here, I'll give you a way to start your week off right with a little inspiration.

And so, for my first attempt at this whole inspiring blogger thing, I give you this amazing stop motion music video for Oren Lavie's Her Morning Elegance:


This video has it all, as far as I'm concerned. First, there's the song, which is quiet and simple with a haunting melody (Man, I can't even tell you how many times I found myself humming this one after I first heard it!). Then there's the film behind it, complementing the lyrics and perfectly matching the tone and tempo of Lavie's song. Plus, it has a sock fish, which is totally adorable and gets me every time. Perfection!