Homework

As soon as I signed up for this project,  I started doing my homework. Here's an ongoing list of things I'm watching either for the first time or with a new critical eye to learn more about the craft of animation - in all its forms.  I focused on stop-motion animation for a while because we thought we'd be incorporating some of it in to the NJAMS Project. We may still, but for the time being, those are here just because they're really, really cool.  This list is not comprehensive - I'll be adding to it as we move forward, and these are just the bits that have stood out over the past few months.

If you have any suggestions, send me an email at roarajane@gmail.com



Shorts:

A Short Love Story in Stop Motion - Just...just go watch it.

Geri's Game - Hands down, my favorite Pixar short.  Okay, maaaybe it's a tie with For the Birds.  You can see a sneak peek at the link I included or you can go download it from iTunes.  


Madame Tutli-Putli - Breathtaking stop motion animation that integrates real (as far as I can tell) human eyes.  Must watch.

Satori - By Abhilasha Dewan - A clever student short that blends 2D and live action elements.




Features:

Howl's Moving Castle - A Studio Ghibli film (which, naturally equals gorgeous and also weird) Surprisingly, I saw this for the first time a few weeks ago (early 2012) and am kind of upset that I hadn't seen it before.  It is a beautiful little fairy tale.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox - If you haven't seen it, then go watch this first.  Then, go watch the movie. THEN watch the special features "making of" documentary.  Mind = blown.




Music Videos:


Black Rose - A stop motion music video done by Mindfruit Studios for our incredible musician friend Eliza Rickman

Animusic - I'm just not sure how they did this. My brain may actually not be capable of understanding how awesome this is.

La Seine - Fun song. Fun (and beautifully done) music video. Picks up around a minute in to the video.

Wanderlust - A very Bjorky video.  If we ever have coffee, you need to ask me and my husband about the time we met the mother of one of the guys who made this video on our honeymoon.