Music Videos

1986 music video:

This music video for 'Sledge Hammer' by Peter Gabriel is quite well known. Some people who were involved in animating it were 'Brothers Quay' and Aardman Animation, one of the companies who contributed in animating Wallace and Gromit. The video won Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards and I think it's one of the best examples of stop animation as it is detailed and consistent for the duration. I like how surreal the video is and how none of the content relates to anything else. I'm intrigued by how the video is made. I think one of the options is that most of it is just one film of him singing, which was then cut up frame by frame when edited. However another option is that it was created using stop animation, by photographing each shot with movement between. I think the reason the animation was so popular is because nothing like it had been created before. The content is quite eccentric and unrealistic although it still reflects the lyrics. The animations fit what is happening in the song which I think makes it flows quite well. There are also a few references in the video, such as 2:26 there is a face created out of fruit, which was originally created by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. There is also quite a lot of different animations used, from photographic to clay, and some irrelevant digitalised/ claymation at the beginning. The animation flows very well, as each seperate animation morphs into something else very fluidly, and I think this is one of the reasons it is such a success. The ending essentially is the same as the beginning, as they both flow from darkness to spotted lights.

McDonalds advertisement:

I think this commericial is very clever and entertaining, yet simple. As the animation is for the purpose for advertising it has a very distinct theme and the plot doesn't stray away from this at all. It is made via stop motion photography, with quite a lot of movement. I think the photographs flow so smoothly as a tripod is used which helps make the subjects the main focus of the animation. Each shot consists of the characters altering their T-shirts in some way, either by removing them or animating them via changing T-shirts between shots to convey movement in the objects on the shirts. Another element of the animation is how they have an item on their top, then they pull at it and it becomes real, also seen in another commercial for 'Saga Cruises' which I shall look into later. This animation runs very smoothly and they would have had to use a lot of photographs to ensure all the T-shirt changing and transitions worked well otherwise it could have gone badly wrong. They've played the pictures back at an average, real-life pace which also adds to its success. Another aspect I liked is how the characters react to what's happening on their T-shirts, such as being shocked or amused. I think this helps as it brings everything together, and that way the animations have consequences and everything is related. This is how successful I want my film to be as it has a storyline yet is still simple enough to run smoothly. I also want my animation to be the same length as this so it is a good animation to reference.