Setting the Setting

    Up until now I've talked about the story, the animation, shots and stuff of that nature, but leading up to filming I've been taking some time to think about the set.

LOCATION

    I kind of knew from the very start that I wanted to film in my house. Most places in the general vicinity are very similar. If it's not another house it's just a Publix. Not to mention that here in South Florida, the weather tends to be fairly inconsistent. The only thing reliable about it is that it'll be humid. And the main reason I'd want to keep exteriors to a minimum is that fact that I have very little control over the lighting. Hence why the story takes place indoors.

    While developing the story, I'd reference the floorplan of my house the possible different angles I can get. Though that doesn't mean I can just set up a camera and start filming. Since I'm filming in my house, I have basically full control over how things are arranged. If I really wanted, I can clear my room. I'm not going to do that since the story doesn't require it, but I'll do it if I have to. With basically full control of the location, I get to play around with something very cool.

MISE-EN-SCENE

    I already know for a fact, that setting up to film will take so much longer than actual filming. I'm going to clear the space just so I can add stuff and decorate the scene. I've looked up workspaces that are catered towards animators, and I want give off a similar feel. 

    Of the bat, the main thing that jumps out at me is the little details. Sketches, storyboards, ideas, references, and inspirations all work to build up an atmosphere that's been worked in. It also conveys the kind of qualities a character has, like whether their organized or niche. I'm planning on placing a quark board to place storyboards on, a small blackboard to brainstorming, a calendar, photos, and an Akira poster to the movie up on the wall to add noise to the background.

    For the scene I'm going to be using 3 desks; 2 that form and "L" shape and another that's split off.

My current desk set up is in an L shape so mimicking the desks of the photos shouldn't be too hard. One desk will have a computer setup for day to day tasks, while it's neighboring desk will be the brainstorming station (just a mostly clear space to put ideas to paper). The split off desk will have an inclined surface for tracing.

    For the desk, I want there are be a lot of sticky notes all with ideas. That part shouldn't be too hard, since I burn through a stack of sticky notes about every month in an effort to clutter my desk. The set decorations should inform the viewer that this character is no stranger to animation, but they just happen to be in a roadblock.

LIGHTING

    The second thing that caught my attention while looking at those photos was the warm ambience. I never really thought about, but it makes sense since if animators tend to spend long hours working on projects, that they'd spend that time in a space that feels comforting. A decorative setting also provides an opportunity for motivated lighting. Cool light from the computer screen and help differentiate the subject from the warm background. Small lights in the back can also motivate the warm atmosphere. 

COLOR

    An idea I wanted even before looking at reference photos was for there to be a mostly neutral color palette for the live action portions of the opening. The animator will be wearing a beige shirt with a dark gray flannel to go with the neutrals of the frame, but also create contrast with the dark gray. It'd ground the world, before the introduction to animation. The animation could be colorful and vibrate in order to contrast from the footage. Though I have to be careful with it since, I don't want to overload the frame and make the animation stand out too much. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

    I am may have forgotten to mention it before, but I'm going to be the animator (in the story). I mean its only natural that I act in a story about writer's block that was based on my experiences with writer's block. And if you're familiar with the storyboard, you should know that the shots are locked down and don't move much (at least during production). If problems arise and its inconvenient doing certain things, I have my very supporting mom and sister that can help out making sure my placement in the frame is good and that I'm in focus.

    Fun Fact: this blog post was initially going to be call "I'm Insane" and I was going to talk about certain worries I had and the solutions I was think of, but I'm actually perfectly fine right now. This blog post has really helped me stay calm, and as a nice benefit, I have a pretty clear idea of what to do when I film. If all goes to plan the next blog post should be about something in relation to production, so look forward to that. Until then, goodbye.

Visual Comedy

    If you haven't yet noticed the reoccurring element in some of my blog post, you may not be too familiar with the work of Edgar Wright. He's a british writer and director who is best known for the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, Scott Pilgrim VS The World, and Baby Driver. The moment I got home from the theater after seeing Baby Driver, I looked him up and his other movies and since then I've been enthralled by his work. Not only does he make interesting stories with characters viewers can sympathize with, he's also a master at using the medium to it's fullest potential. 

    Many filmmakers when they approach comedies, they mainly focus on the dialogue and performances. Granted that plays a big role in how the final film ends up, but when every other comedy focuses on the same thing, they all begin to feel same-y.  Meanwhile Wright is thinking up how he could create visual comedy that adds to the story. This video from Every Frame a Painting, sums up many of the techniques that Wright used in his first few movies. He'd find ways to used blocking, movement, editing and auditory cues to highlight visual gags. 

    While visual comedy originated from early films to make up for their silent nature, it's more a else faded from modern filmmaking. That isn't to say the visual comedy has completely died off, it can still be seen in some films, but it's most commonly found in animated films. Hence why I've turned to Edgar Wright. A huge part about animation is how things move, so I'm kind of forced to include visual comedy in my opening. And no where is this most evident than in the second chunk.

    Upstaging is a technique where something diverts attention from a subject. The impact lines, that zoom across the frame and foil the animator's ideas, upstage the frustrated animator. There was also an emphasis on how the failed ideas leave the frame, which was one of the points that was mention the video from Every Frame a Painting. But I felt there would be a disconnect if it was just the animation that had exaggerated movement, I want the character to have it too. It's had to show on paper, but I definitely plan on making sure each glance and movement is in time with the animation. I included this test video in a previous blog post, but I'm sharing it again since it's relevant. I also plan on including some visual comedy in the credit sequence like the credit track.

    Another inspiration for this project from Wright has been his recent documentary, The Sparks Brothers. In this documentary, Wright choses to highlight the strange history of Sparks through interviews, archived footage, and animation. What better example than literally a directors that has mastered visual comedy and has using mix media to tell a story. 

Animation in The Sparks Brothers

    One last thing I want to mention was another video about visual comedy that I recently watched. The video focus more on the art of visual comedy rather than any one particular filmmaker. It goes into depth about how visual comedy has been used throughout the decades and in animation. There's a lot to be said about, and its just a fun video with some good example.

Staging For Visual Comedy

    

    

Timing and Math (YAY)

    So something I was low key worried about was making sure to pertain to that 2 minute max time. I was initially worried about going over time, so I tried to be a bit conservative with what I wanted to include. I began to think of the story in 30ish seconds chunks, but I was never too specific with things. After timing out the second chunk with its animations, I really helped me put things in perspective in terms of time. I got an estimate of about 25 seconds for that portion of the opening, which gave me a bit of comfort because if the second chunk wasn't super long, the other chunks shouldn't make the opening over 2 minutes. Though as much as I like to test my luck, I didn't want to risk my chances and have the opening be too long. 

    This all brings me to today. I put time estimates for each short that I've storyboarded. The first chunk gave me a bit of trouble because I wasn't too sure about how long each of the shots should be, so I thought about the pen tapping. From there I thought about using the taps like a metronome. I then proceeded to tap my pen and follow the story board. I found it best cutting after every 8 taps, but what exactly are 8 taps equal to? For this part I consulted to YouTube and looking up videos with metronomes and that either matched or were close to the pace I was tapping. I started at 160 bpm, and went on in increments of 20, until I reached 240 bpm. Not only did this closely match the pace I was tapping, but it also had some unexpectedly nice benefits

WARNING MATH AHEAD:

    By dividing 240 bpm with 60, you'll get the amount of beats there are in a single second. That number is 4 beats per second, meaning that the 8 beats that I had for each shot was 2 seconds. Another cool benefit with having 4 beats per second, it makes filming in 24 fps easy to work with. For every tap in the first shot, I'll have 6 frames to animate the impact trails. Where as if I were to film in 30 fps, not only would I have to animate more overall, but also 30 isn't divisible by 4 (at least in a practical sense). 

    At the current moment, the first chunk is about 27 seconds. In that time, it establishes the environment and work space of the animator. If on the day of filming I feel like including some more shots of the settings, I'll get them with 2 second length in mind and try to find the best place for them in editing. I'll talk more about it in a little bit, but I have time to spare if I really wanted to include some more shots in the first chunk.

    I've already talked about the timings of the second chunk, so I'll keep it brief by saying its about 25 seconds. Speaking of things are are about 25 seconds, the opening credit sequence is estimated to be around that time. realistically speaking there will probably be about 5 seconds more to include wipes other animated elements in the credit sequence. And lastly there's a phone call that leads directly into the title card. The phone call itself is pretty brief, about a sentence of dialogue. The title card while probably be about 5 seconds. And like that, the total runtime is about a minute, thirty. If I'm fully honest, I'm kind of surprised and happy that each chunk is more or less the same in length and of course under 2 minutes.

    One last thing I did, was make yet another test video to visualize the first and second chunk together. You should get the drill by now, "its not how the final thing is going to look, trust me!" Hopefully with this you can get an idea of what I'm going with establishing the setting, tapping pen, and the editing. I like it, thought like I said before I might add a few more shots to better establish the work space the animator resides in. Besides that I am excited to film this hopefully soon and then edit it. And like everything else, I'll be keeping you up to date, but for now I must say good bye.

 

Who Did This????

     Ah credits, often an overlooked aspect, but it's pretty cool seeing all the people that were involved in the making of a production. And it's also fun when you start to notice repeating names whenever you watch different movies. But let's to the meat of things. I've been thinking about the credit sequence and about which the order and such. Initially, I couldn't quite figure out the order, and I think that's in part to the fact that there were two parts that I could've put credits in. I could've had credits at the very beginning on a black screen with text as the frame is super zoomed into the ink of the pen on paper. And I knew for sure I wanted to include created in the fully digital portion of the opening after the sketchbook hits the wall. I began to think about how I could divide it, and which credits to include where. I kept switching around the order, but in the end I decided to make things simple and just have all the credits during the animated sequence.

    Now all I have to figure out is the order. I watched a few openings and made an overall list that I can follow. I watched the opening credit sequences from the following movies:

Scott Pilgrim VS. The World

Ferris Bueller's Day Off 

Baby Driver 

    From these openings don't follow the exact same order, there's is still an overall order that is similar. First few credits are usually the same order with the production company, cast, followed by the casting director. The next few are usually the same but the order is often different: music, production designer, editor, and cinematographer. Last few are some of the more important roles that play a big part in how the film ends up: producer, writer, and director.

    For my opening, I'll start with the production company and cast members. Since I do plan on using music, I'll include the artist as the third credit. The next might be for character artists because I might collaborate with a friend to make another character design that I can include. If they end up making another character, I'd put the two of us as character designers. The last bunch of credits, editor, animator, cinematographer, producer, writer, and director, would be included in the credit track idea, so I can save time.

    To help visualize the idea little bit, I made a test video with the idea for the credit track. The main thing that's missing in this video is text sliding over/camera tracking right. The text and background as well as aren't final since, the purpose behind the video was to both get a rhythm for the track and see if it's understandable. So far I think it looks cool would be more interesting than just fading in/out job positions while my name just stays there.

    

Time in Motion

  My original idea for this infamous second chunk of the opening, was for it to be one long take in which the animation would come in. For the most part I still want to do that, but I need to think about how I could keep the frame interesting over the length of this part of the opening. One thing that's subtle, but can do a lot is gradually moving closer or further away. If I could I'd love to physically move the camera closer, but that'd be another moving factor in this mini stage play I'd have to do for this shot. I'll try it, but if its not working I'll probably just resort to filming the shot from a wide angle, and zoom in/out digitally in post.

Bo Burnham used digital zooms for much of Inside (2021)

    I've also spent today making a test video for the timings list I made yesterday. Now listen, I'll be first to admit it doesn't look too clean, but that's okay. The main reason I made this video was to see whether the timings would work and if the flow wasn't too slow or too fast. It really just translates the list into a visual format that's easier to digest. 

    I myself like how it came out for the most part. There are some portions that seem a bit fast, but I'm taking the video with a grain of salt because the actual movement of elements weren't touched up. Typically in animation, things very rarely move at a constant/linear rate. Instead they often have smooth rate of change/interpolation. Besides a handful of moments, nearly every movement had linear interpolation. The final opening will have some form of smooth interpolation for most moving elements.

    On the topic of animation, I actually went ahead and drew out some possible movements for some of the characters. In the video reference, Box Boy's seems to appear out of thin air, but because of the way I had drawn it in my sketchbook. It'd first be his head that spins into place and his body would follow. Either by the body dropping from below the box or the body being ragdolled into place. Eventually the lines will come in and screw his head off, in which his head will follow a similar pattern just with some more motion trails.

    For Hot Head, I wanted the flame is sort of spin into place; sort of like a solar prominence. For Line Guy, I was a bit halted by the fact that I could only use vertical lines. Personally for me I love creating form in when I draw, but it's a lot harder to do that with just pain lines that don't intersect. To help convey the turn of the head, I'd heavily rely on the position of the eyes to serve as a basis to which way he's facing.

    

    I'm not completely ready to begin filming, but I'm getting there which is cool and kind of scary. I'm going to try to finalize the storyboard tomorrow, so that I can finalize some of the animated elements and their movements. After that I'd probably just finalize some decisions about the location and costumes, but until then I'm going to leave you. See you soon.

   

Editing Before Filming

    About a week ago I met with my instructor to talk about my current progression at the time. When I mentioned the idea of incorporating mix media/animation, she had asked about exactly how I was going to include it. I knew that I wanted to introduce the mix media in the 2nd chunk, I mentioned how it'd show to the viewer, what the animator is thinking, motion trails/visual exaggerations, and possibly some of the emotions the person is feeling. One of the early ideas I had  for the opening was the animator throwing the sketch book at the wall out of rage. When I mentioned this, I was suggested that maybe something should come out of the sketch book and perhaps taunt the animator. I took that idea, but tweaked it a little bit.

    It didn't take long for me to like the idea of the animation annoying the animator; it'd add another layer of frustration. During the initial suggestion, one of the first things I thought about was the very strange and dated Windmill scene from Army of Darkness (1992). The scene follows the protagonist Ash as he goes to rest in a windmill, but is harassed and attacked by tiny evil versions of himself. The scene it self is borderline a slap stick cartoon, which isn't what I'm pulling from it. I'm more just pulling the idea of something small creating that very much annoys the main character.

Windmill Scene - Army of Darkness (1992)

    One of the first things I thought about was if something kept ruining the ideas the animator would come up with, but what? My answer came to me while thinking of an unrelated aspect of the opening. Throughout the first chunk, the animator is fidgeting with their pen by tapping on the page and impact lines coming from each tap. Each line would only travel a portion of the frame before fizzling out, during the last tap before the 2nd chunk, the impact lines would continue until their off screen. These lines will soon be responsible for much of the frustration soon to come.

    The 2nd chunk to me, has been labelled the brainstorming phase because this is where the viewer will see all the different ideas the animator comes up with. Something I couldn't quite nail down was providing a reason for the animator to keep coming up with ideas. But now I have some lines that annoy the character. By putting two and two together, I came to the concept of the lines ruining each idea. This antagonizes the lines and provides a reason as to why the animator would want to throw their sketch book at them (and in turn the wall), as well as force the animator to come up with new ideas.

    Another thing I've done is create an outline of the timings and the actions for the 2nd chunk. Since ideally I'd want this to be in one long take, I have to plan out exactly how long things certain things are going to last. This outline has the animator think up 3 different characters that are each foiled by the lingering lines. Within this time, (vertical) Line Guy is slashed by the horizontally moving lines, Box Boy gets his head screwed off, and Hot Head is blown out. To visualize this portion I plan on making a simple reference video that follows the timings, so I can see if I'd want to change anything

Designs and Inspirations

     Hello I'm back, today I've been working on creating some of the character designs that will be incorporated  in the brainstorming process and potentially in the main credit sequence. If I'm being fully honest this part stumped me. I knew what I wanted, but I kept over thinking certain aspects of the characters like clothes or proportions. To get around this mental hurdle, I redownloaded Pinterest.

    I made a new board dedicated to the film opening. I searched through art aesthetics, surreal art, and illustrated designs to find some inspiration. It didn't take too long for me to find some unique pieces that I could jump off of. 

The Pinterest Board I made

Sketches for potential characters and/or aspects

    The first photo is off the ideas I had sketched out earlier in the day, while the second photo is of the sketches I made after making the Pinterest board. Making that board really helped me focus on the overall character as oppose to the smaller details like in the first photo. Best part is, I like how they came out. I had initially wanted to make a character that was purely made of vertical lines as seen in the top left on the first photo, but I couldn't quite figure out the rest of the costume, so when I saw the drawing of the striped suit on Pinterest, I thought the two went hand in hand. The fire head person at the top of the second photo was initially inspired from the smoke head character from the Pinterest board, but then I remembered about a necklace I bought from a friend. In the end i put both the hot head and smoke head as possible characters to include.

Calcifer necklace from @sqoobles on Instagram

    

    I want o have a few more character designs done, before this weekend. I plan to finalize the storyboard pretty soon, so that I can film what I need to film soon.

Skipping Ahead

    To start on the 2nd chunk I've been sketching out art styles and character designs that could be involved in the animator's brainstorming process.  While working on this I came to the idea that some of these sketches both good and bad could be included in the main opening credit sequence towards the end of the opening. With this I took a break from working on the story board to think about how I could make the credit sequence. This portion has fully digital space that would include credits, names, and sketches to make the frame more interesting. Movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Mitchells vs The Machines both incorporate animation and mix media in their credit sequences to include all kinds of references and details. Doing this would creative a much more lively atmosphere and emphasis a tone for the rest of the film. Another fun aspect about these credit sequences like I said before is that I can include little Easter eggs or elements that foreshadow the story that is soon to come.

    At the moment, I'm planning on making most of the animations with Blender Grease Pencil. While Blender is more known for its 3D animation, it is still possible to make 2D animations in the program. Something I want to avoid with this sequence is making it feel flat. For all the different colors and designs I can include, the final product can still feel simple. To avoid this I am planning on incorporating textures and grain so the frame feels tangible. I have a bit of experience with texturing objects, but I want to do more than just add an overlay effect.

    Recently I've been watching Ben Marriott on YouTube; he's a motion graphics designer who makes tutorials for Adobe After Effects. He's made many videos about creating more engaging looks for animations and video. By following some of these videos, can not only make the animation textured, but also made the text of the credits fit with the look of everything else.

These are some of the video/elements I will watch and would like to incorporate in the final opening:

Gritty Texturing

Half Tone Print Effect

5 Creative Uses of Noise

Textured Animated Posters 

    So far I've talked about what I can do in post to make the credits look nice, but I haven't really touched on the credit sequence itself. There are currently 2 ideas that are contenders. The first would go one credit at a time, while wipes of sketches or characters would be used to transition into different backgrounds. Think of how in the intro sequence the bubbles rising in SpongeBob would be used to transition from above the water to the front of his house. It's simple, but works to change background elements and color schemes.

    Some wipes could include the over-the-top explosion from the book, the "wave", the wall of dashes, cross hatching, and other movements big enough to fill part of the frame.

    The other idea is a bit more simple in that at one point I can add a production position, then have a 2nd position appear next to it, and eventually a third that gets cut off on the right side of the frame. This would motivate the camera to track right following the list of positions, until the very end, it stops for the name of the person who'd do all those positions. Though I am working alone for a majority of the piece, I might end up using music that I'd want to credit or ask someone to man the camera while I'm in front of it, so if I do I'd want to give credit to where it'd due. A benefit of this is that is hits the main points fairly quickly and is a visual gag, but this will only work if it's just me working on the opening. I think I can still use it if there are other people involved in the production, but they'd have to be credited prior to the credit track. And if I wanted I could combine the two ideas, by adding other people in the first few settings, and then end with the credit track.

    With this written up I'm going to return to working on the storyboard and making character designs for the 2nd chunk. Not everything here is really set in stone, but I wanted to jot down the my thought process before I so I can work on the 2nd chunk in peace. And there is the chance that with in working on the character designs and sketches I can also use them for the credit sequence

Storyboarding Session #1

    So today I started storyboarding. My goal was to visualize the first chunk of the opening. This portion sets up certain portions of the story to come. The first shot of the tapping pen and the dots left from it show the stalled output from the animator. The initial second and third shot would cut to show some of the sketches the animator has around their desk, along with some focus drawings. I soon decided cutting from the high angle first shot to another high angle in the second shot could be a bit confusing, so I decided to insert a shot between the two. The new second shot is another angle with the tapping pen, but the focus is on a blank document on a laptop. 

    Follow this we'd cut to an over-the-shoulder of the animator, but unlike the usual over-the-shoulder from behind, this shot would position the camera in front of the actor to face the back calendar on the wall behind them. Has X's every day up until the circle. This also is the first of a short sequence that draws focus to the circled date. Understanding that today is the deadline and that the animator hasn't made any progress adds a level of tension. We then finally cut to a close of the the animator's tired eyes. During this time the pen tapping would stop. Cutting to a medium from the front, we reach the end of the first chunk. 

    While the next chunk doesn't require much thinking about different shots, since I plan to stay with this angle, it will introduce the animated aspects of the opening. I have begun with some brief character designs and sketches that could be includes in this portion of the opening. I may also replace one of the focus drawing in the 4th shot with a page with a sketched out character, so I can have that drawing be the first to "come alive" and eventually change into other ideas that animator has. Some of these could also be included in the fully digital portion in the 3rd chunk during some of the credits.

    For now I'm going to take a break to think about possible characters or art techniques that can be used for this 2nd chunk of the opening.

 

Initial Outline

    Now that I feel pretty confident with a story idea, I should probably think of an outline for the film opening. The idea of an animator in a “writer’s block” while also showing their ideas to the viewer is ironic and something creatives may relate to. What I feel is important to remember is that this is only a small part of a much grander story. 

    To make planning this opening a bit simpler, I’d probably break up the 2 minutes into 1 minute or 30 seconds chunks. The goal with this opening is to focus on the struggle with putting thoughts on paper as well as establishing the aesthetics of the full piece. And after meeting with my instructor, I know that I can’t just have the character frustrated for the whole 2 minutes. 

    The first 30 seconds would likely establish that this character is an animator with the production design. I’m thinking the character’s room/studio could have papers with character designs, art styles, a workstation where final pieces are made, a calendar with a deadline, and the character with a sketchbook fidgeting with their pen. Within these 30 seconds we establish that this animator is on a deadline, and they’re struggling to make something. 

    During the next 30 second, the animation would begin to bleed through. It could start with motion streaks coming from the fidgeting pen and then it spirals out and linger in the frame for the rest of this portion. The animation serves both to show the character’s thoughts as well as their frustrations. The animations in this chunk would be the different ideas that come to the character, but towards the end of this chunk the character switches from idea to idea quicker and quicker. The different ideas begin to taunt and further frustrate the character until they reach a breaking point throwing the sketch book at the original spirals from the pen.

    The 3rd chunk would begin with the sketchbook hitting the wall and an explosion of animation stemming from the impact. The explosion would fill the frame and serve as wipe to transition into fully digital space that would include some of the imagined ideas from before as well as different art styles. This portion would also provide a space for some of the opening credits. Towards the end of the I’d want to switch back to live action with a match cut. The ending would be a quick phone call where the main character is calling their boss to ask for an extension. Halfway through the word, it’d cut to a title card EXTENSION.

    This outline isn’t concrete. Something might get moved around; the credits for example might get moved around because if it’s too long in that one chunk I might split it so that some are at the very beginning and then some are in the fully digital portion. Tomorrow I should have a more solid idea because I’m going to start my story board. Being that this opening focuses more on visuals than dialogue, by the time I’m finished I’ll have a good understanding of the timings and the overall flow of things. I’m also going to be sketching out possible character designs and art styles that could be incorporated in the final opening.

How People Use Mixed Media

 

    In the past I've dabbled with mixed media, but only to an extent. My most recent project that included mixed media was for a music video I made back in October with two other students Isabella Chiappini and Luis Rodriguez. For the video we incorporated only a few bit of animation that we planned in advance. 

Sketch book page of what we wanted to include in the final music video

While We're Young - Music Video

    Working on the While We're Young Music Video really opened my eyes to the more formalistic approach to telling stories. For this project I want to do more than just adding a few emoticons and expression symbols every now and again. I want to expand and improve my skills in this area of filmmaking by experimenting and having more thought behind certain decisions. And as a way to broaden my view of mixed media, I've done a bit of research on a few films that incorporate different mediums into their stories. I just want to see how others have approached this art form.

H.A.G.S (Have A Good Summer)

    This film from Sean Wang, follows adults as they reminisce back to the eighth grade and the time  since then. Visually the film is like a white board, with text, images, videos and drawings coming and going through out. Wang's inclusion of these mediums invites the viewer look back with Wang and his old school mates.

Rebooted

    Rebooted is a sweet piece from Michael Shanks about older technology fading away in the modern age. The story follow a stop-motion skeleton as they face being replaced by newer technology and traditions. The film blends both stop-motion and live action almost seamlessly as way to literally show how lively tradition methods could be, compared to things like CGI.

Lawrence Becker Stop Motion + Mixed Media Animation Compilation (2015-2017)

    Lawrence Becker is an online creator who most known for his stop-motion animations, but he has a bit more up his sleeve. As long as he's had an online presence he's been blending mediums in order to make things that look unique and tell stories that can't be told solely through live action. His use of different art styles and collage also makes for a visual interesting final piece.