Check out this wicked new video for “Extraterrestrial Creatures Are Stealing You From Me From The Bedroom” featuring the vocal talents of Bev Lee Harling…
We caught up with Zach Ellams and Timothy O’Leary, the brains behind the operation, for a quick chat about how the video was made (click the images for bigger versions)…
How did you come up with the idea?
Our concept was to create an abstract video of a mouse called Pixel who found himself on a curious adventure. Influenced by Bop’s album and the particular track we were working with, we experimented with a variety of themes and techniques, allowing them to develop into a story of mice versus rats and brain versus brawn.
What materials did you use?
Preferring to experiment with techniques, we made allowance for our combination of media to generate ideas and ‘happy accidents’. After testing to see which of our techniques were most effective, we settled on a combination of stop motion paper puppetry, abstract shape and live action. We felt this unusual combination of mixed media would appear curious to the eye, further linking to Bop’s album title. Our hope was that our video would illustrate the playful way in which we animate.
How did you execute the whole concept?
The video is a combination of live action, stop motion and hand drawn animation. We drew out a basic narrative through a series of storyboards and animatics. Because of our fast paced and energetic style, our narrative continued to evolve throughout the process.
Sum up the video in 5 words?
Paper versus our animated imagination.
If you were a pixel, what amazing adventure would you go on?
We’d be blown up, photocopied, inverted, cut out and animated.
Storyboards:
