They say, hard work determines the end result, you go on to reap what you sow. Exemplifying and epitomising this concept is the whole genre of stop motion. Stop motion passionately embraces the concept of art imitates life, life imitates art. This technique embodies the true outcome of patience and the art of toiling day after day, steadily making increments for frames that would only last a mere 30 seconds. Seeing inanimate objects then spur back to life and gain motion, then becomes a bigger deal more magical than just the end product.
Karan Kumar spoke to Homegrown weaving and painting his experience with stop motion, on his latest project with Prateek Kuhad’s lyric video ‘with you/for you’. Created alongside Jayesh Malani.
“While Jayesh helped with the technicalities of setting up a stop motion rig for the shoot and shooting each frame, I designed, created and crafted all the assets as well as the script for the video.” Taking us behind the scenes and showcasing the technicalities and letting us in on the greater details. Which included elements crucial to design and that also imbibe and tug on emotions. The video and the key ingredients involved a specially curated set of typography, vivid colour palettes, flower and material choices for each distinctive frame.
“Not to mention that we shot around 2000+ images over 3 days to stitch together the whole video.” The final product when it comes to stop motion is all about combining originality and aesthetic. Speaking of aesthetic the video follows a very crafty one, the elements are played and unfurled in accord to the lyrics. With a colourful spray of origami butterflies and neatly cut, paper and crimson hearts. He sheds more light on the shape shifting dynamics involved and what inspired the video.
“Our goal was to keep in mind Prateek’s audience and his aesthetic and push it one step further using tricks of the trade in stop motion. All objects used in the video were sourced from our homes, my neighbour’s garden and local markets. Each line from the song is expressed metaphorically using objects that are significant to the emotion involved. For example the part where ‘as we sleep were growing older’ you can see two identical flowers find each other and then shed their petals, much like real flowers do when they grow older. The lyric video constantly reflects instances from the music video to again tie in the whole story telling that Prateek had in mind for his song.”
He then goes on to further delve into the nuances of the making the video and how a 10 second sequence took a good 3 hours to produce the end product.
“My favourite part is ‘ We grow old with these folds of time’ where an accordion of clocks fold up into one clock and then morphs with red and orange hearts to form multiple origami butterflies that spread out of the frame, it took Jayesh and I roughly 3 hours to shoot that 10 second sequence. This was my first attempt at anything stop-motion and I think we did justice to what we set out to do.”
And of course, the finished product is out and is as good as ever. Stop motion has always held a special place in my heart, just by virtue of the fact that, what lies behind the surreal display is an extremely driven set of makers who go the extra mile in their craft. All that being said be sure to check the fruit of their labour and perseverance!
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