Midnight, the Stars and You
I created this video for Deerhoof's “Midnight, The Stars, And You” using a combination of miniature set/prop building and digital animation. Every piece of the project was built using recycled materials: the frame was a stoop find, the fish were old pieces of jewelry, the curtain fabric was purchased from Detroit's non-profit arts recycling organization Arts & Scraps, etc.
I took an old frame being thrown away in Brooklyn, removed the back and the glass front, and built fitted sides to turn it into a miniature shadowbox theater. I painted a backdrop of clouds and ocean waves, and added depth by gluing on beads as stars and mounting painted clouds onto the backdrop separately. I used a wooden template for the back of the moon, and created a shell of beads around it, hanging it from the top of the frame. I painted and cut two layers of waves to animate the foreground.
The planks for the ship were cut and painted cardboard, assembled with miniature rivets. I formed the owl's body out of folded paper, then used a hole punch to create the feathers, gluing them on with tweezers.
Finally, I photographed and filmed each of the pieces individually and brought them into After Effects to animate. I used Character Animator for the lip syncing and did the sound design in Premiere.
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