Featuring Ilan Bachrach, Elisabeth Conner, Kelly Copper, Gabel Eiben, Dan Gower, Robert M. Johanson, and Kristin Worrall. Filmed at deSingel in Antwerp by Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper.
This video is part of a series of stop motion animations that were made in 2011 and 2012 by Nature Theater of Oklahoma as a preparation and exploration for a projected animated film that would eventually become Life and Times - Episode 4.5. The films were composed from individual still photographs shot with a Cannon Mark ii camera in various locations while the company was on tour with Life and Times - Episodes 1 and 2. No one in the company had ever done animated film before, and we were learning as we experimented. Breaking down time into individual still moments was a challenge both for the directors and the actors involved. The individual photographs -- done often over the course of an entire day -- were later assembled in Final Cut at a rate of 10 frames per second to create the motion.
For this animation, we decided to work with a large group of people on our last day in Antwerp. We organized a group dance that ended in a group object animation. Somewhere there exists a video of us shooting the final sequence in which the shoes gradually walk away and the chairs are cleared. It was a lot more chaotic than it appears in this brief short. Between every still take, 6 people scrambled to each move an object, then run and hide out of frame, then take another picture, then run back into frame again to move the object a little bit more. It took well over an hour of scrambling until the final pair of shoes at last disappeared into the wings.
To see other animations in the series, go to: vimeopro.com/oktheater/stop-motion-animations