Bullying happens everyday, to all sorts of people and everybody has their stories of whats happened to them, and the memories and scars that haunt them from their past. In the late 2013 year, a video went viral across all media. A man name Shane Koyczan, a poet, wrote a poem about bullying that’s for “The Bullied and the Beautiful”; The “To This Day Project” is a spoken word poem and in its creation large amount of animators came together to further exlpore the profound and lasting impacts that bullying can have on an individual. Each animator created their own unique 20 second clips depicting their view on the topic and all together they made up the artists brought their unique styles in their segments that threaded into one fluid voice.
The clip I thought was the best was clip 6 by Ariel Costa:
http://pdl.vimeocdn.com/04159/310/146102433.mp4?token=1385418920_4e1d028fd0e61d0b401d33029353f386
The animation segment I liked the best was Clip 6 by Ariel Costa. The type of animation used in this clip is 2D animation; 2D animation is the creation of moving pictures in a space done through computers. By taking and using consecutive images and moving them slowly to create steps creates movement in the piece. Costa took the individual image of each character or object and cut it into piece, and when the scene is playing, she moved the piece to create movement. I also believe this to be apart of stop motion as each movement is carefully selected and done (moved) then the next, then the next, etc. Also because the background image(s) and various other parts of the clip look to be created and transformed in paper, thus making it a form of stop motion.
Here are some picture examples of how the imagery is cut up.
Why I think this is successful is how unique the video is and the actual process used. All of the objects in the video are cut outs merged, placed and blended into one object or person. I feel the images that are shown in the piece appeal to everyone and I find it very captivating. I enjoyed how the faces seemed to be faceless, and how the “bully” seemed to be something big and scary, which is the truth of how some people see things. I felt that the video coincided with the words and effectively connected and expressed the words appropriately and the message they were getting across as their spoken. Overall I liked how everything complimented each other in the clip, and the overall theme was united throughout everything. Everything seemed to be torn and ripped up and placed together almost messily and frantic, which shows how a person would feel in the situation. I think Costa really succeeded in the creation of this clip.
The following video is the full “To This Day Project” video
To see all the animators who did clips for the video go to the following link:
http://tothisdayproject.com/the_animators.html – all animators
Melissa Reid: Art Portfolio Blog 