What Bill Gates should be doing.

30 Oct 2009, Posted by Alyssa in art, 0 Comments

Thought I’d share this trailer: Monster Road – a documentary on animator Bruce Bickford (he did a lot of work with Frank Zappa). I’ve watched it a dozen times over the past few years, I think it’s about time I ordered the DVD.

I’m always fascinated with the way stop-motion animations like this elicit such a markedly different viewing experience than any traditional film. While the seamless magic of a traditional film allows you to lose yourself in the narrative, stop-motion calls attention to every frame as your mind analyzes how this clay figure comes to life in such a way – as you begin to imagine making these incremental, physical adjustments with every frame to create movement and action. It’s interesting how your attention is called to the process of filmmaking, and how sometimes it’s the process that warrants just as much, if not more, merit than the actual storytelling.