HEART POCKET

PAPER CUT STOP MOTION ANIMATION – take one

Motivation 

I have a fascination for paper cutting. With it I want to create an animation which is clean-cut, evocative and beautiful. Also intriguing, uplifting and calm. Quite a tall order. 

Heart Pocket is an experiment in animation. New to stop-motion, my primary goal is to see if my paper cut concept will work at all. Does it hang together? Does it make sense? Does the sparce aesthetic give enough and hold the attention of my audience? 

After a major life traumar some 20 years back, I jettisoned clutter and ‘unimportant’ detail in my drawing artwork. I feel a strong sense of minimalism meets my needs and I seek out that clarity in my creative messaging. 

Concept 

At this early exploratory stage, the loose concept of the Heart Pocket animation is about owning our own wellbeing. Recognising the free spirit liveliness of our emotions and the heart’s capacity to surprise and engage.  

The small red bird, epitomising the heart, coexists with the body and character, finding shelter within the pocket as it would in a nest. The everydayness and mundanity of the pocket, a universal ‘hold all’, symbolises our sense of safety and practicality. Contrasting with the fragile effervescence of the soul and our emotional self. 

In Heart Pocket the character climbs out of the home-space pocket following the bird. They are intrigued and beguiled, both assisting and pursuing the unpredictability of the heart bird, only to find they two hold a Heart Pocket within themselves. 

Whilst free, the bird chooses to settle and reside within the character’s capacity to love and be loved. 

The story line is loose and open. I foresee that in developing this creative concept into a feasible animation short, likely a greater degree of direction and attribution will happen. I feel that the style and technique is paramount at this stage. Once practiced and made viable, Heart Pocket could be adapted to suit a range of emotion/people centred subject matters. 

Practice 

I have cut an initial sequence of key frames, unsure of the number of in-betweens required, but enough to hang a semblance of an animated scene on. Laid out on a flat bed and shooting using a SLR camera from above I spent a couple of days in the stop motion studio capturing a short cycle of movement. The result is rough, but works OK I think. My aim was to create something to discuss, share with my tutors and use as a starting point from which to layer a mountain of developments, finesse and exploration. 

I am looking forward to developing Heart Pocket and working out a story board and strong workable production model. 

Work in Progress…