A thought-provoking speech about the effects of the pace of life in different parts of the world, visualized with hi-speed whiteboard info graphics. A frenetic and humorous approach which demonstrates the power of a good graphic recording can also make for great analog motion. Thanks to Mark Frazier for the link. Incidentally, our friend Anna Lena Schiller is a great graphic recorder in Berlin!

During the Winter semester 2009/2010 I led a class of 23 fourth semester motion design students at the Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule in an Analog Motion Graphics assignment to collaboratively re-create a vintage drive-in movie theater intermission film. The original intermission film was obtained from the Internet Archive. I transcribed the audio track into an eleven page screenplay which, together with the audio, was used as the basis of the assignment. Students were not shown the original film until the end of the semester at the final presentation.

Using the audio and text as a guide, each group of students pitched concepts for their favorite of the 25 different clips in the film and created approximately 60 seconds of material using Analog Motion techniques. Students often spoofed the informational/commercial messages in the film, offering a critical and at times farcical update to the dated language and cultural assumptions from the 1960s-era film.

This gory and slightly naughty piece uses a very nice combination of flip-book style page turning and stop motion to keep us fascinated with the motion. Yet like many animated shorts the sound design creates an added emotional depth which makes the piece. Thanks to Annika Bauer for the link.

A simple use of the light-bending properties of a glass of beer from Magico Nakamura is only a slightly foamy taste of the genius she’s been involved with in the recent past:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This brilliant fan-made hypercubist work is a phenomenal example of the way in which choreography and graphic concepts can collide using analog methods.

Although you might be inclined to think this technique was achieved with lighting and keying in postproduction, the Berlin-based Pretty Monkey Studio clarify:

We shaved three monkeys and tricked them into believing they are human, dressed them in spandex catsuits and gave them hats. Put them in a room with a bicycle, super-glue, a selection of musical instruments and some other thingamajigs and asked them to make a video for Jamie Cullum’s new track “wheels”. Despite the rumours, we most definitely DO NOT get our monkeys high on hallucinogenic drugs.

All jokes aside, the work is beautiful in its minmal approach. Check especially the laying down of pieces of fabric to simulate the “shadow” of the “window”. And as is often the case with some of the best analog technique, the creators can’t resist a peek behind the scenes in the final seconds of the video.

A brilliant use of pop-up book puppetry directed by Price James to create a humorous and unusual effect for a music video. The white-gloved hands are a nice touch. Thanks to Maria Hennig and Jonas Weissbrodt for recommending this video.

Taking an info-graphics perspective on analog motion this month, we look at this amusing lo-fi video about placing a marker on a Google map cleverly simulates the look and feel of a screencast with cutout paper print-outs. Charming details include a convincing blinking cursor and an actual shadow cast onto the surface of the Google map by the lamp used to light the shot. All the neat tricks are revealed at the end of the video!