Reed & Caroline – Dark Matter

It’s “Reed & Caroline Wednesday” again. ? The VeryRecords recording artists’ music is a part of my Yuck Science virtual programs, and there will be an extra post each week January featuring one of their songs.

Dark Matter is a track from their second album Hello Science. In addition to being a catchy tune, this features a simple but very creative paper animation made by singer Caroline Schutz’s daughter Ava. Does this video give you any ideas for what you could create?

Reed & Caroline’s Dark Matter music video, with animations by Ava Gould

This style of video is called stop motion animation. All it takes to create is a camera and an idea! Ava took photos of her creations with a story in her mind. There are several photos per second, and they were edited together into an animation.

This same basic technique is used in movies you may have seen, like The Boxtrolls, Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings, and many others by Laika. They photograph different types of things, but the technique behind them is the same.

The Boxtrolls, a stop motion feature produced by Laika

Laika’s movies have big budgets are are really complex to shoot, but videos like Ava’s are much easier to make. Here is an stop motion video my wife and I made for fun some years ago! Can you think of an idea for a stop motion video? You could try making one with a cellphone camera and any movie software like Apple’s iMovie. If you make or have made a stop motion video, share it in the comments below so the rest of us can enjoy it!

Trouble at Tea Time, by Mr. and Ms. Yuck, from 2013
Hello Science, by Reed & Caroline