HW6.3.2 Animation Artist Research: Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry is a French film director who has directed major motion pictures such as Be Kind Rewind and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  He has also animated music videos for many musicians including The White Stripes, Bjork, and The Chemical Brothers.  The music video that originally made me aware of his work, was the stop motion animation he created for The White Stripe's "Fell in Love With a Girl" in 2002.  The music video was created with thousands of shots of individually built Lego sets and figures.  This work especially highlights the arduous process involved in stop motion animation because in addition to taking each individual photograph of each frame within the video, each figure and scene had to be built and rebuilt, piece by piece for every frame.  The resulting animation is intricately done with fluid movement.  The nature of Legos however, makes the figures appear blocky and pixelated.  This retains the digital element of the work and differentiates it from other animation styles.

Sources:

http://www.michelgondry.com/?tag=the-white-stripes