Building a series of stop motion animations for Mohawk Paper for promotional purposes. Created by Wilfred Aldrich, Tanya Sheremeta and Kim White.
Roles
Illustration. Graphic production. Photography. Storyboarding. Animation. Editing.
Goals
Create a stop action animation that will include: Advertising, Motion Graphics, Video Editing, Studio Lighting, Illustration, Storyboarding, Production Design.
Process
Research
Who is Mohawk Paper?
Mohawk is North America’s largest privately-owned manufacturer of fine papers and envelopes which are preferred for commercial and digital printing, photo specialties and high-end direct mail. With a culture of innovation reaching back to its beginning in 1931, Mohawk is committed to providing materials that help make every printed project more beautiful, effective and memorable.
Problem
How do we make it?
Our core concept was to make a stop motion animation for Mohawk that highlights their line of Keaykolour paper and efforts to make beautiful environmental friendly paper products. We decided to create our paper environment using hand made and laser cut assets. Lighting photography was done by us with the help of some very nice photography students. Editing was done using Adobe Aftereffects.
Paper craft Inspiration
Pretty paper creations.
We were on the hunt for as much inspiration as possible. We scoured the internet for fantastic examples of paper craft art and animation/ stop animation. We discovered the works of Artist Kelli Anderson. Particularly her work on Paper Forest We could only aspire to be as great!
Experimentation and prep
Storyboards and prototyping.
We started by listing the assets we wanted to create for our animation, plants, animals and additional environmental elements. We then began storyboarding, sketching and building prototypes of the necessary elements.
Building and filming
Lights camera action.
Once we had all of our pieces assembled we constructed our set. Our animation was shot in the photo studio. We created at least twice as much was filmed, leaving a duplicate set for promotion.
Animations
What we made.
Final thought
Lessons learned
Filming and designing stop motion animation has many challenges. I was extremely fortunate to be surrounded and supported by many other creatives who believed in this project. Mohawk Paper is a company that is recognized throughout the creative community for quality and reliability. When we mentioned the name Mohawk, and our core concept we were met with enthusiasm and support from our peers.