In all the hours you have probably spent getting lost on YouTube and Vimeo, if you haven’t reached the Sand Art portion of the webiverse, then you obviously have not spent enough time digging.
I first encountered sand art/drawing in my freshman year of college when I was probably trying to fill blank pages with what was sure to be an amazing essay on Feminism in Chicano Theatre. Obviously what had begun as looking to the webs for inspiration, turned into looking at a new world of discovery. I started out with looking at Russian Fairytales, then Romeo and Juliet, and before I knew it I was sucked into the anticipation of sand transformation: How was the artist going to morph this scene into the next? I never knew, but I continued to watch just to find out.
It was with this same anticipation that I watched A Tangled Tale. Having expected something safe, or ordinary, I was blown away with this short. Take a look for yourself:
On my first viewing of Corrie Francis Parks‘ animated short, I was left with this desire to know more; how was this created? Who created this? But mostly, how? Luckily for me there exists a “making of” video:
Now with some answers, I still couldn’t stop looking at the final product; it is simply stunning.
With traditional sand art, you see the artist’s hands transform the scene, crafting both a mood and scene change instantly, and wondrously. But with A Tangled Tale, you simply see the final product of months and months of stop motion shooting, which, with the added assistance from After Effects, color layering and various other techniques, creates a much fuller world that pulls you in immediately.
A Tangled Tale has been running a very successful festival circuit, which has included receptions at Annecy’s International Animation Festival in France, Anima Mundi, Palm Springs International ShortFest, and will be screening at the competition portion of Hiroshima Japan’s International Animation Festival on August 22nd.
With the amazing success of the short film, Corrie Francis Parks has been swamped with work where she continues to incorporate sand art and animation, growing further with her medium. Two of her latest projects include a book trailer for Kelly Luce’s Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail, and this lovely trailer for HATCH, which is an online community and festival for creative nurturing and growth. Not to mention Corrie Francis Parks is also working on a book on “under the camera animation”, which will be published by Focal Press in 2015.
What was your reaction to ‘A Tangled Tale’? What are other artistic techniques you would like to see crossed with animation?
Special shout out to Sarah for pitching us this short for our Indie-mation series.
