Sillouette animation workshop - Beijing's red smog alert

Here i have created a stop frame animation using silhouettes. I was inspired by Saul bass who is an animator who uses silhouettes. I decided to create an animation based on the red smog alerts in Beijing as i have looked into an article and researched this issue as i a may create my final animation based on the red smog alerts. To create this animation i used black card and tissue paper. I began by cutting out shapes such as rectangles to create buildings as well as shapes to make up a face and a title. Rather than adding detail i wanted to focus the animation just on shape and colour. I used black card on top of a light box as the contrast in colour made the animation stand out. i feel that this was very affective and the animation appears more stylised. The way the animation has been created is very simple yet it works well. I placed the pieces of card onto a light box to create the scene. I began by adding a building one by one and taking a picture in-between. This was to represent how fast Beijing was industrialised with buildings and factories just 'popping' up. I used orange tissue paper to represent the smog. i moved it around and took photographs to make the smog appear as it was moving through the air. I think that the use of tissue paper was very affective over the light box because the tissue paper is transparent and the light was able to shine through.  If i was to improve this i would create a more in depth animation with more of a story. 

Saul Bass is an American graphic designer and film maker. He specialises in creating motion picture title sequence, film posters and corporate logo's. he is well known for creating title sequences for films such as psycho and the man with the golden arm. His work can be recognised by his style - very simplistic with cut out shapes to create his animation. A lot of his work is often created using black 2D shapes. The animation above is eye-catching and effective because of it's style and simplicity. It is also looks very neat and accurate. The simplicity of the animation allows the viewers to focus on the title whilst also getting an idea of what the film is about because of the imagery used.