animation research

While researching stop motion animations for a college project, I was particularly inspired by several, all using different techniques. One was based on the lyrics of a pop song called 'You Picked Me' by A Fine Frenzy, and was made using paper cuts and painting. This was simple but very effective, and inspired my forst animation which I based on the lyrics of a Richard Hawley song called 'Open Up Your Door'.
Another animation called 'Innocence' featured a barbie type doll, tossing restlessly in bed in a darkened room. As she tries to sleep, the door slowly opens and a sinister looking doll constructed from mis-matched arms, legs and household implements, enters and begins to perform some kind of surgery on barbie. The action is not seen, but suggested by the cutting and sawing sounds in the background and the occasional flash of scissors opening and closing. The film ends with the barbie, who is now a pretty head atop a grusome collection of spare parts, entering another darkened room to perform the same destruction on another innocent. A dark and disturbing little piece.
The pen story, is an animation made to advertise a type of camera, and begins with a black and white photo of a family group outside a house. A boy then detaches himself and rides off to begin the journey of his life. This film is made entirely of photographs featuring the boy growing through adulthood, having family and siliding into middle age, the photos showing him in various stages and places and ends with him rejoining the same group, now all aged, in front of the same house. I thought this was a very effective way to suggest the power of photographs to recored and remember the journey of a life.
Another animation I was impressed with was one advertising the comforts of flying with Swiss Air, and features a man, sitting in a comfy chair, being provided with all the comforts of home, by an unseen hand. drinks appearing suddenly in hand, footrests, dvd screens, slippers and so on appearing as if by magic, all suggest an extremely luxurious and comfortable flying experience.