MOTION
Ladybird
Ladybird from Christopher Harrell on Vimeo.
LADYBIRD: CASE STUDY
THE CHALLENGE:
The official brief given to me was to create a Title Sequence for a film or TV show.
THE SOLUTION:
I created a dark and creepy sequence that set a moody, intriguing tone, taking inspiration from classic sequences like True Blood, Dexter, Delicatessen, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
THE BACKGROUND:
A few months ago, my friend and classmate Stuart Amos introduced me to a friend of his who works for the city of Vancouver. This friend distributes lady bugs for the city because apparently lady bugs like to eat aphids. Stuart thought it would be great to film the lady bugs and asked his friend if I could come along and film as she distributed the lady bugs sometime. She agreed and eventually just gave me a bag of lady bugs to distribute and film.
THE CORE IDEA:
Now that I had all these lady bugs, I had to come up with a concept that could really utilize them. I wanted to do something a little darker and moodier. I came up with the following film synopsis:
When the body of a girl is found discarded in the woods, a small town is thrown into chaos. The serene facade of the countryside is disrupted by suspicion and accusations. Misfortune continues finding members of the community and the only common thread is that ladybugs seem to follow wherever tragedy strikes.
I wanted to film the opening sequence that would allude to the girl’s body dumped in the woods. The name Ladybird comes from Stuart. Apparently the Brits call ladybugs ladybirds.
EXECUTION:
I brought a bunch of random objects into the woods to create the feeling of a place where objects are dumped. I then took 30,000 ladybugs and spent an hour or so film them crawling all over the objects. After filming, it was just a matter of cutting together with a beautiful song by Mariee Sioux. I added some classic “filmy” flares and color correction to really add to the mood. In the end, I came up with a piece that successfully captures the mood that I was looking for.
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Hemingway’s Sonic Notepad from Christopher Harrell on Vimeo.
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T+Hit 9000 from Christopher Harrell on Vimeo.
Here are some screenshots of the Markers that we connected to the expressions to animate the floor.
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Green Like A Stormy from Christopher Harrell on Vimeo.
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La Petite Agnes from Christopher Harrell on Vimeo.
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