The second project is a music video I’m directing for a song, “You Knew Me,” written by my wife, Leah Shaw, for an album that commemorates her mother, Rebecca Easterly Shaw, who passed away of early onset Alzheimers in 2016 at the age of 62. It is performed with eclectic instrumentation including full string sections, choirs, piano, guitar and even synthesizers.
The music video includes both live-action and animated footage. The inspiration for the animation comes largely from the work of the pioneering German animator Lotte Reiniger, who created feature-length color animations by herself in the 1920s — an incredible feat given the technological limitations of the time. Her technique involves intricate cut-out paper puppets that are backlit to create a silhouetted effect and animated using the stop-motion technique. Her silhouette puppets, as detailed as they are, give a suggestion of scenes, characters and emotions rather than fully illustrating them. My animation draws inspiration from Reiniger’s ability to create visuals that encourage the viewer to fill in details of a story with their imagination as well as the striking aesthetic of silhouettes.
I will also incorporate modern compositing to add textures and environments in an effort to further convey the dream-like tone of the song. The textures come from footage taken of seashells, gemstones and chorals, inspired largely by Max Ernst’s “Napoleon in the Wilderness.” These elements give the viewer’s imagination a small nudge.