Thursday, March 31, 2011
Have a Nice Life Flash Before Your Eyes
Six months ago I discovered a wealth of videos on Youtube animated by Vince Collins. The video posted above is my favorite of the lot, so original and inventive in its use of color and the variety of objects portrayed. If the style of animation in this video looks familiar, you likely saw Vince's animations as a child on Sesame Street. In considering Collins' relation to "Design is Good for What?" I think that this video specifically highlights the way in which design can make one consider their own life in a way that words on a page alone could not. Seeing the parade of images morphing into one another along with the one central character(the androgynous purple haired figure) you can easily project yourself into the center of this psychedelic representation of a life's journey. I think the approach of placing the viewer within the work is much more effective than the angle of "LOOK AT THIS PROBLEM - ISN'T IT SAD!" that many charities and "change" campaigns tend to use. I've posted a few more of Vince's videos below. I also highly recommend viewing them full screen. Enjoy - and remember "grab your chance, time won't wait, it always flies."
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The colors are very eye catching!! That is the thing that definitely captured my attention. I really loved how one image would turn into something else. This definitely requires time and talent. I feel that using this on "Sesame Street" was an excellent choice because as children they absorb so much information that to be visually assaulted in such a pleasant way is more than needed.
ReplyDeleteThe animation actually reminds me of the stuff you'd see on Schoolhouse Rock. Did he work on those too?
ReplyDeleteOOoooo, the colors..THE COLORS. The first video was almost hard to watch with the flashing colors and all. It definitely catches your attention and I agree it can be very effective to get the audience into the problem to promote awareness. I think it depends on the type of awareness you are trying to promote and in which culture.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yea, I also thought it was reminiscent of Schoolhouse Rock.
Pretty trippy animation. I'm not sure if the message affected me as much as it did you, but I understand your point. I think a lot of change campaigns focus too much on making the viewer feel guilty instead of proud to help.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other comments in the use of the bright flashing colors is very eye catching. The colors are very vibrant, almost to the point where it starts to hurt my eyes. Also, I love the use of cycling and repetition to interconnect new images from old images. Tony, I agree with you, the last one does remind me of Schoolhouse Rock.
ReplyDeleteI love the colors. I think the use of color is an interesting thing to explore because it affects our minds and thought process more than we realize.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely schoolhouse rock. (I love schoolhouse rock) This is a very interesting piece! I love that it is not focused on using guilt as a way to create change.
ReplyDeleteI like what Shanna and Nina said about it working because it does not use guilt. One of the more recent posts addresses this also, and like I said in the comments of the other post (about child abuse), I find campaigns that use happy, uplifting ideals as a hope for the future much more effective than negative, sad, depressing depictions of situations.
ReplyDeleteThe colors are great! I did a quick search to see if he worked on Schoolhouse Rock and it didn't say anything about Vince Collins working on it, but he seems to be inspired by it!
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you have come across this website, but it is a brief interview with Vince Collins. His hand drawn animations are amazing, but it is interesting to hear about his transition to working on computers. http://networkawesome.com/mag/article/vince-collins/
ReplyDeleteits very school house rock I can still sing most of the songs. But its affective and has a wide variety of ideals hes amazing.
ReplyDeleteI'm split on these animations. I love the morphing, but the color scheme and the flashing just makes my eyes hurt.
ReplyDeleteI agree with lauren (maybe I have sensitive eyes), but I really was not attracted to the flashing colors and in combination with the music. However, I think that, like nina said, I can see your point that maybe the advertising for campaigns rarely varies in perspective or maybe they just don't trust the audience to be intelligent enough to know or associate an image (uplifting or not) with its problems, instead they have to point them out?
ReplyDeletei think this shows great use of color. im colorblind, however, i can still tell the vibrancy.
ReplyDeleteI am a little confused by the first video, but the colors didn't really bother me so much. I do like how they have a sort of retro school house rock feel to them.
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ReplyDeleteThe colors very bright, and the vibrancy definitely grabs your attention. I agree with you, it is interesting to see how the images are continuously transforming into new images.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree about the Schoolhouse Rock influence. Too bad design like this isn't being produced mucha anymore.
ReplyDeleteI find it rather overwhelming with all of the colors flashing. I like the style and the through back feel to it like old saturday morning cartoons.
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