An announcement from The Walt Disney Family Museum for a “Jointed Paper Animation” workshop caught my eye:

“On May 22, 2016 — Some of the earliest forms of animation were created using jointed paper puppets, tediously filming them using stop motion techniques. Learn from illustrator and designer Julia Cone as she demonstrates her process of creating imagery with cut paper, then experiment with animator Jenna Calvao to bring your cut paper piece to life with stop motion techniques.”

I was intrigued and jumped at the chance to try something entirely new. In a matter of just a few hours I had scripted a storyboard, cut paper into two Blue Jays plus a small flock of Jays then filmed “Two Birds Talking” a 30- second stop-action movie.

It was a thrill to watch the birds come to life as they bow to greet one another while the flock flys off into the distance. Although it appears to be quite simple, it required equipment and technicial finesse not readily available to everyone.

For everyone, the future of moving pictures, is in the device that is in your pocket or handbag, what movie director Steven Soderbergh calls a small capture device.

We think of snap-shots as a quick pic, spontaneous, unstaged, in the moment. And now there are video snaps capturing live-action moments. Check your Instagram stories or how about a GIF?

Hummingbirds at the feeder are an endless source of entertainment. They swoop in. They jostle for position. They soar. They jostle for position. A quick video snap makes a show and share of this spectacle.

It’s hard to say whether iPhones will make traditional cameras obsolete but they certainly open the possibility that anyone, anywhere can tell their personal story enhanced with iPhone features: stop-action, slo-mo, time lapse, color filters.

 

So come on, 

it’s time to get moving,

time to get creating the future…