For our final day of Animation Week (previous installments showcased the work of Art Clokey, Norman McLaren, Jiri Trnka, and Yuriy Norshteyn), I'd like to turn to the much-praised yet often anonymous heroes of modern animation, the artists behind music videos. Below are three road-tested videos Z recommends for any toddler which would be fascinating fun for much older children as well: Swedish graphic artist Kristopher Strom's whiteboard animation for Minilogue's "Hitchhiker's Choice," the H5-produced video for Royksopp's UK electronic hit "Remind Me," and a segment from the Peter Whiteman-designed animated film of Harry Nilsson's audio fable The Point, namely the animation accompanying the song "Think About Your Troubles."
The appeal of this first one should be pretty obvious. The video is not available on DVD yet; the band has a double album with several videos and is currently label-shopping, hoping to release it next summer.
Z perked up when the girl flushes the toilet about 30 seconds into "Remind Me" and was fascinated for the remainder of the song, repeatedly asking to view the video again and peppering me with questions about my own workday routine. All toddlers are curious about what their parents do all day without them; here's a visualization of how many of us spend our day, with a lot of things to explain along the way thanks to the video's copious diagrams and cutaway views. The video is included on the CD Melody A.M. | Buy it
We try to handle the concept of death delicately but as a fact of life, even when dealing with our toddler. We also try to incorporate music into Z's life which acknowledges all of her feelings, not just the happy ones. Add to that our interest in stressing the connectedness of Z with everything aroud her - the environment, other people, history - and Nilsson's crooning "Think About Your Troubles," which follows the journey of a teardrop through the water cycle and then some, is a perfect visual cocktail for the fertile mind of a curious toddler. As for the full-length movie, it's a bit much for Z, whose exposure to TV is limited to 30-minute intervals. For even slightly older children (and adults) we highly recommended it! | Buy the DVD | Check ebay for the LP (voice narration by Nilsson)
[Minilogue via & Royksopp via]
ZScore (out of 10): 10. The strong visuals of each of these videos are intrinsically interesting to Z, and the music is the icing on the cake. She loves them all!
Update: Our sixth installment, featuring French stop-motion wunderkinden Chapi Chapo, is now online.
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