Why Do You Love Cities?

Stop-motion/illustration animation project

This assignment was created during my second year at OCAD University. It marked my first foray into animation, where I explored the emotional connections people have with urban environments. I was inspired by my recent move to Toronto and my experiences living in multiple major cities around the world.

Process → Final Outcome → Reflections

My Approach

Process

I conducted interviews with three of my friends. The conversations were organic, allowing the questions to flow naturally as we discussed their experiences and memories related to cities. I recorded their responses and then shortlisted the audio clips that would best represent the narrative of my animation.

Interviews

  1. Why do you love cities?

  2. Is there a particular memory or story you associate with your love for cities?

  3. Do you have a way in which you like to explore cities?

  4. What cities have you been to?

  5. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your love for cities?

Questions I Asked

  • “The liveliness, the hustle, the bustle, architecture, made up of people, natural diversity, life and color blooming out of corners, life continues despite it being difficult, flowers growing out of the cement, adventure, constant change, different cultures, murals on broken buildings…”

  • “Being born and raised in Dubai, pretty windows, riding a ferry to Seattle, buildings growing closer and closer, moving to Haifa, importance to my growth and maturity…”

  • “Music in my ears, on foot, finding my way without maps, running around, biking, fully immersed…”

  • “Seattle, Dubai, NYC, Haifa…”

  • “Each city is always going to be different, it’s going to be its own vibe, its own feel and character, cities have a life of their own, enjoy it, it’s an experience…”

Some Answers I Received

I began by creating rough storyboards, visualizing how each part of the audio would be translated into animation. I used Procreate to illustrate the scenes, focusing on capturing the essence of each person's story. As this was my first animation project, I experimented with different techniques to bring the visuals to life, aligning them as closely as possible with the audio.

Storyboarding

Final Outcome

Reflections

Initially, I considered incorporating transcribed text throughout the animation to complement the audio, but for aesthetic reasons, I decided against it and chose to handwrite the questions instead. This choice added a personal touch and kept the focus on the visuals.

I aimed to introduce a consistent element throughout the animation, which led me to use crumpled paper as a background for most of the scenes. I found this approach successful, as it added texture and cohesiveness to the project.

To enhance the visual narrative, I used photographs of city skylines that I had taken in the cities mentioned during the interviews. This allowed me to create a recurring visual motif that tied the different segments of the animation together.

The visual nature of the interview responses made them well-suited for illustration, which helped me effectively translate the audio into engaging visuals. However, syncing the audio with the animation presented challenges, particularly with maintaining the right pacing. At times, the animation moved too quickly for the audio, and vice versa. While I was able to adjust the timing, it required altering the initially planned steady flow. Despite this, the final outcome remained cohesive, and I believe the sharpness of the audio and the varying tones complemented both the theme and the animation.