I feel somewhat at risk of turning this joint into one of those blogs which serve as dumping grounds for videos, rather than actual words. But some videos just demand circulation, y’know?
This came to me by way of an email message from my great blog-friend, Froog, who just knew it would appeal to me. (Actually, he suggested that I save it for a Friday whiskey river-themed post. But I think it deserves a spotlight (no pun intended) of its own.)
From the Vimeo page where you can find the original of the below video, from the minds and hands of artists Davy and Kristin McGuire:
The Ice Book is a miniature theatre show, a pop-up book that comes to life as if by magic.
It tells the story of a mysterious princess who lures a boy into her magical world to warm her heart of ice. It is made from sheets of paper and light, designed to give a live audience an intimate and immersive experience of film, theatre, dance, mime and animation.
And, at The Ice Book‘s own site, you can read of the behind-the-scenes process they used in assembling what is, apparently, a traveling show.
I always had the dream of creating a theatre performance that opened up like a pop-up book. A show that would mix video projections with live actors to create a totally immersive experience. We wanted to create a full scale, life-size theatre production.
The idea for the Icebook was to create a miniature maquette for this dream — a demonstration model to show to producers and other funders in the hope that they would give us some money to make the full scale show. (And we still hope that this will come true one day!) The Icebook has since however, grown its own legs and turned into a miniature show all by itself. An intimate performance for small audiences.
Thank you, Froog!
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* Whether this should be a two-word phrase or a single word seems uncertain. I opted to go with the one-word variation, per the title as it appears in the video.
Ashleigh Burroughs says
Do you know the work of Robert Sabuda? His pop-up books have been a staple of our gift giving for years and they never cease to amaze and amuse us.
a/b
John says
a/b: No, I didn’t know the name Robert Sabuda until you mentioned it.
His Web site — the FAQ page — mentions something which I remember worrying about when buying books for my (then) very young niece and nephews. To wit: these things aren’t really meant to stand up, are they, to little hands unfamiliar with the notion of “fragility”? I like his answer:
The Missus and I are Stephen King fans, and a few years ago picked up an adaptation of a King story in pop-up book form. Here’s a sample picture:
(click for larger version). Very cool. But I constantly worried while reading it that I’d tear something, and have never gone back to look at it again.
marta says
When I recover I might come back and tell you how awesome this is!
fg says
Thanks for sharing JES.
It is lovely that the pages are all white. I like white on white as a rule.
I realise watching that the work is not so much the book or paper cutouts but the projection. Projection is a funny business, I say funny in the magical/trickery sense. Looking at art works over the years (I don’t mean film projections so much, rather art works consisting of projections) that use projection I often think that a key part of its success or failure as a medium is the artists understanding of its effect on scale. The Icebook people have been thinking about scale and thats is the nub of this performance.
(I can’t resist adding I find the music in the video distracting but I suppose this is the promo and they are hoping for bums on seats so the dramatic music is a must. sigh)
John says
marta: I had a feeling that might be your reaction. :)
(He said, imagining her next purchase to be either a movie camera, or a projector, or both.)
John says
fg: Scale — yes. I was a little disappointed to read that they still hope to put on a full-sized production, because this seems (in this limited medium, anyway) to work perfectly well at the small scale. I can see how it would be difficult to share it with groups of, say, a dozen or more people, and the little cutouts are surely more fragile than the big stage-sized counterparts would be. But I still sorta hope they keep it small.
(If you like larger-scale projections, you might take a look at this post from back in the fall. It featured a sort of cavalcade of Prague history, projected on the face of the clock tower there.)
When I read your comment about the music I had to stop and think, and then finally go back for a re-watch because I couldn’t remember any music. The project’s “behind the scenes” page makes no mention of it.
Now that I’ve listened to it again, it doesn’t strike me as, umm, dramatic. In a full-length production, though, I do hope they’d shoot for variety: I’d grow pretty tired of that dink-dink-dink after about 10 minutes of it. :) It has almost the quality of a tape loop, and — based on all they say about what a shoestring budget they had — I wouldn’t be surprised if they just cribbed, sorry, sampled a portion of some piano recording which had nothing to do with the production but was used just for this little demo/maquette thing.
marta says
@John – I’ve been wanting a video camera for the longest time. I even know what I want to do if I can ever get one. Though my idea isn’t as beautiful as The Icebook. And I really, really wish i could figure out how to get the claymation short film my mother made in the 70s online so you could see it. Sigh.
John says
marta: Sounds like it’s time for somebody to set up a piggy jar for herself — stuffed with proceeds of art sales and (who knows?) advances and royalties…
At The Icebook‘s “behind the scenes” page, they talk about what they did besides just film it, create the cutouts, and so on. So be sure to set aside some $$$ for software, too. (I think you’re on a Mac, so you may even have some of it already.)
Here’s another video from them, showing how some of the scenes looked before and after they assembled the various components:
Froog says
So glad you enjoyed this, John. A very small recompense for the countless wonders you have introduced to me.
John says
Thanks again, Froog — enjoyed it immensely (while simultaneously wishing I could see the real whole thing!).
And welcome back!