Single (animation process, part 1)

Single is one of the most challenging animations I currently have in the pipeline, and one of the biggest challenges has been to work out a viable visual concept for the animation itself. To begin with, I already knew two parameters I wanted to build this animation around: 1.) The song that accompanies the animation, and 2.) I wanted it to involve a pig.

Let’s start with the song. The animation is supposed to be a music video for a song I created in collaboration with Rick Sims, a freelance punk rock musician I found on Fiverr. The main inspiration for the song is “Gee! Ain’t I Glad I’m Single,” a musical number from a popular 1908 burlesque called “The Merry Widow and the Devil.”

Sheet music cover for the original song on which Single is based.

I was drawn to the song because of its stark (and at times crude,) description of life as a single male. It’s a concept that, even now, many would find relatable.

Of course, as with any song this old, the lyrics had to be changed in order for the vernacular to sound more current. The most obvious example of this is the line “Gee! Ain’t I glad I’m single,” which I changed to “I’m so glad I’m single.” (In some parts of the song, Rick ad libs this by singing “I’m so glad to be single.” Well done!)

The rest of the lyrics were fortunately easy to change, and since the original song has five (!!) verses, all of them with the same rhyming scheme, I decided to scramble some of the stanzas to create different variations on the verses. (I only wanted two verses in the punk rock version, so there were three other verses I could borrow stanzas from.)

Rick added two bridges for which he himself wrote some fresh, new lyrics. Here’s some of what he came up with:

“No one’s maxing out the limits on my credit cards! / No one’s complaining that group sex is taking things too far!”

As far as the actual music, he did all the composing, arranging and performance. I requested that he modernize it, but at least make it recognizable as the original music. (Otherwise, it would have been reinventing the wheel, sorta.) And he was able to pull it off very well!

Here’s a period recording of the original, as performed by Edward M. Favor:

And here’s the punk rock version:

And now for the visuals.

It can be difficult to come up with a winning visual concept for an animation, and you always need to put a lot of thought into it, otherwise it can appear hoaky, cliched, or otherwise “half-baked”. The storyboard (excerpts of which are pictured below this paragraph,) took me many hours of careful deliberation before I considered it done. (In fact, there’s one part I’m not quite satisfied with, and want to do over.) To complicate matters even further, I had already done another storyboard prior to this one, but once I got to work on the animation, I didn’t like it at all, so I decided to start the whole process over with an entirely new storyboard. (I guess that’s what we like to call artists’ neurosis…)

A page from the final storyboard for Single.

The old concept that I tried (but wasn’t at all satisfied with,) was a traditional hand drawn animation on lined paper that was crumpled up to give the animation a “boiled” look. The crumpling and the use of lined paper made it look loud and “in your face” to a degree that made it too distracting and overwhelming. (Some flashy is good, but too much can detract from the end result.) Additionally, the drawing itself is, let’s just say, not as good as I’m capable of. Here’s a frame from the old concept:

And it would have been hell on earth for you to have to sit through this. That’s why I’m going back to the drawing board…

The new concept I came up with is a paper cut-out stop motion animation, South Park style. I did some research into what the process entails, since this will be my first time making such an animation. It seems simple enough, but very time consuming, requires a lot of concentration, and also expensive. I’m optimistic about the end result, but will it turn out well? Stay tuned for part two to find out!

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