Sole Music

Animation

The idea came from two separate places. The first was the UPA studio cartoons from the 1950s; I loved the simple, pared-back style of them: clean-lines, low detail but great stylized shapes. Because it was only myself and Will working on creating all the characters and backgrounds, we needed a style that was uncomplicated but still, so this fit the bill. In particular there's a UPA cartoon called 'gerald mcboing boing' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpl0KRFdj1E) which has a character who can only talk through sound rather than words, so this gave me the idea of characters using sound to communicate, and also the idea of someone who sounds differently being an outcast. Second, I wanted to do something based on walk-cycles: this one of the first things you learn when learning to be an animator, but one of the hardest things to master: creating a walk that not only moves the character from a to b but shows the emotion of the character while doing it. So I decided to do a whole short b

On a street filled with foot-tapping solo melodies, one pair of battered shoes always strike the wrong note. But a chance encounter gives them an opportunity to finally play in harmony.