So I came across a video on youtube about a year ago when it was first posted, and I think I have watched it about 200 times since. Something about it makes it so interesting to me, and I hope it is interesting to you. For this blog post I decided to look more in-depth into this stop-motion animation. It is called Western Spaghetti by PES films.
According to Wikipedia; Adam Pesapane is the Director of PES films. He studied at UVA, and got into film because of his major, English. He uses stop-motion animation in his work, which to me is fascinating. Stop Motion animation has been used for many years, and some of the first films used this medium in the works. Usually clay is involved since it is easily formed in order to show the character or object moving on its own. Gumby is a classic example of that. But PES’s shorts are not like that. He takes ordinary everyday objects and creates something out of them.
In this film he is using such interesting objects to show the simple action of making the Western Spaghetti dish. I love watching the tomatoes, for instance, smash in the pan…or the rubiks cube, being used as garlic here, being cut into smaller pieces. His attention to detail is amazing, and the sound effects really help with understanding the animation. He even involves human hands and arms in this short which is difficult to do. and not one beat is missed. If you watch, there are no gaps in the sequence of pictures or obvious mistakes.
Western Spaghetti earned an award at the 2009 sundance film festival, an audience award and was voted TIME’s 2009 #2 most viral video.PESfilm is the directors channel on youtube. He has uploaded 25 videos so far. Some of them have even become commercials on TV. Bacardi and coinstar are the most notable commercials he has made. I encourage everyone to go check out his channel and this video! He truely has mastered stop-motion animation in the modern day!
Very interesting animation selection. I really liked his use of everyday objects in order to make them look like food. This type of stop animation must have taken him a long time. Especially with the animation of the boiling spaghetti sauce. It is interesting how these objects are not something we would see being placed in a pan but yet with the animation it makes them look very believable and was even worried about his rubiks cube pieces burning for a second there in the pan. Very well done animation.
This is really cool. I like how he uses every day objects and turns them into food items. The sticky notes used as butter was probably my favorite part.
It reminded me of an exhibit I saw recently at the Museum of The Native American Indian in Washington, D.C. It’s still ongoing at the moment and it too involved an artist who took everyday objects and turned them into something else. He used luggage to create hanging animal mobiles as well as totem poles. And, he used green trash cans to make a HUGE turtle shell as well as Nike Air Jordans to make masks. My favorite one was probably how he poked holes in gasoline cans that showed butterflies and dragonflies when the light was shining down on the cans.
The butter is my favorite part as well!! Ill watch it and think “how did he do this!?”
Beautiful film. I love the money growing on the tree, I wish I had one of those growing in my house! Although you mentioned Gumby as a classic example of claymation and stop motion animation, do not forget another classic claymation character, or duo in this manner: Wallace and Gromit. BTW, do you remember me, Jerry Thomas? We went to Potomac Falls High School, Class of ’06?
I agree with everyone that the direction of animation that Adam Pesapane used in this short film was amazing and interesting. I like the way he used ordinary objects like the sticky notes to create food. The sticky notes used to create butter was outstanding and creative. Overall, a great youtube video find. Definitely, worth watching!