Greenpeace USA - Postcards from Climate Change:
The Ballad of Holland Island House by Lynn Tomlinson- 1st Place Winner
Say judges Tia Lessin and Carl Deal: “Totally mesmerizing, thoughtful and immersive piece that relies on emotion to make clear the consequence of inaction. Can watch it over and over again!
http://postcardsfromclimatechange.org/student-competition
The true story of the last house on a Chesapeake Bay island slowly sinking into the rising seas comes to life through fluidly transforming animated clay-on-glass paintings. The house sings of its life and the creatures it has sheltered, and contemplates time and environmental change. Told from the house's point of view, this film is a soulful and haunting view of the impact of sea-level rise.
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Vimeo Teaser (password-protected full video available by request)
Director’s Statement:
I wrote the lyrics to the ballad and began the animation for this film while on an artist residency at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, across the bay from the remains of Holland Island. My clay-on-glass animation involves both planning and improvisation. When I spend three hours to make one second of finished animation, I enter a state of flow, concentrating on altering the malleable clay like finger paints, changing it slowly, frame by frame. In this film, instead of a storyboard, I edited a video-mashup animatic including painting and video reference, which I changed as I went along. Sometimes I used this as a rough guide, and other times I actually rotoscoped the movement, to add a life-like quality to my moving paintings. Sometimes I let the clay lead me to the next frame and through a full transition: for example, the house disappearing in the bubbles under the sea was an improvised moment. I let go and used my imagination, and trusted that the house could reappear at the bottom of the sea.
I came across the haunting image of a house standing alone in the water in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. Reading more about this house, I was struck by its story, and its relevance today, when so many communities are facing challenges from sea-level rise. The images I chose and the visual style reflects the artwork of Winslow Homer, VanGogh, and Kathe Kolwitz, artists working in the late 1800's, the time period when the house on Holland Island was abandoned.