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© 2010 Kenneth Onulak

kaluno.com

This is my Junior Degree Project that I worked over the Spring semester at RISD. I got the original concept of creating a cutout animation for art made with a single sheet of paper and the stratastencil technique.

I wanted the animation to have a dream like quality exploring the reality and space in which the dream exists and felt that the cutout technique fit this idea. Color was another consideration that I built into the design of the animation to help enhance the dreamlike qualities of the film. From here the idea grew and as I did studies involving birds, umbrellas, water, trees, and other things I was able to refine my idea and break it down to find the core essentials of the film.

Once I had my subject matter down and I was able to start animating. Most of the animation is hand drawn (the tree was drawn by hand then animated in Adobe After Effects). Once I had the animation drawn, I filled it all in with black marker, shot it, and brought it into Adobe After Effects and ran an auto trace on it to create that cutout effect.

To create the final look of the film, I started with a basic mockup frame that I used to make rough style frames and an animatic with. Later applying the animation over the animatic to create a fine cut, while using it to do render tests and get a feel of how the workflow was going to work out. From there I made the final frame and created 7 colored backings for it, which I swapped out while hanging the frame in different places on the wall. I lit the frame to give it the shadows in the image and used these pictures later, compositing them together so that they were all hanging on the wall at the same time.

After that it was matter of compositing in all the animation, adding a drop shadow to the paper to make it flow better with the look and feel of the frame, and lots of rendering.

For the sound I partnered with a student from the Berklee School of Music in Boston named John Nolan. I explained to him what I was looking for and through different sound tests and experiments he was able to narrow down specific instruments to use. With every edit to the sound I would provide some notes, feedback and things I thought would help add to the sound as well as strengthen the animation. John took those ideas and applied them with other elements to create a really beautiful final soundtrack.

All of this came together over a 12 week period to create this final film. Feel free to comment and enjoy!

Credits

Likes

  • Raz plus 1 year ago
    this is rad bro! good work!
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  • KevinW 1 year ago
    Cool. Thanks for the description of your process, I love behind the scenes stuff.
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  • Daniel Johnson 1 year ago
    Beautiful! Great mood with the pace and music.
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  • Simon Garant 1 year ago
    Simple and well done. Nice work!
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  • guanabana 1 year ago
    Amazing!!! I love it. And thanks for explaining to us how it was made. Added to my favorites!!!
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  • Daniel Hayek staff 1 year ago
    Very impressive.
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  • mpared plus 1 year ago
    very very cool posted at the curious brain
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  • Josh Stomp 1 year ago
    <3
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  • clemento plus 1 year ago
    very stylish
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  • nybemotion plus 1 year ago
    so nice to watch, great job..
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  • Helen Onulak 1 year ago
    Absolutely amazing! Hard to believe the hours, and hours of work watching you draw some of these images fly by in seconds. GREAT job and beautiful music too.
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  • Jan Luts 1 year ago
    Love this, very cool you did a great job!

    designinglives.net/school/paper-dreams/
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  • Gabriela Mudado 1 year ago
    So beatiful!
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  • Blake Whitman staff 1 year ago
    Awesome, Kenneth. Very imaginative and original. Love it
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  • David jones 1 year ago
    You must have put in the hours on this short.. Well worth it as it really is beautiful in it's simplicity. Well done dude
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  • Rafael Herrera 1 year ago
    Really good job man, i can see there was a lot of work involved great job.
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  • Erick Bezerra 1 year ago
    Great!
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  • Chris Lew 1 year ago
    That was a joy to watch. Refreshingly different. Keep doing what you're doing!
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  • William Brainard plus 1 year ago
    This video restricts itself to a few potent parameters and symbols. The video reveals itself to the viewer rather than being a re-presentation of something seen in the past. The sense of time in the present is palpable.
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  • Joel Kurtz plus 1 year ago
    Way to go Kenneth, excellent work!
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  • Marcelo Reis plus 1 year ago
    really fine
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  • This is really great! I love the music choice, as well :)
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  • J. Pike 1 year ago
    This is simply beautiful! Visual and sound perfectly matched. If this is your student work....Wow! I can only imagine what amazing pieces you will create in the future!
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  • Tim Pattinson 1 year ago
    This is beautiful. Great work Kenneth. And thanks for the behind-the-scenes info.
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  • Mike Kochansky plus 1 year ago
    great work man. Very relaxing. My favorite part was when the leaves turned green and landed on the frame. RISD taught you well!
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  • Natasha Angeline 1 year ago
    bow down loooooowww!
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  • ayush 1 year ago
    Amazing thought and presentation style. a WOW work. :)
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  • Harriet Macdonald 1 year ago
    very cool! :D
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  • Peter Sigrist 1 year ago
    Absolutely awesome. Great choice of subject matter, and brilliantly executed.
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  • Gary Noden 1 year ago
    What a really considered piece of work. Emotive and yet simple. Perfect work.
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  • That is beautiful. Well done Kenneth!
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  • Saikat Mallick 1 year ago
    kaluno.....am working on this documentary on the boy..with a still photograph of him..!! Do you see any possibilities in your fingertip...???

    write me...!!

    Saikat
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  • Mister Bremer 1 year ago
    Very well done. If you are only a junior, your future is bright. I imagine you'll have no trouble finding work with these skills.
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  • Anna Humphries 1 year ago
    Wow! I can't stop watching this. Intoxicatingly smooth animation. Well done :-)
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  • Gabe Askew plus 1 year ago
    Beautiful work. Very elegant design.
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  • sprLussier 1 year ago
    5/5 stars... I really enjoyed it.
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  • Kris Gahring 1 year ago
    WOW!!!! That is amazing!! keep up the great work.
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  • art IS twitter art 1 year ago
    art IS pAper dreams, animation of an umbrella and person as paper cutouts falling from one framed picture to the next twitter.com/art_IS_/status/14798257958
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  • Peihsi Kuo 1 year ago
    love it! simple idea well executed!!
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  • Phi Gi 1 year ago
    Triple thumbs up!
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  • sweet and sensitive! Very nice :)
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  • Firat Yıldız 1 year ago
    Very nice work! Posted it here: elmaaltshift.com/2010/05/27/paper-dreams/
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  • pawlo dlaboha 1 year ago
    Good stuff Kenneth. Very POEtic!
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  • darian brenner 1 year ago
    you are so popular! this is beautiful ken. you are so talented. i'm coming to the show tonight to see it on the big screen!
  • darian brenner 1 year ago
    PS my favorite shot is the pink one
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  • Ash Chain 1 year ago
    Very impressive. Original and stylish.
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  • Boguz 1 year ago
    So peaceful!
    Very nice...
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  • Tomson Tee 1 year ago
    pretty
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  • StopMoGo 1 year ago
    I love it - wish I had pictures on my walls that did this.
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  • PK Lai 1 year ago
    It's beautiful! Nice work!
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  • Joe Moya plus 1 year ago
    Very nice and simplistic
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  • Africanus Okokon 1 year ago
    well done, ken. you're like, famous and shit now.
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  • Robert Nield 1 year ago
    Wow - nicely stylized (if a little twee)
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  • Vincent Lammers 1 year ago
    This is very good! I like it! ;-)

    Cheers,

    FB
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  • Drew Lucia 1 year ago
    Not exactly sure how to describe this, except as the harmony of beauty and imagination.
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  • Lluís Domingo plus 1 year ago
    awesome and inspiring.
    thanks for sharing the creative process!
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  • bCubic 1 year ago
    O_o
    Nice!
    I love it!
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  • deidra lynn 1 year ago
    nice job. very pleasant. well done
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  • fayyazb 1 year ago
    Very Very COOL!
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  • BE Labouvie 1 year ago
    Absolutely Magnificent and Magical...brings one in to the depth of themselves. Thank you for you efforts, insights and sharing!
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  • Leang Sang 1 year ago
    All I can say is beautiful!
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  • atm 1 year ago
    this is very GOOD!! I like the simplicity of your video...
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  • Tiny Inventions plus 1 year ago
    Really terrific job, Kenneth. Looking forward to your senior film. Hopefully we'll come up to Providence next year and say hi.
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  • Paul Hebron plus 1 year ago
    Love it. Great job Kenneth!
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  • camila paz 1 year ago
    Excellent moi je trouve!
    tout simple et poétique.
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  • Amazing, so elegant and poetic..
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  • Alteroy plus 1 year ago
    sweet man!
    published at the candy shop
    vimeo.com/channels/candyshop
    :)
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  • Mario Cavalli plus 1 year ago
    Nicely thought out and beautifully executed. I hope you got the highest possible grade for it!
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  • Hugo Garcia 1 year ago
    love it! beautiful
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  • Michael McDaniel 1 year ago
    I really like this, a lot. Lovely music too.
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  • Animals Animals! 1 year ago
    Kudos.
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  • Marcio Hasegava 1 year ago
    Very good! I embeded it in my tumblr: umpulha.tumblr.com/post/854654910/.
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  • Gorkem Sezer plus 1 year ago
    Inspired from Peter Callesen?
  • Kenneth Onulak 1 year ago
    Yes, Peter Callseen helped inspire my animation along with Javan Ivey's stratastencil technique.
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  • karen poon 1 year ago
    this is soo beautiful.
    = )
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  • Olya * 1 year ago
    that's so so great! love it*
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  • Sonrisa del Verano 10 months ago
    amazing!
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  • KaAM le collectif 10 months ago
    so nice !
    have you seen this one ?
    vimeo.com/22233594
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  • mulberry 9 months ago
    this is awesome! im so inspired!
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  • Seon Kyung Kim 9 months ago
    love it♥
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  • AFTERYEAR 9 months ago
    awesome!!
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  • Tavito Diaz 9 months ago
    (Y) like it! :D
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  • Evangelina Elliott 8 months ago
    Absolutely fabulous! You are talented
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  • Alana OConnor 8 months ago
    One of the most unique animations I have ever seen!
    I am only new at Animation, drop by my page and let
    me know what you think of my projects!
    Cheers
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  • Liy Amir 8 months ago
    fantastic!
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  • Jeffrey Stivers 7 months ago
    GREAT concept and execution.
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  • Guzman 5 months ago
    Beautiful!
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  • Saikat Roy 4 months ago
    just fantastic......loved it......both the quality and the transitive smoothness.......((^_^))
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  • Vladimir Tomin 1 month ago
    Digging the idea!
    Featured: i-olly.com/?p=517
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  • Bre Mahoney plus 1 week ago
    Peter callesen
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