The Ice Book, a combination of animation, puppetry and film, brings a new dimension to pop-up books. The viewer watches a story – of a princess who lures a boy into the forest to warm her heart of ice – but they are seeing only part of the story.
The rest of the story, how husband and wife team Kristin and Davy McGuire had a big dream, a little money, a steep learning curve and a lot of perseverance – is one we can all learn from.
The message? Keep dreaming, don’t let obstacles get in your way AND if you remain open to the possibilities, sometimes the end result is very different, but even better than the dream.
“We created the show during a four month artist residency at the Kuenstlerdorf Schoeppingen in Germany. All we had was a 5D Mark ii, an old Macbook with After Effects, some builders lights and a green cloth that we improvised as a makeshift green-screen. Before we started we had no idea how to make pop-up books let alone how we could combine them with projections. With a lot of care, love and arguing the idea eventually came to life.”
The Ice Book (HD) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
With a miniature stage made of pop-up cut-outs, this paper theater is brought to life using light and film projection to create an ethereal, haunting artwork. Watch both videos to get a full understanding of what it took to make The Icebook.
Compositing – The Ice Book from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
Read more about how they created this lovely film here and here. The couple is currently touring with the film – you can find their schedule here.
Susan, you bring us the most fascinating things! This was jaw dropping beautiful and really fires up the imagination – so many possibilities. Thanks so much
What a lovely set of images. Love how they play with light.
What a beautiful creation! I hope they make a video available but I love that they’re touring as a live show. I repeat what was said earlier, you always bring us the most fascinating things. I love the way this is a marriage of books and technology in a such an unexpected and gorgeous way.
HI!
Wow… Thank you for letting me stop by… what a great story…Call me romantic but isnt it beautiful when love, dreams and hard work produce an end result like that!
That is the most amazing thing — wow. Art has come a loooong way.
Spellbinding!!
This is an extraordinary project. In essence, it was built as a model to be able to show a theater production idea they had. Amazing how now the “model” is a mini theater production of its own. Fantastic!