The Fox and The Grapes

The Fox and the Grapes by Eva Haliassou, Eva is currently studying Visual Communication at Loughborough University.

Who?
The model-making, planning and animating for this short papery clip was done by me, student of Visual Communication. I developed this project as part of my portfolio work for the first semester of the final year of my course.

What?
The film features my adaptation of Aesop’s ‘Fox and the grapes’, where a fox character comes across a grapevine. In the original fable the fox does not manage to reach the grapes and becomes bitter. In my animated version the fox character, driven by greed and temptation, destroys everything in his way in order to get to the grapes. The scene of the story comes to life from inside a book and everything is made out of paper.

Why?
Two things inspired me to make this film; my love for nature and animals and my enjoyment of working with paper. The versatile and delicate medium allowed me to experiment with lighting and form as well as incorporate decorative elements onto the character and overall set.

How?
The film was entirely made out of paper. I developed a mechanism in order to put my hands underneath the book in order to animate elements through the book. The fox character has a wire skeleton inside of it which enabled me to bend it however I wanted for each shot. Once the animation was filmed in stop motion, I spent a while editing it and adding sound effects that I recorded.

Next Project
I am currently working on another project involving paper sculpture for a campaign to promote Italian paper Fedrigoni. The project will also be animated in collaboration with another artist.

Which animated film would you like to have made?
I would have adored working on Coraline (2009). The model-making and set designs were so beautifully made and the story is one of the most wonderfully surreal and entertaining I have ever seen. I am certain that if I had had the opportunity to be a part of the visualisation, character design or filming of Coraline I would be the happiest person on earth.