1979 is a nostalgic look at young love, following a young couple as they meet as children, fall in love as teenagers then drift apart as young adults. The paper cutout, stop-motion animation is all set to the song of the same name by Sweden’s Pain of Salvation.
About the Film
1979 was first inspired by a trip to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where I viewed a tiny little peephole that showed a little, paper illustration of a whaling event.
Around the same time, I had started listening to the Swedish band, Pain of Salvation, and was hooked on their song also titled 1979. I thought that an illustrated, paper-cutout animation, set in a peephole, would be a great way to tell a nostalgic story that would emotionally resonate with the song.
And what’s more nostalgic than your first love?
A computer animator by trade, I am a huge fan of stop motion animation and wanted to challenge myself to see if I could create a compelling stop motion animation. Paper cutout puppets seemed much less daunting than fully armatured puppets, though, I’d soon discover, not without their own challenges.
With a shoe-string budget and some open space in my basement for the camera stand – the adventure began!