Collaborating with Swiss radio Espace 2 | Mandate Le Labo | Story David Collin and a bunch of creative children | Soundscape Le Labo | Storyboard dubbed perceptions | Animation Ehud Graf | 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR! - Yes, rather late for this, but I always end up sending new year cards at the end of January. I just can't think of my new year wishes to you before I have tasted the first days of the new year. If you would like to know what I wish you for 2018, scroll down to the last image on this page. But first take the time to listen ... I mean watch ...

Does a radio show need to become a TV show in order to survive? That's the question David Collin gets to hear when he is pushing the boundaries of his craft with his radio show Le Labo on the Swiss radio Espace 2. Of course the radio needs images, videos and animations! Most radio channels have a web presence. And the web is a predominantly visual medium. - For David, what really matters is to explore and see where it takes him. And so when I announced my interest to collaborate, his reply was a concrete proposal: to animate a story by a group of children he invited to the studio, the name of the story:

Part 1 in French with English subtitles (just turn them on if you need)

From the video production point of view, this collaboration wasn't without a challenge. An animation like this would start with the images. The edit would take into account the time each image needs to make its due mark on the story. In this case, I received the final soundtrack mix. The pace of the soundtrack is remarkably high. How do you cut to a predefined rhythm? What images to show, and which details to omit?

Ehud and I explored two ways to pace the story. In the first part, we slowed down the story by using fewer scenes/images than in part two. This approached supports the story telling. The first part is setting the scene for the confrontation that takes part in part 2. Part 2 is where the action is, where the pace accelerates.

I hope you like the story as much as I do. To me the story end has this implicit message, which makes even adults smile.
What will be the pace of the year 2018? Well as a visual story teller I look forward to cut it into pieces and assemble it anew ;-)