I've Got An Idea

I’ve got an idea…

Tonight as I sit in bed, memorizing 50 new words for GRE, Fantastic Mr. Fox is playing in the background. In the midst of cramming words like refulgent, laconic, and garrulous into my cranium, I can’t help but stop and soak in the artistic beauty of this film. When I watch, my left brain becomes entranced from the get-go. My eyes lock onto this crafty fox as he flows fluidly across the screen in what can be tersely described as stop-motion refulgence (thanks GRE).

This avenue of art invokes a childlike sense of wonder in my mind, raising a beautiful question in my mind: “How did they do it?”

Turns out they did it through a commendable combination of creativity, diligence, technology, and team work. It took the talented cast and crew 5,229 shots, consisting of 621,450 frames, to capture the footage needed to bring this film to life. If we do a bit a of math and plug the 621,450 frames into the film standard of 24 frames per second, we can calculate that over 25893.75 seconds (431.56 minutes) were taken in the filmmaking process. Even more amazing is the level of meticulosity reached to ensure that these 621,450 frames would run smoothly once pieced together in post production. 

To take a deeper grasp on what this means, take a look at this filmtrailer. For every single second of film you see, 24 individual frames had to be taken. And in between each of these frames, an artist had to go in and make the most precise movements to the puppets so that every shot flows fluidly. As I continued researching the making of Fantasic Mr. Fox, I came to a realization: Wonder is beautiful. 

An ancient Greek proverb states “wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle once said, “wonder is the basis for worship.” Wonder is that spark within the human mind that leads to bold new thoughts and revolutionary discoveries.

If Christopher Columbus had allowed fear to swallow his urge to wonder, the world might still be living under the presumption that the world is flat.

If Galileo had never wondered at the stars, mankind could still be unaware of far off galaxies. And mankind may have never discovered Pluto, then pompously decided that Pluto was unworthy of “planet” status… anyway, that’s a tirade for another time… 

And if a wonder-filled Benjamin Franklin never had the curiosity to fly a lightning-friendly kite in a thunderstorm, we could still be sitting in the dark. I certainly wouldn’t be typing this on my MacBook right now.

Wonder dares us to dream, dares us to seek something greater than ourselves.

I’m curious to hear what makes you wonder.

To sum things up, I’m about to post this blog and finish watching Fantastic Mr. Fox. I fear that the image of barn “27 B” has permanently burned its way onto my television screen. But before I go, I’ve got an idea… At some point over the upcoming year, I’m going to create a stop-motion project of my own. And it’s going to be wonderful.

#HotBox