Grey to Green

A music video for the song Grey to Green, included in an EP, The House That I Live In, by Lydia LEE, a Korean singer-songwriter. Home movies and old cartoons from the Prelinger Archives are overlaid with colorful 2D animation reminiscent of old Disney movies to create a world that offers a nostalgic road-trip-like atmosphere. Fragments of scenes such as a girl performing ballet, cars driving away, young people jumping into the water, boys skateboarding, and people surfing are inserted at, seemingly, random order, but by combining them with the animated motifs of flowers, fire, birds, and smoke, they are linked to the song’s lyrics. The work tells an emotional story that evokes the growth from child to adult, the desire for freedom, and the nostalgia for the safe and protected space and time of childhood.

At first, the animation seems little better than series of doodles. But closer observation reveals wonderful articulation of details and playfulness, in characters superimposed on old footage and memorable motifs, with dulcet scenes and montage techniques. In one scene, birds alight on the arms of a young ballet dancer; immediately after a seamless cut, the birds are perched on the arms of a girl frolicking in the sea spray. Later, dust kicked up by a skateboarder becomes the crest of a wave. The power of animation lends some vintage images alternate, fantastical meanings, with faded or exaggerated sense of reality, nudging them closer to memory or dreams (even nightmares), tingeing nostalgia with greater emotionality. Animation is used to near-perfection in this music video, where the footage, editing, animation, and music complement, elevate, and transform each other. (OYAMA Kei)