Drum Machine
Tokyoplastic
Creators: Tokyoplastic
Length: 3 minutes
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Drum Machine features and band of tiny Geishas playing drums with their heads. Each of the seven Geisha plays a different type of drum, and the combination of their ensemble creates the soundtrack of the animation. This is the type of project that’s totally dependent on animating to music. Often, viewers and animators forget that music and animation are a great mix.

Of course, there is no real story in this animated clip. Yet, great care was taken by Tokyoplastic, the clip’s creator to infuse Japanese aesthetics in the animation. For example, at the beginning of the animation, there’s a little butterfly flying softly. Even the setting of the animation, filled with Japanese symbols, such as the Japanese flag are arranged carefully with lots negative white space.

The animation was obviously composed with a 3D animation program and rendered in Macromedia Flash. The tiny Geishas are all the same character with different sequences of motions adjusted to their instruments. Because it is rendered from a 3D animation program, the contour lines are approximations using a toon shading technique. It doesn’t always give the best result though.
Hervé