Jodie Mack's Illustration Presentation

Jodie Mack’s presentation was definitely the type of presentation that keeps you awake, alert and engaged. When she said animation, I was picturing cartoons so it was a surprise that animation can take on so many different forms. What I liked most about Dr. Mack’s work was that she used symbols that are well known but she does not define a character by an appearance, allowing the audience to put their own face in.

In the first clip, one symbol in particular stood out to me which was the outlined shape of a heart. The two C shaped pieces rotated sort of like a clock. To me, this symbolized the changing of love with the passage of time and that destruction of love and then new buildup are part of the natural cycle of human emotion and changing relationship.

I loved that Dr. Mack’s work doesn’t just have a message but also a purpose. If you looked at her work without hearing that all of the materials were recycled, you might think about how much paper was wasted in the construction of this artwork. In reality, Dr. Mack’s work is probably the most environmentally friendly among other paper animation work. 

Yard Work is Hard Work was particularly impressive to me because of the many components. Not only is the film’s images completely constructed from paper, it was filmed using very little digital software. I don’t know anything about cinematography or videotaping but the way she described making this video sounded agonizingly tedious but so sophisticated and impressive. And not only was this a film with a message and a storyline, it was also a musical that she wrote herself. The songs were even relevant to the plot line. Overall, that is an incredible amount of work and you can tell by viewing it that she spent a lot of time and effort and love on it. 

I really enjoyed the elements that played into the love story of Yard Work is Hard Work. Everything contributed and fit well from the wacky house and blue kitchen to the green theme and all of those elements pushed the story forward. Without those elements, this film would have been a story about everyone else who was hit by the housing crisis but the weirdness of this couple make it personal, relatable and lovably quirky.