From Duckling to Diva: A Claymation Transformation

Stop motion claymation, handcrafted tactile materials, mixed real materials,  — continuous lateral tracking shot, the camera gliding alongside the subject at her own walking pace, macro photography depth of field. The piece opens at a forest pond in deep mossy greens under soft morning light and ends on a city sidewalk under cold tungsten glow. [cut] A tiny clay duckling, soft with real yellow down, waddles along the muddy shore of a forest pond, real dried reeds and real felt lily pads beside it, real moss underfoot; the body gives a soft shiver and a few yellow feathers loosen at the back, drifting onto the mud behind it. [cut] Mid-stride the body has lengthened, real yellow down still clinging to the chest while real brown-and-white pheasant feathers spread across the back and tail, the orange clay beak darkening to a deeper amber, the muddy shore giving way to a forest path of real dried oak leaves under the webbed feet. [cut] Now a fully grown clay duck — real felt webbed feet pressing into the leaves while the legs draw upward like slow-pulled clay strings over an exposed copper wire armature, the spine lifting, two soft tufts of real blonde human hair pushing through the skull around the still-orange clay beak, the path fading into a moss-edged suburban verge. [cut] Standing tall on thin clay shins, the orange beak half-retracted and softening into clay flesh that swells into puffy lips, the remaining pheasant feathers slipping downward along the body and unspooling into threads of real pink silk that weave themselves around the waist as a fitted mini dress takes shape, the verge dissolving into a sidewalk of real grey cardboard with painted rain sheen. [cut] A clay woman strides onto the city sidewalk in the finished real pink silk mini dress, real tiny pink leather high-heels clicking softly on the cardboard pavement, the glossy lips quietly swelling another half-size as she walks, painted miniature shopfronts dissolving into a cool tungsten haze behind her. [cut] She stops in front of a shop window — the camera holds steady — she raises a tiny clay smartphone, purses her lips into a duck-face pose for a selfie, and the lips keep inflating in real time, swelling and rebounding gently with every soft click of the shutter until they cover the lower half of her face, her eyes still smiling, her body unmoving, deadpan.