Hands-on stop motion with Michael Kohlweg

The creative director shares how he found a much needed break from screens in his art

Michael Kohlweg is the founder and creative director of Mountain Fold Studio, an animation studio that specializes in the timeless craft of stop motion. We spoke with Michael to learn about how he picked up the craft of stop motion as well as how it ties into the world of advertising.

Pride In Business: We have never had an artist who explores stop motion, and we cannot wait to see the public interaction during the exhibition. Can you explain what is stop motion? and how you decided to learn this skill?

Stop motion is the oldest style of animation on film. The first stop motion animation dates back to 1902! This medium works with tangible objects that are moved incrementally and photographed over hundreds and thousands of times. When those photos are strung together you get a living animation.

in 2018 I chose to participate in my third 100 day challenge where I chose to learn stop motion. Every day for 100 days I animated a 1 inch paper box doing and being different things. Through this process, I learned this was a much needed break from my computer screen and I got to work with my hands to create. I fell head over heel in love with stop motion!

Pride In Business: With your profession, you could work often times with writers, movie directors, or doing commercials, in your case, what is your main market?

My main focus is advertising and marketing services. Creating content that stands out.

I went to school at ACAD (now AUArts) for advertising and got my first job out of school at an advertising agency. I spent four years there and learned the ins and outs of solving problems for clients. So my mind always leans towards that type of creation - to solve problems for clients using stop motion animation.

Calgary has been kind to me for a career in this little niche. I know a lot of agencies and creatives around this city, but love being able to work with clients around the world. The pandemic really taught us that remote work and collaboration is a viable route.

Pride In Business: What other professions normally involved with you to complete a project?

There are many other talented people that are a part of the process. Starting with copywriters who create a script for us to then brainstorm concepts for. My art director works closely with me to create a cohesive look and feel for any animation and also helps build physical props and assets to animate. After the animation is done we will work with sound designers and music composers who elevate the work with their sound genius. And then we work with post production artists who clean the whole animation up by removing any rigging (supports for any objects that are in the air), fix any issues, colour grade and colour correction. It really is a whole team that moves a concept forward.

There are a few artists that inspire me. Most of them are animators who work on large feature films. Anything from Laika is always top shelf - Coraline, Boxtrolls, ParaNorman are a few really fantastic films.

Kevin Parry is a huge inspiration for me too. He creates these amazing visual trickery viral moments which are always so unexpected. He’s a storyteller through and through.

Pride In Business: With the fast technological changes, specially with AI being so powerful, what do you see your profession evolving into?

I think for now stop motion is safe from the already really great AI fakes for video. The beauty of stop motion is that without a human touching it, it doesn’t exist. We still need a human hand to manipulate tangible materials in its creation.

Stop motion is perfectly imperfect. It’s those little fractional ‘mistakes’ in the animation process that give it so much charm and life, and humanizes it. This is something that (at least for now) AI just can’t replicate.

Though I will start to worry once AI can start decoding what a client is really looking for!

Pride In Business: How can the community support you?

This is one of the reasons I love Pride in Business! This organization attracts a very diverse set of people in our community. The world has moved to motion, and something that moves captures the attention of your audience better than anything static. I know every company has something to say, whether thats showing off a product or a feature, or telling their brand’s story. Incorporating narrative driven animation into their marketing will help any company grow.

I would really love the opportunity to sit down with anyone from our wonderful community to discuss how we can incorporate stop motion into their marketing and advertising materials. We’re here to listen and collaborate!

Pride In Business: We will have all your social media and website information available, is there anything else we might have been missing to ask you that you think is important to mention?

Stop motion really is so charming and different. This medium has this ability to stand out from a lot of the noise. I really do hope that people who get to try out stop motion will glean a better understanding of the patience, time, and love that goes into this medium. And of course, have some fun too!