BIDDEFORD, Maine — When you're scrolling on social media, what does it take to make you stop and take a closer look?
A photo? A quote? A short video?
There's one local college student who is using her passion to make us pay attention, by way of stop animation videos.
Cookies that crawl and tote bags that unpack themselves.
"Everything has to be very precise," said Emily Ferrick, a senior at the University of New England.
Creativity, patience, and good lighting are all the ingredients Ferrick needs to pull off making short, stop animation videos.
"Creating a video out of pictures," she explained.
And they are SHORT.
"Typically 10-12 seconds," she added.
You may have seen them pop up on your newsfeeds.
"People's attention spans are only really 8 seconds so the goal is the video to be a thumb stopper," said Ferrick.
As in, stop and drop your scroll!
"I'd seen it a little on Instagram, which is the main platform that it's distributed through. A lot of advertisers will use them. I like how it brings products to life. Instead of letting the advertisement tell the story you're letting the products tell their own story."
"Probably most people became aware of stop motion animation in the 1930's when King Kong came out. The original King Kong," said Joe Habraken, associate professor of film and video at UNE. "Really the concept is quite old. But we're looking at something that has kind of made a comeback and become integrated with social media."
Ferrick's work is not part of any class. It's all on her own time and it takes lots of time.
"Set up probably two to three hours and then shooting probably another three hours and then you also have to edit it as well," said Ferrick.
A different approach to digital media, using animation from generations ago.