Washi tape rolls. Safety pins unpin. Protractors spin. Pencils sharpen. Plugs hop from outlet to outlet. Link is a stop-motion animation that imagines these moments as fantastical parts of a longer screen-link-style chain reaction.
The short was created by Tokyo-based studio Swimming Design, led by designer Tomohiro Okazaki, with assistance from Yo Nishimoto and sound design by Tokuro Oka and Kosuke Anamizu.
Okazaki’s Matches stop-motion series was previously featured on TKSST. Swimming has also done work for Japan’s Design Ah! educational program.
Then watch more short films out of Japan:
• Unendurable line – Design Ah!
• Ballet Rotoscope
• GRADATIONs, Daihei Shibata’s study of transitions
• Design Ah! (デザインあ) introduces kids to design concepts
• The Diary of Ochibi – Moyoco Anno’s stop motion ode to the seasons
Plus, watch two epic real-life Rube Goldberg machines:
• The Lemonade Machine
• A Japanese ‘Pythagoras Switch’ Machine for charity
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