LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK — Michael Waldron, TV Land’s VP creative director art and design, recently directed 19 different artists from around the world for his second installment of The Exquisite Corpse Project. The roughly two-and-a-half minute video was commissioned in conjunction with the 2015 Motion Conference (www.motionconference.com) in Santa Fe, where it debuted in June, and later online.
The video was inspired by the project's classic parlor game namesake, in which participants sequentially contribute. Waldron asked the 19 artists and companies to create :03 to :05 pieces around the theme “balance.” Much like the “draw-fold-and-pass” game, the snippets were concealed from the other contributors — except those that came immediately before and after — and were then seamlessly edited together to reveal the final piece.
“We had such an amazing mix of diverse talent who each brought something unique to the table,” says Waldron. "Some interpreted the theme literally, while others more abstractly. That’s the fun of it — you never know how it’s going to turn out until it’s finished.”
Waldron is a seven-time speaker at the Motion Conference, and originally initiated the first Exquisite Corpse with his own creative team at TV Land to supplement his presentation at last year’s conference. This year’s film is represented by an international field of artists, including those from Iceland, Korea and South Africa.
“What everyone loved about this project was experimenting and trying different processes that client projects don't always offer,” says Waldron. The final aspect of the nearly four-month undertaking involved layering the music by Ben Kahle and sound design by John Wilkinson.
Waldron plans to embark on a third effort to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Motion Conference in 2016. The following is a list of participants in this year’s project:
Michael Waldron
John Camalick :: Super Fresh
Gerald Mark Soto
Roger
Justin Harder
UVPhactory
Jonas & Co.
Transistor Studios
Loyalkaspar
Adolescent
Kurt Hartman
Suspect
Dae Hyuk Park
Sung I. Sohn
Jie Yun Roe
Daniel Coutinho
State Design
Ben Kahle
John Wilkinson