T. Swift makeovers usually include a vibrant red dye job and a phenomenally black outfit, like in the "Bad Blood" video. Or maybe a sparkly guitar if we're going #RETRO. (And by retro I mean "Our Song," which is really not retro at all.) But thanks to 49 students she got an entirely new makeover: A hand-drawn rotoscoped "Shake It Off." If you're convinced that you're more obsessed with Taylor Swift than anyone else, then first, take a number, babe, and second, you will absolutely love this video.
These students were each given 52 frames of "Shake It Off," and together they produced 2,767 hand-drawn frames. How the New Yorker hasn't already gone knocking at their door to recruit future cartoonists is beyond me. Regardless, the outcome is incredible. To see how each student approached Taylor Swift's look and made it reflect a completely new quality is insane.
Also, what art class are these kids in? And why didn't my school offer it?
We've had a lot of highly anticipated Taylor Swift videos lately. ("Where were you when you watched the 'Style' video for the first time?" — Millennial question of 2015.) But this one is by far my favorite. (Okay, lies, I watched the "Bad Blood" video four times in a row, but this video is high on my list.)
Rotoscoping is actually an animation technique that in its most basic form is tracing over footage. The process is very involved and time-consuming. The students literally traced over every frame of footage to produce their live-action "Shake It Off" video.
Side-by-side gif comparison time. Here's the first five seconds:
Original
Rotoscoped
Living my best life would be me making these gifs for each five seconds of the song. That's how on board with this I am. But just one more. We need to cover the most important part of this video: The black swan semi-crump.
Original
Rotoscoped
If you'd like to do your own side-by-side analysis, here's the full rotoscoped video:
And here's the original, in case you haven't already memorized it:
And may this gif remind you that you can achieve anything.
Images: YouTube(5)
