07 May 2014

Decorations (デコレーションズ, 2014)



In her graduate work for Tokyo University of the Arts’ animation programme, Mari Miyazawa (宮澤真理) once again brings a bakery to life.  As in her earlier film Twins in the Bakery (ツインズ イン ベーカリー, 2013), applies her knowledge of food art and food styling to create an imaginative stop motion animation using real food.

It is after-hours in a kitchen and a piping bag begins to ice a multi-layered cake all by itself.  A Baumkuchen – whose layers resemble the rings of a tree trunk – indicates that it is feeling left out as three slices vie for the piping bag’s attention.  The piping bag complies by putting florets onto them like heads.  After a dissolve, the slices of Baumkuchen evolve further into little figures that resemble girls in dresses.  Soon, they are helping the piping bag decorate cupcakes and the large cake.  Some troublesome spiders made of oreo cookies spice up the action a bit.



A new figure is made entirely of pink and white icing and resembles a little girl dressed like a ballerina.  She not only enthusiastically decorates but also dances.  Other figures join in and get a little bit carried away.  The decorations of the cakes and themselves crescendo along with the music the piping bag has to step in and change the tempo.    

A fanciful little tale, Miyazawa has stepped up the complexity and emotional content of her work from Twins in the Bakery.  This film relies only on image and music (no narration as in her earlier work) and it is all the better for it.  It is great to see an animator bringing together her love of food to animation.


Check out Mari Miyazawa’s bento tips on her official YouTube channel.
Follow her blog on food art at http://www.e-obento.com/
Follow her on twitter: @Mari_Miyazawa

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014