Matt Bollinger’s Apartment 6F is a hand-painted stopmotion thriller that takes inspiration from the artist’s life and from 60s horror. Via It’s Nice That:
“I wanted to combine the mundane everyday with something heightened that seemed to burst through from the character’s imagination,” explains Brooklyn-based Matt. In the animation, a freelance web designer in New York is invited to a housewarming by a neighbour, after his wife goes on a trip. Matt adds: “After drinking too much, social anxiety and possibly unnatural occult influences cause him to spiral into dark visions, which are suspended only when his wife returns.”
The project took three months for Matt to complete, and his process was long and detailed, which started with making 54 small paintings on canvas. “Each of these was the opening frame of a shot in the video. Then, with the painting on a copy stand, I modified each one a small amount and took a photograph,” says Matt. “I would repeat this process sometimes hundreds of times per canvas.”
The transition between scenes is beautiful, Matt’s mark makings are visible and full of texture, adding another layer to the narrative. As a painter originally, Matt felt comfortable using these hands-on materials, as he found them easier to manipulate. “I made my earlier animations using relatively dry drawing materials (ball point pen, felt-tipped marker, and correction fluid). This new process allowed me to animate the liquid qualities of the paint in ways that took on a personified dimension,” he explains.