Flogging Molly's Float by Karni & Saul

Flogging Molly’s Float opens on a simple, sad stick-figure. So far, so familiar. But Karni & Saul’s video is several cuts above your predictable stop-frame animation.

Of course Karni & Saul have produced delightful work ever since they emerged with their videos for Mike Fellows and Micah P Hinson a few years ago, combining lovely photography (Karni’s forté) with inventive animation (that’s Saul’s). This one, for the Irish-American Celtic folk band, may well be their best yet.

The sad-sack stick figure has walrus-like bristles and a hat. Then he starts collecting everyday detritus – a cigarette butt, paper-clip, rusty fork, nails, pine cones, tin foil, shells – adding them to his legs, as he embarks on an epic journey through the city, towards the sea.

It isn’t stop frame animated either. Stick man and his bodily additions are CG, created in Maya, composited into digital stills. But whether it’s the detail of the figure’s development, or the changing landscapes around him, the visual compositions are wonderful.

And ultimately the storyline, as our hero transforms himself, is very moving. Three cheers for Karni & Saul.

Watch 'Flogging Molly's Float by Karni & Saul' here