Nicholas Hancock recorded this rap version of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" for a school project in High School, years back, and we've said for years that we ought to make some kind of video to go with it. Last year, we picked up a black bird seasonal decoration at a local store, and I got the idea to try something with stop motion.

This is my very first stop-motion project! So I decided to keep things extremely simple. No armatures or fancy effects, just a bunch of winter squash on a miniature stage. And the black bird, of course.

I did consider adding a face & mouth to the rapping squash, but decided to leave it as-is.

It seems appropriately Halloweeny -- although the action in the poem is actually set in December.

This is also the beginning of a new personal project of creating short complete experimental projects each month. That's the plan, anyway.

There is also a Making of Raven Rap Timelapse.