Stanley and Stella in: Breaking the Ice
Encyclopedia
Stanley and Stella in: Breaking the Ice, also known as Love Found is a 1987 computer animated short film.
and others at Symbolics
Graphics Division in 1986, the film was intended to portray the capabilities of the boids
artificial life
program. It premiered at the Electronic Theater at SIGGRAPH
'87 in which the original version was produced in association with Whitney / Demos Productions and featured sound effects and sombre music. The film did not gain attention outside the computer graphic field until it was rescored by James Reynolds
and edited into the direct to video compilation The Mind's Eye
in 1990. In this compilation, the film was retitled as "Love Found", featured a new jazz score, and the credits were eliminated. This version of the film later aired numerous times in the early 1990s on the Canadian television station YTV as part of the "Short Circutz" interludes. Much of "Stanley and Stella" was later incorporated into a music video
, which can still be seen occasionally on MTV
, as well as being featured in a few segments of Club Mario.
Synopsis
Birds and fish are moving around different halves of a sphere, separated by a sheet of ice. One bird and one fish (Stanley and Stella) notice each other and approach their sides of the ice sheet. They look at each other through the ice and twirl to acknowledge that the feeling of love is mutual. Stella looks up and points, Stanley appears to be confused. Stella then taps her side of the ice sheet with her tail. Stanley gazes upward and then nods to her, understanding what he can do. As Stella watches, Stanley flies further and further up until he is high enough and then dives towards the ice sheet, breaking it. Stella approaches Stanley, who appears to be unconscious, and nudges him awake. He looks around him to see that he is successful and Stella kisses his cheek. As they continue to gaze at each other, the birds and fish around them are shown freely mingling throughout the sphere.History
Created by Craig ReynoldsCraig Reynolds (computer graphics)
Craig W. Reynolds , is an artificial life and computer graphics expert, who created the Boids artificial life simulation in 1986. Reynolds worked on the film Tron as a scene programmer, and on Batman Returns as part of the video image crew. He is the author of the OpenSteer library.-External...
and others at Symbolics
Symbolics
Symbolics refers to two companies: now-defunct computer manufacturer Symbolics, Inc., and a privately held company that acquired the assets of the former company and continues to sell and maintain the Open Genera Lisp system and the Macsyma computer algebra system.The symbolics.com domain was...
Graphics Division in 1986, the film was intended to portray the capabilities of the boids
Boids
Boids is an artificial life program, developed by Craig Reynolds in 1986, which simulates the flocking behaviour of birds. His paper on this topic was published in 1987 in the proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH conference...
artificial life
Artificial life
Artificial life is a field of study and an associated art form which examine systems related to life, its processes, and its evolution through simulations using computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986...
program. It premiered at the Electronic Theater at SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...
'87 in which the original version was produced in association with Whitney / Demos Productions and featured sound effects and sombre music. The film did not gain attention outside the computer graphic field until it was rescored by James Reynolds
James Reynolds
James Reynolds may refer to:*James Reynolds , American actor*James Reynolds , American involved in the Maria Reynolds scandal...
and edited into the direct to video compilation The Mind's Eye
Mind's Eye (series)
The Mind's Eye series consists of several art films rendered using computer-generated imagery of varying levels of sophistication. The series began in 1990. It was produced by Steven Churchill of Odyssey Productions & Miramar Productions...
in 1990. In this compilation, the film was retitled as "Love Found", featured a new jazz score, and the credits were eliminated. This version of the film later aired numerous times in the early 1990s on the Canadian television station YTV as part of the "Short Circutz" interludes. Much of "Stanley and Stella" was later incorporated into a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, which can still be seen occasionally on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, as well as being featured in a few segments of Club Mario.