Feature: Moleskine - Game of Thrones Intro

Stop motion animation is a highly versatile art form. Paper is a highly versatile medium. In this papermation spot by the animators of Dadomani, artistic precision conspires with mechanical architecture to produce a fantastical cityscape for the imagination.

Moleskine - Game of Thrones

Dadomani is a creative design and animation studio founded by four guys in 2007. The reel on their website showcases the imagination and painstaking detail they pour into each project—this time, to visualize the virtual worlds of possibility that await within a Moleskine notebook.

You can compare it with the original Game of Thrones intro animation here (see the part between 00:15-24)

The core Dadomani crew currently consists of Carlo Paquillo (production), Fabio Cirilli (animation), Donato Di Carlo (post production), Leonardo Ponzano and Francesco De Meo (set design). For this project they were joined by Patrizio Saccò (director of photography), Carlo Gazzi (additional graphics), Linda Vallone (set building), with music by Ramin Djawadi.

Stark white buildings are carefully silhouetted by dramatic lighting. Yet there's deceptive simplicity to the design. Though not heavily decorated or splashed with color, the artists alternate between intricate cutouts, strong angles and the occasional dusty brick wall to create tasteful depth and texture. Spinning shadows vie with the crisp lines of the castle as it slowly implodes.

To better appreciate the hours of creativity represented in those brief 40 seconds, check out the fascinating "Making Of" video below: