The Cutest Thang You'll Ever Watch

Stop what you're doing. Stop it right now. Because UTB has this video, you see, that is probably the coolest and most adorable thing you'll watch for the next like...couple of months. Introducing My Little Magic Book, the mind-blowing digitized scrapbook made by Penn freshman and emerging artist Julie Adam. The piece has already hit over 12,000 views and we are sure the number will only climb from here. We have an exclusive interview with the artist, so...

UTB: How long have you been making videos like this for?

Julie: I started making stopmotion animations in 2009, so 4 years ago. At first I just had fun with tiny projects and I then got really into it and bought a whole bunch of books about stopmotion, mixed media, computer based or hand-drawn animation.

UTB: How did you come up with this specific project idea?

Julie: The story behind My Little Magic Book  is quite unusual. I had a week left of summer before school and I just saw a little black notebook while I was walking in an art shop. For some unknown reason I thought it would be awesome to make it come to life and animate it with colored paper. Kind of like an object we’d see in a Harry Potter movie! I then bought it, came home and animated it.

UTB: How do you actually execute something like this?

Julie:  To make an animation you basically just have to take a lot of photos. In between each shot you then move the object you wish to animate and take another photo. It’s very time consuming but I guarantee that the result is worth it! You create a slideshow where every single photo is only exposed for a very short amount of time and that’s what gives you the illusion of movement. It’s absolutely amazing because we can literally make ANYTHING come to life!

UTB: What kind of reception has My Little Magic Book received?

Julie: It has just crossed the 12,000 views on Youtube!! Other than that it was screened a couple of times in my school in Paris and featured on the website. It  was also screened during NSO at a short film event. I haven’t entered any contests or things like that though.

UTB: Okay, enough with the technical stuff. Tell us something embarrassing about yourself.

Julie: I am obsessed with Justin Timberlake! No shame.

UTB: It's okay, so are we. So do you think Penn is a solid outlet for your creativity, as opposed to a specialized art school?

Julie: Yes! I think that although Fine Arts is not the biggest or most represented department on campus we definitely have a great community of both students and faculty. I’m currently enrolled in a great printmaking class and I absolutely love it that I still have so much to discover in new artistic fields.

UTB: Do you agree that this video could be a kitchy music video for Yelle or Regina Spector? We think so.

Julie: 100% !!!