Kong Studio presents the story of "Mike The Headless Chicken"

London-based animation house Kong Studio continues to amaze with its original content series A Long Story Short (A long short story), this time giving a sunny and musical touch to the strange, but true story of Mike the Headless Chicken. Each installment of the series aims to tell an interesting and entertaining true story in under 60 seconds of animation.

The grisly tale of the rooster begins in Colorado in 1945. Mike, a male Wyandotte chicken, defied death and went on to live for another 18 months after being beheaded by starving farmer Lloyd Olsen. Mike had lost his mind, but he gained fame and fortune by traveling with side shows until his death in 1947. His legacy is… hen-harded since.

Kong co-founder Tom Baker was aware of the true story of a chicken that lived without its head for some time. Once Kong is the first Short story (written by Bill Elliott), had been broadcast, expectations were very high for Baker to make his one-minute animation. But he didn't want to put all of his eggs in just one animation basket. He too chose to write and sing a song to tell the story.

“I've always dreamed of writing a silly song about chickens and when we started ours In short series, it seemed like time, ”Baker said. “Cartoon chickens are fun. Walking chickens are even more fun and if you take your head off, put it to music, then it's a long way to get something worth doing. "

Baker worked tirelessly to define the words, melody and animation in one evening, then it was time to bring color and movement to the evocative melody. The circular motion framing the action - reminiscent of an old record spinning on the player - was drawn from an earlier concept by designer Matt Oxborrow, who added many of his artistic flourishes to the overall style of the short.

“I'm glad Matt was involved, as he's good with hoops, which means I could focus on chickens, farmers and sweet, sweet music,” Baker added. "I'm egg-static with the results! It's clucking great! "

The short was written and composed by Baker, who was also a designer (with Oxborrow) and animator (with Bill Elliot). Emma Burch was the producer of the project.

Mike the Headless Chicken is available for viewing on Kong's Vimeo and YouTube channels. Check out the rest In short and the other studio works here.

kong-studio.com