Big-budget music videos involve countless people, crazy costumes, and elaborate sets. But Japanese singer-songwriter Shugo Tokumaru’s song Katachi was brought to the screen in a completely different manner (although it could be argued the process was no less intricate).

The talented Polish animation team of Katarzyna Kijek and Przemyslaw Adamski utilized approximately 2,000 silhouettes extracted from PVCC plates using a computer-controlled cutter. From there, the beautifully detailed, colorful cutouts were filmed frame by frame to create an amazing stop-motion video set to Tokumaru’s happy track. The feats the paper shapes undertake include everything from parade-like marching to choreography that rivals Olympic-standard synchronized swimming.

Appropriately, Shugo Tokumaru’s song title “Katachi” means “shape”, and given the stunning visuals the genius animators produced, I’ll take these cutout shapes over extravagant entertainers any day.

Have you ever attempted this kind of intricate animation? Is there a place for stop-motion animation in a digital world? Let us know what you think in the comments.