Kong Animation Studio brings the ‘Rivers of London’ series novella’s 1920s Harlem Magic to life with a unique blend of artistic and cultural influences.

Kong Studio, whose recent high-profile projects include Quentin Blake’s Box of Treasures series for the BBC, ‘Don’t Shoot’ music video for Fulham FC midfielder Alex Iwobi, and animation and design for Smart Energy and Royal Mail campaigns, announced the release of a ‘ritzy’ music video inspired by the latest novel from best-selling author Ben Aaronovitch.

Taking inspiration from key scenes from Ben’s latest novella ‘The Masquerades of Spring’, the animated book promotion blends influences from both the Harlem 1920’s art scene and the Art Deco movement. The fun fusion of literature, music, and animation, set against the backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance, is Kong’s second musical creation of 2024.

The animation, produced by Kong Studio’s directing duo Elliott Baker, showcases the studio’s signature of top-quality hand-drawn animation blending with seamless motion design, built on the foundations of researching a new and informative subject matter. In this case the history, aesthetics and music of 1920s New York. Viewers will be transported to a reimagined Manhattan, where magic shimmies beneath the city’s vibrant diverse surface.

Bill Elliott, said;

“Ben’s ‘Rivers of London’ book series displays a clear fascination and deep knowledge of location and history. When Ben approached us about this project, it lent itself to many of Kong’s strengths. A love of art, history, and the joy of taking a deep dive into a fascinating subject matter. In this case, the location had changed from London to 1920’s New York, a time and era we were happy to explore. And getting to read the yet-to-be-published novella for our pitch, is as good as a pitch gets.”

Tom Baker, said;

“It’s amazing what you have to learn as an animator. For this we learned how to choreograph jazz dancing which was a first. Those flappers could really move.”

Key features of the video include:

• Painterly textures, bold shapes that evoke the rich artistic traditions of artists such as Ben Nicolson and Wassily Kandinski.
• Dramatic use of silhouettes, paying homage to pioneering African American artists such as Aaron Douglas.
• Choreography inspired by the iconic “Black Bottom” dance, capturing the spirit of 1920s Harlem, then animated by hand.
• An jazz-infused score by Juke Ellington, with arrangement music production complimenting  the novel’s themes of magic and mystery by Midas Music.

The collaboration between Kong Animation Studio and author Ben Aaronovitch represents a ‘novel’ approach to book promotion, creating a piece of wizardry somewhere between a music video and a book teaser.

Ben said of working with Kong Animation Studio;

It’s an astonishing experience to wave your hands about and gabble in an incoherent manner and then have a talented group of people produce exactly what you imagined

‘The Masquerades of Spring’ can be viewed on YouTube here and coincides with the novel’s international release.

For more information on the book, visit – https://geni.us/MasqueradesOfSpring

About Ben Aaronovitch

Born and raised in London Ben Aaronovitch had the sort of unrelentingly uninteresting childhood that drives a person to drink or Science Fiction. The latter proved useful in his early career when he wrote for Doctor Who (before it was fashionable), Casualty and the cheapest soap opera ever made – Jupiter Moon.

Alas his career floundered in the late 1990s and he was forced to go out and work for living. It was while running the Crime and Science Fiction sections at the Covent Garden branch of Waterstones that he conceived the notion of writing novels instead. Thus was the Rivers of London series born and when the first book proved to be a runaway success he waited all of five minutes to give up the day job and return to the bliss that is a full-time writing career.

He still lives in the city that he modestly calls ‘the capital of the world’ and says he will leave when they prise London from his cold dead fingers. He promises that he is already hard at work on the next Peter Grant novel and not computer games – honest.

For Ben Aaronovitch media inquiries, please contact:

Zeno Agency Ltd
Web: www.zenoagency.com
Email: [email protected]