“Some of my earliest memories are of bands--no joke,” laughs doodler Betsy Bauer. “When I was a toddler, my dad was a high school band director and a baritone player in a couple of community ensembles. I have a lot of fond childhood memories of chasing fireflies during lawn concerts on town squares. It’s no surprise that I joined the high school marching band myself.”
“I was incredibly excited to be able to combine two of the greatest influences in my life into this doodle-- hand drawn animation and marching band,” she adds.
Bauer says that she knew that she wanted to make an animated short, and knew that she wanted to incorporate the song “Stars and Stripes Forever.” “Arguably, nothing is more symbolic of The US’s Independence day than John Philip Sousa’s iconic march.”
For art direction, she chose to emulate UPA’s classic 1950’s exaggerated design and animation style. This seemed appropriate because it is snappy, fun, and totally in the spirit of “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Some of Bauer’s early story sketches.
“I really wanted to make sure that the story felt sweet and sincere, but still celebrated Independence Day.” Bauer says that she hopes that people can relate to her doodle because everyone has been the underdog at one point or another.
Character design and homepage explorations
Google would additionally like to thank "The President's Own" United States Marine Band for providing the music recording, and engineer Mark Ivey for helping this doodle launch.
Have a great July 4th!
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