2012-2013 Winners

Kiyomi Morrison is a freshman at the Hollywood High School Performing Arts Magnet in Hollywood, CA. She became aware of the World of 7 Billion contest after her mother came across a posting on the L.A. School District’s facebook page. As an aspiring director, Kiyomi saw it as a perfect opportunity to hone some of her skills. She chose to submit a video in the category of food security because it “hit close to home” and would be a good topic to use stop motion animation. Kiyomi said she wasn’t really aware of population’s impacts on food security, but found it interesting to learn about through her research.

After seeing a film using stop motion when she was younger, Kiyomi has created several of her own attempts; the first when she was only eight years old. She said she likes the animation and the way it looks, but admits how pain-staking the process can be. Moving the pieces of candy little by little for each frame took a lot out of her, even causing her to “fall asleep in the middle of filming” at times. She said taking the time to make it look clean and dealing with the darkness of the photos themselves was the most difficult part outside of the actual process of moving the candies.

Kiyomi has a wide array of interests including drawing, cooking, writing, and playing the ukulele. She also enjoys singing and is currently rehearsing for a musical at her school. Kiyomi plans to put her prize money toward the purchase of a nicer camera for her film needs.