Elijah Raps: Shilo Directs Young Rapper for Cartoon Network Promo

published Feb 4, 2008
Elijah Raps Shilo Directs Young Rapper for Cartoon Network Promo
Shilo, the Emmy Award-winning directing group with an affinity for authoring stories that elicit emotional impact, recently completed work on a new promo for Cartoon Network featuring Elijah, a young rapper of poise, presence, and promise.

Resulting from a continuation of a great collaboration between the teams at Shilo and Cartoon Network, the project came about after both reviewed close to 100 audition videos before discovering the eleven-year-old, who had written his own rap just for the occasion.

"Nobody else had such great performance prowess," says Andre Stringer, Creative Director, Shilo.

"Directing isn't just about giving people orders; it's as much about finding the right people and letting them do their thing.

Once everybody saw Elijah, we knew we had our star.

Cartoon Network was really excited about Elijah and provided him the forum to be in the spotlight."

With a distinctive combination of traditional cel, 2D, and 3D animation, together with hand-drawn imagery and live-action, Shilo stayed true to their own brand of "design-infused storytelling." The use of mixed media has really become a Shilo hallmark, and 'Rap' typifies the eclectic skills that are making Shilo an increasingly popular go-to director.

To a series of drumbeats, Elijah emerges from the shadows with a gradually dawning gray light and wisps of animation around his head.