“Stand up and dance,” commands the voice from the future, “oh and eat more cereal.” It’s not often that we receive motivation from “well after the 23rd century,” but in Sean Pecknold’s short film, a robotic voice gives us some very un-robotic advice. Besides dance and cereal, the voice from the future advises eating veggies, being nicer, running in the dark, and taking advantage of nature. Apparently, us citizens of the early Internet age have much to learn (and this is probably true given all the research linking shorter life spans to our desk-focused sedentary lifestyles). So in the near future, “when you’re sitting at this screen wondering what it all means, just stand up and dance like a lunatic.”

Pecknold, a director and animator, collaborated with artists Alina Hardin and Matt Daniels to produce this short film in just two days. The crew of filmmakers combined stop motion, still imagery, and animation to make a stirring video on the importance of breaking through the doldrums and elevating your heart rate every once in a while.

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