Weird Internet Animations

asdfmovie is by far, one of my favorite weird internet animated videos of all time. Simple, completely out of context, and hilarious. Animation and comedy seem to go hand in hand every time.

The asdfmovies were written by Thomas "TomSka" Ridgewell, a British comedy writer. His comedy is typically dark and random. The asdfmovies are comprised of short animated sketches. Tom gained a large following after the popularization of his first asdfmovie (2008) and has released a total of nine to date (the most recent one was released August 7, 2015).

Tom releases other types of videos on his channel as well, yet most of them are comedic sketches and animated shorts. Another one of my favorites from his channel is Rock Bottom (uploaded in 2012), a short sketch about two guys living in a house that falls off a cliff and sinks to the bottom of the ocean. The short video pokes fun at the comedy used in many sitcoms. If you want a good laugh, I recommend watching this one. It's only one minute long.

Salad Fingers

Salad Fingers

I'm pretty sure I haven't posted about this series on the blog yet. This horrifying collection of animations forms the entity known as Salad Fingers. Salad Fingers, which was a bit of an internet sensation in 2005, was created by animator David Firth in 2004. The dark/psychological comedy  focuses on the life of a creepy green man(?) in what looks to be a post apocalyptic setting. Like Joe Zombie, I first watched this series years ago and I was horrified and--to be honest--it's still a little hard to watch!

What's really interesting about this animation is how dark and abstract it gets. There's been a lot of speculation done by fans of the show in regards to Salad Finger's identity and his relationship to the world around him.

Unnecessary Explosions

Unnecessary Explosions

I was browsing the web the other day and I came across a funny post about adding random explosions to gifs. While they're all pretty silly, I thought of this class and how these short clips could be used for inspiration if anyone ever wants to try animating explosions.

1

2

3

4

A lot of these exist, but not all of them are that funny. I think what makes this specific batch really successful, is the timing of the explosions and how they fit so naturally into what's already happening in the gif. My favorite is definitely number one. I love how smaller explosions go off near his feet as he's stumbling. They set up his final explosion really well. 

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2

For the final blog I chose to look at Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 because I just watched it on Netflix and found myself marveling at the animation.  I think what impressed me most was the different textures that the animators created - from the wild tufts of hair on the main characters head down to the patterns in the antagonist's lab vest. 

I also enjoy how the animators use subtle things to convey the characters changes in emotion - the pupils getting bigger to show excitement, or the eyebrows furrowing to show disappointment and sadness.  Overall, I thought this was an impressive, and hilarious, movie that everyone should take some time to watch!

Bob's Burgers

This week I chose to look at Bob's Burgers - a comedy on Fox.  The episodes are only 30 minutes, but the creators find ways to pack in comedic situations and hilarious banter from all of the characters.  The animation is more of a cartoonish style, reminding me of early South Park episodes.  I like how drawn the characters appear because it keeps the show light and funny.

I also think that the casting director did a good job getting voice actors for each character.  Two of the female roles (Linda and Tina) are actually voiced by men.  However, the voices match the character so much that viewers can't even tell that the characters are voiced by men.  I think each characters voice plays a key role in the success of an animation, and Bob's Burgers has an all-star cast.

Disney Pixar - For The Birds

I absolutely love this animated short film.  Not only do I find it hilarious, but it also retains a very realistic feeling while having nonsensical undertones.  For example, the smaller birds all have tiny wings - so small they would not be able to fly.  But it only makes sense that birds can fly, so the smaller birds are able to flap three small feathers to magically float in the air!  But the thing that has me most intrigued are the textures of the feathers themselves.  The feathers on both the small birds and the big one look so realistic to me.  Especially when the small birds fluff their feathers when settling on to the wire, you can see every ruffle of their feathers.  It almost appears as though they were animated individually!  I love the detail that went into this short, and I love the comedy that goes with it.

South Park - From Construction Paper to The Emmys

Ever since I was young I remember watching South Park with my big brother.  We would laugh until our sides hurt over the quick, witty lines mixed in throughout the toilet humor.  But the thing that stands out to me looking back over the years is the evolution of the animation involved in South Park.  The creators of the animated series, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, started with pieces of construction paper cut out to look like the characters they had in their heads.  One of the first episodes, entitled "The Spirit Of Christmas (Jesus vs. Santa)", never actually hit the airwaves.  It was actually just a short film that Trey and Matt made together.  Here is 5 minutes of that video.

From there, South Park changed drastically - using state-of-the-art animation software and having a team of writers work on episodes nearly 24/7 until they are complete.  Today, South Park is one of the only shows in existence to write, animate, and air an episode within a week.  The team doesn't start writing until the last episode they created has aired, then they sit and brainstorm ideas for episodes until something comes to fruition.  From there, it is a scramble to animate the episode and finalize changes with the network until the air time - which is only 7 days from when they started the writing process.  Here is a short example of a modern episode.

So as you can see, the animation is far superior now to what it used to be.  The team of animators on the show keeps all of the character object files so they can be quickly added to episodes for editing.  I think this show, despite the style of humor, is one of the most sophisticated animated tv series today.

Barbies come to life

If any of you grew up in the late 90's or early 2000's (which is all of you), you have definitely come across these demonic looking action figures that are known as, "Barbies." The show, The Most Popular Girl In School has Barbies for characters, and is produced in a similar fashion as other shows such as Wallaca and Gromit, in the respect, that animation is made through the similar kind of movement and the background is also done similarly. All of the characters are made of Barbies, and although they all look fairlysimilar, their personalities are extremely dynamic for an action figure. If you need a good laugh, and if you are frustrated with Netflix freezing, and if you liked Clueless and/or Mean Girls, this is something you should definitely watch.

The. Best. Episode.

Until next week, 

Sam 

AE Song

So I found a song that incorporates pretty much everything we have done in class.
 


This song is hilarious and with out this class and learning about how to use After Effects I would have not have gotten any of these references.  Watch and enjoy.

Zombieland: The Series

Yes, that's right, another zombie show is coming. One that hopefully revolves around comedy and killing zombies rather than drama. This new series will occur two weeks after the movie, which ended at the carnival. Being released by Amazon Studios, it will be 30 minute shows for Prime Instant Video. Amazon is testing the show by offering it's pilot, and 13 other shows, for free and having viewers vote on which ones they like. So when this comes out I expect everyone to watch it and vote for it. Or else.

Here's a link to some information, which I totally didn't get most of my information from.

How I Met How I Met Your Mother

One of my best friends from home and I had a tradition when we were in high school where on New Years every year she would introduce me to a new TV show that almost always ended up being one of my new favorites. Degrassi, Bones, and How I Met Your Mother are just a few of those shows.

HIMYM has been one of my favorite shows for years. The main characters, Ted, Robin, Barney, Lily, and Marshall are brilliant, hilarious, moving, and talented. And the story, told through narration by Ted, is being recounted to his kids years in the future. It is a brilliant concept, and it makes the story that much better.

ANYWAYS, for the motion graphics portion of this post, I thought I'd mention the intro credits. They're in a really cool pop-up style that we've seen in class before that uses different camera angles to transition between stylized photos of the characters meant to represent the premise of their friendships over the years. I think it's super cool and I love how it ties into the show without loosing its audience.

Anyways, I hope you guys have a great weekend! See you next week for our last few classes!