The Brilliance of The Indie Animation Renaissance

animation as an art form has never been an easy job for anyone that actively wanted to create it in fact among the Myriad of options there are for telling a story I don't think it's unreasonable to say that there's hardly anything more difficult regardless of circumstance it doesn't matter how many shortcuts you take how many cheats you're able to pull off animation isn't like writing a book where all it takes is one person a keyboard and Google docs to make it happen it's not like liveaction where if you want to go cheap enough you can record and edit the whole thing on your phone with the help of a handful of people no animation professional or not doesn't allow for that kind of Simplicity if you want to create the illusion of life through moving pictures then most likely you're going to need a full team that collectively can commit to planning writing designing storyboard and key posing in between cleaning up color swapping and compositing for months or possibly years to create a single finish product and at 24 frames per second that means for a 90-minute film they'd have to go through that process for roughly 100 29,600 frames yeah despite how stigmatized the art form remains in America it's ironically no kids game getting an animated anything off the ground if it's longer than half a second long and more complex than a ball on a sticky note so as you'd expect the only ones who've ever had enough time Manpower and most importantly money to produce them on a regular basis have been major Studios and that makes sense you would either have to be an absolute madman or a total r in idiot to even consider putting your foot in the door of such a soul crushing Business Without The millions in support massive Studios provide and yet that's never stopped independent filmmakers from giving it their all the first ever feature animated film was independent same for the first one with sound they've always been right there in the background making their own Innovations while Disney and let's be honest basically no one else got recognition for their efforts outside of shorts but that all started to change when in 19 72 Creator Ralph bakshi released his lowbudget x-rated Indie classic Fritz the Cat to critical and Commercial Acclaim it was a spectacular Victory unlike anything the Indie space had ever seen and it wouldn't be the last as after the release of Fritz it really felt like the floodgates opened up for independent animation to compete with the big boys Richard Williams Will Vinton Don blue those are just a few of the many talented animators who left their restrictive studio jobs to form their own production company and independently Finance their own experimental films many were profitable most weren't but the fact that Studios other than Disney could compete or in some cases outdo them at the box office was an achievement no one could have predicted and that accessibility for animators to Showcase their original works on a public scale only skyrocketed after the invention of the internets you see for the longest time although the Indie scene consisted of underdogs in the industry they were still in the industry a majority of them had years of experience animating for major Studios helping them build connections that then filled out their own rosters Ralph bakshi met the co-founder of his Production Studio while working at Paramount Don bl's entire team for the secret of nim was made up of fellow deserters coming from Disney as far back as we can remember animation as a business was and partially still is heavily reliant on who you know if you ever want a project to take off and before the internets those connections mattered more than ever there were very strict rules if you were looking to make it in the field independent or not and that was all there was to it however with the internet gaining traction as quickly as it did those rules started loosening up sure you might not have had any credits or a degree to your name but if you were online that didn't matter no one was going to tell you whether you could post your animations to the internet or not that was their problem you could do whatever you wanted and with that Revelation came the origins for several popular cartoons South Park Rick and Morty Adventure Time all of these more or less started out as shorts on the internet and it was awesome to see but that's all they could ever be without Studios shorts the internet might have opened the doors for widespread creative expression letting more artists present their Works than ever before but continuing those works for longer than a couple of minutes still wasn't seen as sustainable for most people there just wasn't enough money in free online web animation even for big companies like frederator and rooster te whose original YouTube series slowly shifted to streaming services when they couldn't produce enough profit to keep going as they were for a while it felt like nothing was ever going to break the stigma of web animation being a stepping stone for greater things but as Indi animation does that seemingly strict set of rules for what could and couldn't make it loosened up yet again following the release of an obscure fairly under the radar indie project called hasb been hotel as it Rel leas challenged every preconception we previously had this was a project with no Studio backing funded primarily through patreon over the course of a little under 3 years by total amateurs it had all the telltale signs of a project that would never finish production let alone generate a profit or be successful but once it did release as a full half hour pilot barely over 4 years ago today it set the world on fire and rightfully so if you're asking me granted as a pilot it has many flaws being a disorganized mess of character introductions lore and setup but that doesn't downplay the significance of its release or the achievement that it symbolized the mere fact that a team of near exclusively non-industry people had found a way to express their Vision in an elongated professional quality animation online was groundbreaking for the time and in keeping their spin-off series hell of a boss on YouTube they continue to demonstrate the format's feasibility for long running series of course it's not equally tangible for everyone as the creator of hasbin Vivian Madrono had already generated a massive fandom through her previous work but nonetheless its impact has been felt since the release of hasb been several other independent Studios and creators have popped up to Showcase their own original properties to varying degrees of acknowledgement and so as someone that furiously consumes this content like John Goodman at a dinner table I want to be able to highlight those efforts and the strides Indie animation is made made however I can or to put it more simply for the rest of this video I'll be covering a bunch of creators from incredibly well-known to lesser and giving my thoughts on them and their Works hopefully introducing them to a wider audience full disclosure I may be more critical of some than others but for the record I would also like to let them know that any criticisms I give are made purely out of respect for their efforts and the want to help them improve in their future endeavors while highlighting what they've done so far normally I wouldn't feel the need to put this kind of disclaimer in a video as it should be obvious but for the topic at hand I think it's appropriate as I'm not trying to discourage anyone's Hobbies or passions I'm hoping to do the opposite sharing their Works to as many people as I can by giving my honest opinion and who knows if this video does well enough maybe I can do the same for projects I didn't get to cover here forcing me to go through the process of stating this disclaimer all over again I love the definition of insanity but for the time being let's take a dive into the Renaissance of Indian internet animation starting with okay so starting things off just a little bit antithetical to what I said a second ago this first series I'm going to be talking about actually technically predates has been by a little over a year but for how unique the content is I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about it and its creator deadly Comics who I first discovered through a high effort ship post he created set to alkaline Trio's cover of moving right along and to say the least it definitely Ely set the right tone for what his work would resemble and I mean that very positively all in all the short barely lasts for over a minute and was clearly made with being a goofy non seiter in mind which it totally succeeds at by the way but analyzing the video on the artistic side it also demonstrates a great understanding of integrating real moving objects into an animated space formatting 2D characters on top of those real objects through excellent compositing and creating 3D environments to fit them all in giving a surreal strangely professional vibe to this stupid but lowkey gorgeous skit that carries over into his other more extensive Works including cool times now to truly Define this series of loosely connected vignettes set in a big house full of odd personalities isn't easy I know it sounds like I just did but there's so much more to it than that and it's hard for me to describe as DC intentionally leaves most of the details regarding his worlds up to interpretation creating this casual Ambiance that's familiar yet incredibly mysterious and intriguing at a basic level each short follows one of the various characters usually the new guy cornbread and his dubious boss sandals navigating this unusual structure with a load of strange oddities behind every corner including other characters who you know hang around doing their own things to our amusements it's also blissfully Serene and almost ad Libby reminding me of the midnight gospel and the type of natural dialogue that cast has across interactions making for a humorous but laid-back overall experience despite the ominous bits of foreshadowing going on in the backgrounds currently it still isn't quite clear what the greater narrative is leading up to but while those are interesting things to speculate on what I find the most memorable about cool times are when it gets quiet introspective and occasionally beautiful like as far back as the original Short Apple title Beauty it's all about demonstrating how under the right circumstances a thought to be useless unwanted thing can become enchanting under the right conditions and those types of moments are sprinkled all throughout the series as well as DC's whole videography whether it's seeing the short eternity of time you feel during creative burnout before the revelation of breaking it or doing a menial task over and over again until you get it right cool times captures a certain innocent Joy found in small triumphs that feel big to us and considering how short the series is if I went into any more detail I'd basically be giving everything about it away so I won't go any further but seriously if you want a subtly introspective peaceful weird type of miniseries with Pleasant characters then go ahead and give deadly Comics your [Music] [Applause] [Music] time moving on to another oneman short series surrounding chill characters in a strange setting we've got the wacky clown show no not that one that's the wrong one one bad we'll get to it soon enough Okay cool so big top Burger is the brainchild of one of my personal favorite online creators Ian worington AKA wory kids who's possibly one of the most talented single animators I've ever seen and that's not hyperbole the that he can do in blender is absolutely astonishing and cannot be overstated for how impressive it is across this video there are going to be a couple instances of me casually dropping other works by the artist that you should additionally check out to get a full range of their skills but here most of all you need to check out wory stopmotion es sci-fi parody Captain yajima to truly grasp how much better he is than you will ever be I'm doing this to hurt you but aside from replicating old clation specials what wory excels at most is this style I affectionately refer to as 2.5d or I guess 3.5d might work better since 3D is invol evolved rather than being purely an optical illusion the point is it's a variation on CG blender animation that incorporates handdrawn details and a slower frame rate to achieve a snappier more Controlled Chaos type of vibe that at times is hard to tell if it's done in one form or another meaning that when a specific scene needs it he can choose full 2D or full 3d and have it fit in seamlessly on a technical level it seems to be incorporating methods similar to stuff like into the spiderverse but stylist basically it reminds me personally of a mix between chowder and Ed and netti the way the character's outlines wiggle and how the eccentricities of How It's animated are used for jokes really though it's difficult to pin down a particular influence or parallel to another series with how novel its look is and that extends to the gags too which I'm pretty sure played an instrumental role in developing what I found funny in high school and today all of it's based around the absurdity of these regular food trru vendors working for Godlike beings in a NeverEnding battle between clowns and monsters and I can never get enough of it swervy is a master of dead pan unexpected humor and the cast all deliver it so flawlessly obviously the standouts are the bosses Steve and Chase Ray but their respective employees also bounce off of them super well so I didn't mind it when the second season took a slower approach to focus on character interactions over gags as it makes for a really nice transition from season 1 in the beginning that being the first season we got what could be seen as purely disconnected shorts and prologue they introduced a bunch of characters set the status quo and due to their disconnected nature they could be as fast-paced and spontaneous as they wanted to be seeing as there was no continuity whereas in season 2 there's a cleaner narrative from episode to episode that when put together works as a full around 15minute episode of TV which is crazy for how much enjoyment each segment has but it's true and as a longtime fan of big top it's been fascinating seeing that Evolution with the latest episode up we've even seen that it can handle a somewhat serious tone making great use of wory just as impressive musical skills for a kick-ass finale so with that in mind I'm really curious to see how the series will continue surprising me into the season 3 all right all right getting serious this time we can talk about digital circus and to be honest I'm fully willing to as third verse same as the first I am a longtime fan of goose works and everything she's done I love her music her art her animations and for sure she's got to have one of the most identifiable Styles among Independent Artists I know if there's anyone I get excited for when I see a new animation it's her so after I heard she was working with glitch a new Australian Studio revolutionizing the Indie scene through their series murder drones to create a new pilot with the potential for a series I was ecstatic after all she's already proven she can tell condensed finite stories and Loosely connected ones in the same universe before so seeing her tackle something more narratively complex seems like the next logical step and the view counts seem to agree this project has become incredibly popular in the few weeks it's been out getting merch knockoff videos way too much R34 a massive on its way to becoming toxic fandom it's hardly an exaggeration to say this is the biggest independent animated pilot we've seen since has been so what do I think of it oh oh I'll tell you I I'll tell you what I think of it it's pretty good I was thoroughly enjoyed there's no doubt it does have issues that hold it back I wouldn't call it perfect by any means but I'd be lying if I told you I was disappointed as I can already see all the love that's gone into this and I do mean that literally the concepts of amnesiatic people being stuck in a game world and having to play along with an omniscient being are all fairly typical tropes at the end of the day that that have been done several times before but I got to say as expected of gooseworks and the glitch team they take it in the most visually appealing Direction they can it is an absolute Marvel for the eyes taking the digital space concept as an opportunity to add squash and stretch physics courtesy of lead animator Kevin Timmer and beyond that from a basic design perspective each of the main characters is given a distinct children's media inspired art style to help differentiate them the titular circus setting is also well-designed merging aspects of playrooms and fun houses to create an intentionally oversaturated uncomfortably large area for the cast to explore it is perfect for the type of atmosphere it wants to balance that being one that can easily switch between dark and absurd at a moment's notice I've heard once or twice from people that didn't like one or both of those elements in this but personally I thought they were handled very well on one hand the comedy was spontaneous but not overbearing or forc making it right up my alley of weirdness and on the other when it got ominous the music and framing helped illustrate it convincingly if the situation and character reactions weren't enough to sell it who by the way are all rather intriguing in how their personalities are shaped by their coping mechanisms for living in this reality really my only complaint in the characterization department is that the characters of zubal and gangle aren't given as much depth due to their lesser screen time coming off more one note and overall inconsequential to the plot which although well executed had trouble giving much of the as things to do for the main plot you've got the newcomer pomy getting introduced to the world running around having a downward mental spiral all that good stuff while for the B plot the others are like attempting to get zub's pieces back from a giant talking worm Queen by speaking to it until the plot catches up with them I mean it's fun and all but it doesn't have anything to do with the main storyline nor does it intersect in any meaningful way it's strange and unexpected another goose workk staple but it doesn't contribute to the plot characters lore or whatever it's entirely pointless aside from keeping other characters than pom NE on screen so it leads to a slight pacing issue that could be resolved in the future by focusing on more relevant B plots that hold narrative weights but if that's fixed I won't have much of anything to complain about and if the rest of the pilot didn't grab my attention that ending sure did so I am hyped to see what's coming next Here's to You Goose may your triumphs be continuous and ever fruitful coming up on the first of a few creators I don't have a prior admiration for or connection to Tracy Butler and her new studio iron circus animations prohibition era gangster cats pilot Lac aisy is to me everything that has been Hotel was not both for better and for worse and I understand that comparing the two sounds weird with how fundamentally unrelated their premises are but please let me explain also for another disclaimer I'm not trying to pit these two Series against each other both have done phenomenal work and become major successes either way I just think there's a lot that can be taken away from how each Works in areas where the other doesn't and the example that could be set for future creators for example both Madrono and Butler have been developing their series over a good number of years Butler through her comic series The Pilot is based on and Madrono through as far as I can tell building up a wide cast and lore before implementing them in hasbin essentially what this means is that both Pilots had tons of material to draw on but in whittling them down to a Showcase of their most important elements each represents going too far in one extreme for hasbin the story is jumbled and unfocused especially in the beginning because of how many characters and plot points it wants to introduce a common problem among Indie Pilots meanwhile Lac aisy keeps its eyes on one story and one set of characters across the runtime but that story and its characters are engaging I was able to figure out that the crew we follow are trying to get illegal booze to their secret Tavern and run into competition while doing it giving us a regular day in the life of the characters something has been forgot but we don't hear enough about their motivations to get interested clearly they're willing to put their lives on the line for the sake of this alcohol and their competition are too but why should I care if they live or die I don't know these characters I don't have a connection to them that's what you need to sell me on before getting to the action or at least during the action that's what the hasb been pilot excels at we understand what the main characters want why they want those things and the obstacles that will keep them from achieving their goals in lacad ay we get the obstacle but the other two factors aren't explained or demonstrated so I don't get why these characters being in danger should matter to me the fact that right away they're put in a life-threatening situation isn't enough to make me care I need to have a basic grasp of the who's what's and wise before I can properly be invested and I'm not so in contrast to hasb Ben's manic energy going from one event to another laad Daisy has points that are outright boring to watch making it a bit of a slog and I can see why the two would diverge like this hasbin had almost nothing but speed paints and live streams before the pilot so Vivy most likely saw it as a means to give a spotlight to all the characters she'd spent so long conceptualizing and wanted to see represented lacad isy on the other hand was made with 15 years of comics behind it so Butler was probably more confident that people would get the gist as she'd already established them in other media and the pilot itself was funded through Kickstarter but as a newcomer without any of that subtext there were multiple points that I was confused and worse yet uninterested by it as a result of that missing subtext I get that the intention was to put us right into the action giving us a hook as soon as possible but the hook isn't the action it's the story and characters which are lacking and and could have used some extra polish to be fair the characterization wasn't nearly as much of an issue as the absolutely Stellar animation gives them tons of Personality through their expressions and body language but certain characters definitely fell behind others in the pilot particularly the main girl cat whose name eludes me at the moment I don't know she just didn't really stick out or have any specific moments that defined her like the others who rang from pretty good to me but I'll get the job done more or less I might have been more invested if those other elements I mentioned were there but they're sadly not so they aren't the series is confirmed to be receiving a full five episode season though so hopefully in the long run they'll work out all those Kinks to make it just as immersive as it is visually stunning okay so explanation for the title card here by chance I happen to find three distinct unrelated Pilots about unlikely sheriffs or Cowboys protect ing towns in the west and I don't have too much to say about any of them but I would like to Showcase them regardless so I've decided to do them all at once in Rapid Fire succession first up is another older pilot Cliffside from Liam Vickers fun fact this is the animation that got him hired by Glitch to create the series murder drones and I can totally see why the animation alone isn't too impressive mostly consisting of tween carried by the after effects work but the overall tone is self-aware without getting two in your face about it has subtle you pick up on subsequent watches and the idea of a casual Supernatural element in a wild west story is also entertaining if you're looking for more traditional High Noon style Western storytelling though you've got your pick between long gone gch and Sheriff haed two series that go for a genuine feeling throwback to earlier eras of TV animation for longone Gulch a crowd-funded work from two industry veterans Zach bismo and Tara billinger it follows several popular Trends from the early 20 thousands centering around a Duo of supportive unintentional troublemaking idiots doing their best a big distinguished ensemble cast a thick lined sharp art style they even got longtime industry voice actors best known for roles from this time period to play the main characters it's 100% a love letter throwback to series like LT gr and camp laslo that provides a type of voice we don't see too often anymore but if that's not throwing it back enough for you then you can throw yourself back into a grave you ancient then you can check out pti's 9s inspired Sheriff haed a project that's come a long way from the two-minute short it started out as especially in the design Department oh boy that's a drastic improvement and the writing has grown to match now don't get me wrong the original Short clearly demonstrates the roots of what it would later turn into carrying the same satirical wits but the longer runtime of the full pilot helps expand on its more genuine side an element that series like Powerpuff Girls would often use to balance the scales and go beyond a cut and dry parody to show they were made in reverence to their Source material instead of pure mockery and that's how Sheriff H Seed feels it has plenty of slab stick and a couple more subliminal jokes about how a town full of horses would work showing them with weird attachments to their Hooves and subtly implying Todd is the sheriff because he has opposable thums which is hilarious but there's also real heart to it and the action scenes are taken seriously unlike the others so far I'm not sure if pations is looking to make this anything more but either way you should check it [Music] out and for our last stop today on the Indie animation train I'd like you to imagine for a moment if Cowboy bbop never added Fair Ed and decided to get rid of the theatrics for space adventure buddy comedy and also spike is a dumb alien with a hole in his head ladies and gentlemen I present to you monkey wrench the interstellar passion project of one Joshua Palmer AKA Z Zur Zer I don't know he's a kiwi nothing makes sense over there all you need to know is that he's one of the longest active animators you'll find on YouTube and boy does it show out of all the series and creators I've talked about so far there's no one animator that makes me say damn that is tight in the same way zuro does his Mastery of perspective weight movement and detail is something that could only be learned through years of experience and painstaking nights of carpal tunnel his work a decade ago already looked TV quality so it's nothing short of inhuman that he's been able to keep an even higher standard for monkey wrench as much as YouTube makes it hard for him to do so yeah unfortunately as is true of many such cases zurl is someone who has the ambition skill and team to get his Creations out there in the highest possible quality but he suffers from insufficient funds making it difficult to get episodes out in between commissions he actually reminds me of another animator I mentioned before Richard Williams and that he does much of the work he's probably best known for that being life throw Swoozie and other YouTubers purely to fund his own Works he could have saved up all that commission money to take a break or something if he wanted but instead he actively chooses to never truly get off the grind out of sheer love for the art form and you can feel all that passion to create concentrated in Monkey Wrench where he clearly feels a lot of Joy at every step of the journey the colors are vibrant but not overbearing the line art is crisp as the action is fast-paced and well choreographed mixing tracking shots and comic framing to give an energetic feel to it all and the characters are fun taking inspiration from series like cowboy Bop to develop its own dynamic between the two leads Shri and beibs who bounce off each other nicely with the whole impatient kid and his chill understanding dad energy I get from him it makes for good banter and similar to Cowboy bbop it seems there's more to these guys and the world that meets the eye but for us to figure out what exactly that is you need to watch it first as you need to watch all the series I brought up in this video as they deserve your attention regardless of what I've had to say but for monkey wrench specifically it needs all the help it can get so watch it and buy the merch And subscribe to the official YouTube channel and U subscribe to me too while you're at it just saying not forcing you to or anything though your missing family would be grateful if you did me oh my that sure was a large selection of content representing how far we've come for Indi animation it's been a fun ride introducing you to a couple projects you may not have heard of before and although there's more than one message you could get from me collecting these projects together and showing them off to you the one I want you to remember is this over the past few years YouTube as slot as it is has been able to turn what was once an exclusive cool kids club for a few select voices into something that hobbyists Workaholics news Studios Pros amateurs and everything in between can put out on a global scale and so the least we can do as consumers and fans is to search out and support them however we can to keep the gravy train from stopping anytime soon I might have only just scratched the surface of what the ever expanding world of Indie animation has to offer but to all those working on their respective Pilots animations or whatever whether I covered you or not please know I and all the other animation fans are rooting for your success and to quote one such creator finish off this video hey if it's easy it ain't worth doing if it's worth doing it's going to be a little hard I've been just up you've been imagining things there's nothing going on with me and your wife thanks for [Music] [Music] watching [Music]

Channel: Just Stop

Views: 138,596

Keywords: Just Stop Rant, Just Stop Review, Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, Glitch Productions, Murder Drones, Lackadaisy, Bigtop Burger, The Amazing Digital Circus, Monkey Wrench, Sheriff Hayseed, Cool Times, DeadlyComics, Cliffside, Liam Vickers, Long Gone Gulch, Indie Animation, Just Stop Retrospective

Id: zSJEBdgM52Q

Length: 30min 11sec (1811 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 20 2023