Getting Animated

Due to getting access to YouTube on my TV I've been watching more stuff on YouTube than I used to. There seems to be something for everyone on there. I've found cooking videos for people who are Revolutionary War reenactors and others for how to take apart your computer.

Some of these videos have pretty high production values, while others might have trained their dog to hold the camera mostly still. But production values don't have much to do with how much a person can learn from the video. If you're wanting to learn how to make toum (a middle eastern garlic sauce) it doesn't matter too much how well it's “filmed”, just how well they show the steps. (And I found some that were explaining the steps mostly in Arabic, but were still helpful.)

But one of my favorite categories is animation. In particular, student animation. Apparently there are a lot of animation schools around this world and many of them have the results of student projects put out on YouTube. Some are vast CGI worlds filled with strange creatures like in Avatar, others are small little projects that look like they came from the 50s.

Many (perhaps most) don't have any dialog which means there's seldom a language barrier for the animations that come from around the world. Though that doesn't always guarantee understanding. I'm still pondering one called “Tsunami”.

Perhaps it is because I'm mostly viewing student videos, but a lot of what I watch is either angsty or optimistic. But the ones I'm going to recommend are all pretty much optimistic.

(1) “Omelette”. This is about a dog whose person has just come home and is very tired and trying to cook dinner. Dog to the rescue. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXFldV3ImU0)

(2) “Grandma's Hero”. This one has a young many who is about to graduate from hero school, but still needs to do his final project. Slaying a dragon. Well grandma tags along and her way of dealing with problems is very different than the way he learned in school. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7JXnfQzbKI there is some brief nudity and some violence so watch it before you share with children.)

(3) “Monster Box”. A young girl is looking for housing for her monsters. She goes to a maker of birdhouses. There is conflict, disasters and a happy ending. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoLAoOkG5gY).

 And if you'd like to help me out watch “Tsunami” and tell me what's going on... I've got an idea, but I'm open to other ideas. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz94gTWlYo4). But do check out the remarkable work that is out there on YouTube.