YouTube – Alt Text 19: Witness Protection.
The voice of “The Woman the Geeky Guy Talks To” provided by the multi-talented Colette Zelwer.
5:41 pm, December 12, 2008 -- 33 comments
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Awesome. I like this kind of internet where I can comment on things. I think it’s because of the open-ness, since I have the Linux internet. Although, if it were real hard-core Linux internet, the video wouldn’t work…
I enjoyed the video and think much of it is well done, particularly the lip synch. Impressively done.
I do think the witness protection guy and the woman were oddly positioned in the wide shots, however. I kept expecting something to happen on the right side of the screen, like the agent or a mafia guy jumping out, or possibly the kool aid man.
That was really good.
I too kept watching the right side of the screen. I was waiting for somebody to jump out as soon as things started getting geeky.
That was really great. It was funny and well-produced.
How do you manage to get all these videos done? The amount of work for each must be huge. Are there slave elves or hobbits involved? Elves are the ones that work on shoes, right? It would stand to reason that hobbits would be the ones producing digital work due to their lack of footwear experience and therefore need to branch out.
harking back to the bandwidth theatre dayys. I would eb very happy to see more of these. (and for what it’s worth, I liked the off centre stuff.)
Now I’ll just be waiting for the wilhelm to appear
Where can I buy one of the bears?
Hilarious! This really captures the pressure we nerds are always under *not* to reveal our nerdiness.
Framing: I can see the point about the off-center positioning. I was kind of thinking of the “Rule of Thirds” from photography. Personally, I like the framing, but I don’t want people to think Kool-Aid Man is about to jump in. Especially because if I do bring in Kool-Aid Man, I want it to be a surprise.
Time: Yeah, it takes quite a while. Those of you following me on Twitter were treated to some griping about lip sync, which took seven hours by itself. On the other hand, I find animation extremely satisfying, so the time feels worth it.
Bears: If you drive along winding roads in redwood country, you’ll eventually pass someone way up in the hills with a bunch of chainsaw bears for sale. I think there was one in Twilight, so if you’re a northwestern vampire, you’re set.
Hillarious!
Yeah, I was expecting a bevy of machine gun fire, or a sniper shot once the nerd was unleashed. But dog testicles are as good or better.
Jesus, that was funny.
I also expected someone to jump out, but that had more to do with the concept than the framing. I say, keep the off-center framing unless the Kool-Aid man is going to jump out. That way, you can really fuck with people.
The woman’s discussion of different Webs made my skull hurt. I once had a boss who would hold conversations with me, saying almost exactly the same things. It was always astonishing to realize the extent to which computers were wholly tangential to her existence.
Off-center is fine. Closer to the center, but still off-center, doesn’t give the impression of something impending. The scenes with the FBI agent, for example, did not give thoughts of impending “oh yeah!”
The agent scenes were also helped by props and background elements. Something to the right of the witness and the woman blocking Kool-Aid Man’s path, such as a table or the edge of the porch, might have helped.
All that said, EXCELLENT voice acting and writing. The agent asking “what. about. Spider Man?” as he did was funny and well timed, as was everything else. The witness’s excitement over being able to talk about Spider Man was particularly well done and expressive.
The eyebrow acting is amazing.
I mean, the whole thing is great, but the shifting eyebrows really stood out.
“I heard that on Leno. There was a science guy on there.” was pretty awesome as well.
Ah, yes, the eyebrows. Here’s the story behind that. In the commentary for “Chicken Run,” they mention that while much of the characters’ bodies are made of pre-molded plastic, including the beaks and eyes, they made sure the eyebrow ridges were made of molded plasticine, so that they could use the human touch to give the characters a wide range of expression. A small change in the brow area can really express subtle shades of emotion, at least as far as animated chickens are concerned.
So, I decided about halfway through this one to apply sort of the same technique. The eyes and faces are, of course, re-used throughout, but I re-drew the eyebrows by hand for each change of expression. (Of course, the geek guy is the only one who really changes expression. Didn’t have enough time to do more.) I think it worked out pretty well.
Re-watching it now, I think a little more head movement, and mouth shapes that actually move the jawline would also help inject a little more life into the animation, but I feel like I’m headed in the right direction.
I think this is simply one of the best Lore pieces ever. It really hits all the right notes.
Eyebrows can add a surprising amount of emotion. A frequent refrain over on the Achewood message board is “it’s all about the eyebrows” because they add so much to the characters.
I had to watch this a second time, it was so entertaining.
No talking about Battlestar movies!
Dan Shive: “Something to the right of the witness and the woman blocking Kool-Aid Man’s path, such as a table or the edge of the porch, might have helped.”
The Kool-Aid Man could plow right through your measly table. You underestimate the power of the Kool-Aid Man.
Perfect! Very tight script, and the pacing was lovely.
But omg Spiderman so very very dull.
“What. About. Spider-man?”
High school flashback!
I quite literally laughed out loud. I love it when I can say that. Man, that was just fantastic. I was cringing right along with our poor nerd during that extended speech by the neighbour. (Or “neighbor”, I suppose, in your local dialect.)
In an attempt to revive this word: great flam!
Re: eyebrows. Frank Zappa would refer to especially skilled musicians in his band as being able to “put the eyebrows on it.” That is, take a piece of music, and be able to shift the tone & feel by, say, adding something reminiscent of the Mr Rogers theme to the middle of “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow”.
“I do not like Spider-man. He is a trouble-maker.”
People looking at me funny all day because I kept muttering that line to myself and giggling.
Ha, this is great. I just realized who the agent’s voice reminds me of: “Do you find something comical about my appearance when I’m driving my automobile?”
Triumphant return! I’ve been looking forward to finally being able to watch this for days, and it did not disappoint. Even my overhearing wife was amused.
Man, I was wishing so hard for the woman to be either an undercover witness protection agent testing his commitment or a mafia hitwoman trying to make sure it was the right guy to kill by drawing him out with blatantly stupid questions.
Oh, that was spectacular. (Also amazing, sensational, and “Peter Parker”)
Woo. The writing was spot on.
I am disturbed by a suspicion that you did not script the Spider-Man rant but merely spoke off-hand from a position of deep nerdosity. It’s too real.
Oh, I scripted it, but I scripted it from a position of deep nerdosity.
Excellent. Gold.
I was completely expecting this to turn into a nerd gets the girl by being mundane sort of thing. Thank you so much for not doing that.
Not that I should’ve expected that from you, but I do expect it from the internet in general.
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