give-me-stuff-to-watch

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Reblogging because for some reasons I can't find this when searching in the Black Clover or Yami Sukehiro tags, and I'm afraid that's affecting my guy's ranking.

Just trying to get the tags to work, I don't even have followers for this to go to.

Preliminaries Part 5 - Umbramancy 2/3

Top 3 gets into the final preliminary.

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Watching Stuff Day 27 - 8/2/2023 - Current Streak: 27

For today's thing I watched, I saw a short film called Bobby.

When I saw the thumbnail, I thought it was going to be a sad dog film that ends with the dog dying or something. Instead, I was delightfully surprised that it was just a compilation of cute shots of Bobby! It was a nice fluffy little short! It had good camera shots, a nice piano sountrack, and an amazing performance from the main actor, Bobby!

A very enjoyable short!

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 26 - 8/1/2023 - Current Streak: 26

For today's thing I watched, I saw a short film called Between Days.

As someone who's been wanting to start working on larger creative endeavors myself but has kept putting it off because the time hasn't felt right, this definetly hit a bit. That's all I really feel like saying right now.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 25 - 7/31/2023 - Current Streak: 25

Instead of watching something today, I read something instead. I read a short story called X-Division by Kaleb I.A. which is currently free on Saturday A.M.

I haven't read any of the other stories featured alongside it yet. The whole thing and Saturday A.M. seem pretty interesting so I'll probably check out the rest of it later on my own time. I'm only reviewing X-Division though because it was my main reason for checking it out since I've been a fan of Kaleb I.A.'s youtube channel for a long time now and I heard about it when he plugged it in a recent video.

I think the strongest aspect of the story is its characterization. It does a great job of establishing the two main characters, Kenny and Mira, and their dynamic with each other. For shorter stories like these, I think it's important to get the audience intrigued by and invested in the characters since a much shorter length makes it harder to get people invested in the plot, so I really appreciated the work with that.

That being said, I do think the plot was good too in this case. I think the twist it had worked pretty well, and I found the lore and background for the spirits to be pretty interesting. It seems like a solid foundation to build upon if the author wanted to continue using this world and these characters.

My only real critique is that some parts of the writing feel like they don't convey what's happening as well as it could.

For example:

This section initially confused me, because it seemed to imply that Kenny came to those conclusions about the cashier based on the mannerisms he was observing. It wasn't until after I re-read and thought about it a bit that I realized it was actually about him getting info off of his phone about the cashier, which makes a lot more sense. Maybe this was just a me problem though, and others understood it on the first try.

Overall, it was a really enjoyable read, and I'm interested to see if the author has any more plans for these characters and their world.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 24 - 7/30/2023 - Current Streak: 24

For today's thing I watched, I saw an animated short film called My Cat Lucy.

For the writing, I thought the small plot build-up and subversion was handled really well. At first, since the kid was only chatising the cat for perfectly normal cat behavior while bringing religious aspects into parts of it, I thought this was going to be a short film about a regular cat being misunderstood by the owner. I thought this was going to be done to parallel and critique how some religious people will berate and harass others for being themselves because aspects of them don't align with the religious person's own beliefs (a critique that would've been somewhat cathartic for me as someone who's been semi-religious throughout their life and have met a number of people like this). But then the kid bring's up the cat's final act of suspicion being that they took part in a late-night cult meeting, making you question everything briefly before the cat reveals that it is in fact possesed by a demon, and the following fight because of that. Even if it didn't turn out how I thought it would, what was provided was still great, an interesting subversion, and fit the comedic tone of the whole thing.

It was great visually too. It's very nicely stylized, especially with the various shapes and movement of the cat (which was handled particularly smoothly). Their was a lot of interesting shots of various perspectives and it overall did a good job with leading the viewers eyes and conveying information.

Overall, a very enjoyable watch!

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 23 - 7/29/2023 - Current Streak: 23

For today's thing I watched, I saw the short film, Empathy Man.

Right off the bat, I found the concept of Empathy Man and his abilities really interesting. I really think the super hero agency he was applying to was really undervaluing him when they rejected him. All he needs to do is team up with someone really empathetic and sympathetic and he could probably one-shot and contain a lot of criminals without causing any physical harm. If he links the criminal to them, he can make the criminal feel guilty because now they'll be empathizing with all of the people they're bringing harm to, causing them to stop. 1 on 1 he can't do much, but he can be really effective with the right team-up.

I also found the use of his powers they were going with in the short film to be really interesting too. I really like the idea of trying to experience more harsh emotions in a more temporary and controlled setting in order to be better prepared for when they have to be encountered for real. I also liked how his biggest downside/weakness was his own lack of empathy. He really did not care how mean-spirited his plan was when it involved kicking a kid's sand castle. Even if the kid was just building it for fun and there wasn't a tragic backstory behind it, that's still a dick move and unnecessary.

Another aspect I liked about the writing was the theme/message of the film. About how you should appreciate your loved ones in both life and death, and cherish the moments, memories, and connections you have with them. I thought it was pretty creative how they were able to display all of this as well.

Visually, there was a lot done well in this short film. There were some creative uses of lighting and interesting shots, especially when Empathy Man was using his powers.

I also do want to give mention to the acting here. I initially found out about this short film since I'm subscribed to the main actress' youtube channel, Not Even Emily. Since her videos and the skits within them are mostly comedic, it was interesting to see her in a serious role like this. She did really well with it, and there was a lot of nice subtle details in her performance, I honestly think she did a great job. The actor for Empathy Man did a good job too, there was just 1 or 2 moments I thought were slightly off. The only real questionable acting in it was from the kid character, but I'm not going to be to harsh about that given that he is a child, so this was to be expected. I'm sure he was doing his best, the lack of experience did show though.

Overall, I thought it was really good and definetly worth watching.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 22 - 7/28/2023 - Current Streak: 22

For today's thing I watched, I saw a silent short film called The Man and the Thief.

Honestly, the plot confused me a bit. The twist at the the end brings up a lot more questions than answers. Like did the girl plan to rob the bag guy all along? And if so, was the hoodie guy part of the plan or was that just a random opportunity she took advantage of? And if the hoodie guy was part of the plan, and this was just some elaborate set-up, what if the bag guy didn't chase after hoodie guy to get the purse back? Would the plan just be foiled there and then, or were there back-up scenarios to rob him? Also, again if it is an intentional set-up with hoodie guy as an accomplice, did they both just buy train tickets to seem more believable even though the guy wasn't watching? Or are tickets required to get to this area in the first place, in which case, why not do this set-up in a public place that doesn't require you both to spend a fee. Thinking back on it as I write this though, it would probably just make the most sense that this was all just an in the moment plan by the girl without hoodie guy as an accomplice, because if hoodie guy was in on it, he probably would've gotten a share of the cash. Also, what's the takeaway from all of this supposed to be? Don't help people because they might harm you?

Idk, it feels like a plot that simultaneously had quite a bit of and very little thought put into it.

Visually, things were a bit confusing too. There were multiple instances where I paused the video because something seemed fake/greenscreened in. But on closer inspection, all of those sections had small details that would've been a pain/difficult to put in otherwise, which left me wondering how they made legitimate footage look fake? Mainly the scene where the girl and bag guy are sitting on the bench when the train goes past behind them. Watching at regular speed, it looked like they had just dragged a png through and masked the characters and bench over it pretty well. But with a frame by frame analysis, the train did seem to have perspective applied to it causing change in the angle that we view the faces, which would've been very difficult to do unless you're really good at 3d modeling and rendering or have some very specific stock footage.

And I get it was probably on a small budget, and they were filming outside in a public space, but the lighting seemed really bland at times.

Something it does do well visually is its shots and camera work. I do think that was handled pretty good, it had some interesting choices, and generally flowed well.

Overall, it was still an ok short film.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 21 - 7/27/2023 - Current Streak: 21

For today's thing I watched, I saw a horror short film about Winnie the Pooh.

I haven't seen the full length Winnie the Pooh horror movie that released not to long ago, but had heard it was pretty boring and was just using the name and concept as a crutch to get people into the theater to see it. Because of that, I went into this short film a bit cautiously. It turned out to be fairly decent though!

It does feel a bit like the Winnie the Pooh name was just for clicks. The actual short film had a plush toy of Winnie be a secretly possessed monster thing, and it felt like it could've just been any generic bear plush and it still would've worked just as well. The only thing that made it somewhat Winnie the Pooh related was that it used Winnie's speech patterns and phrases a bit.

My main complaint is that the acting feels kind of stiff, especially with the actress that played the mother. Her expressions and tone of voice didn't seem to change that much and felt a bit unnatural.

The film does do well with its visuals, pacing, and tension though. There were some creative bits of camera work, and things generally seemed to flow pretty well.

Overall, it was okay.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 20 - 7/26/2023 - Current Streak: 20

As a sequel to the Skibidi Toilet review I did yesterday, for today's thing I watched, I saw a live action Skibidi Toilet short film.

I know it's kind of an overdone bit to criticise the choices made by characters in horror films, but for real, what was the guy in the short thinking. Whenever I'm at a public bathroom, I simply keep my business to myself and do my own thing, which is the standard bathroom behavior. If someone hears a noise coming from a stall, one would just assume someone is in that stall, and leave it alone. Why did the guy feel the need to get on the dirty floor and look under the stalls to see if someone was in them. He only came in to wash his hands, he didn't even need to use a stall or anything. Why did he then feel the need to barge into the stalls when he sees no legs but heard the voice again? Anyone who saw him doing that would fairly label him some kind of perv trying to catch people with their pants down. I'm not saying the guy deserved his death or anything, but it was somewhat his own fault.

To give a compliment to the short film though, its visuals and pacing were handled really well. The VFX looks good, especially for a low budget youtube short film. And it did do a good job building up some of the horror at the end. The scene where the Skibidi Toilet sticks a hand out of the bowl caught me particularly off-guard.

Overall, it was ok.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 19 - 7/25/2023 - Current Streak: 19

For today's thing I watched, I saw all of Skibidi Toilet so far.

Honestly, there was a lot more thought and effort put into the narrative than I thought there would be when I initially heard about it. It does a really good job of building tension and raising the stakes as the factions involved in this seemingly never-ending war develop there weapons technologies and counter-defenses. The animation and models are pretty janky, but that just seems to add to the charm of this kind of thing. The shot composition and camera work is really good though. It's handled and framed very well. And it overal stays interesting throughout. It's a bit hard to describe, but it's not very long and has great pacing with its 30 second episodes. Would definitely reccommend checking Skibidi Toilet out if a war between toilet people, camera people, and TV people told entirely with visuals and no dialogue sounds interesting to you.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 18 - 7/24/2023 - Current Streak: 18

For today's thing I watched, I saw an animated short film called Piece of Cake.

Visually, I thought the modeling for the characters and their texturing were well done. It also has nice lighting and good shot composition. The animation did feel a bit stiff at some points, and at the fight scene it felt like it was lacking impact with some of the hits. But other than that it was mostly fine, and they did a particularly good job animating facial expressions.

The audio and sound design is good for the most part too. One minor nitpick I have is that some of the characters' various grunts and gasps sound a bit awkward at times. The short is already without dialogue, I think it might've worked a bit better if they fully committed to that and allowed the the body language and facial expressions be the sole things to show their reactions rather than the noises they make.

For the plot, I do think it was really interesting how they applied Toy-Story-like rules to wedding cake topper couples. How that created couplings with no regard to whether or not two people's personality or sexuality, how these assigned pairings can create a sense of entitlement with some of the cake-toppers even when their assigned partner is very much not into them, and the conflict that comes from all that. I was not expecting it to jump straight to abuse though. That caught me off guard, but worked since it was supposed to be a dramatic/shocking moment.

I also thought it was cute how the ending credit scenes showed a human couple that matched the two bride-cake-toppers buying them for their wedding, so they got to stay together on a wedding cake.

Overall, I think it was a well put together short!

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Watching Stuff Day 17 - 7/23/2023 - Current Streak: 17

For today's thing I watched, I saw the actual pilot for Gravity Falls.

Comparing it visually to the test pilot I saw yesterday, I think it has better character design, more consistent art quality, and better environmental design. However, I think the test pilot has a nicer artstyle and use of color. Both are about equal in animation quality though.

For the plot and characters, the actual pilot is a vast improvement for having Soos, he was great. The pilot ended up keeping a lot of the jokes I liked, such as Mabel tipping over an actual can of beans when she talks about spilling the beans. I do think it was unfortunate that the bit where Dipper and Mabel try to fight the head gnome while he explains the riddle, but I understand how that joke didn't really fit the new structure of the episode. One of the main things the pilot does that the test doesn't is leave a lot of open plot threads/set-ups. Stuff like the mystery around the book, Stan being sus, and even the gnomes since they weren't permanently dealt with like in the test version. That makes more sense since this pilot is meant to set-up an ongoing series while the test would want to be more self-contained in order to be a quality short that sells the higher-ups on the show.

Overall, I found the actual pilot to be just as if not more enjoyable than the test version, and I'm eager to make my way through the rest of the series on my own.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 16 - 7/22/2023 - Current Streak: 16

For today's thing I watched, I saw the unaired test pilot for Gravity Falls.

I've never seen the actual show before, and wanted to do it for today originally. Then I remembered hearing before that the test pilot was released publicly, and thought it would be interesting to watch it first and then watch the actual pilot the next day to compare and contrast.

So far, just off of the test pilot, I really like the artstyle and shading. It was really charming and soft looking, along with having very visually pleasing use of color. I think it has good character designs too, but based on images and clips I've seen from the actual show, I prefer those versions, especially when it comes to Stan's design. I was also surprised by how nice the animation looked. I thought it might look lower quality since this is just a test pilot, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

For the writing, I think it did a really good job with its plot and comedy. With the initial set-up given, I thought it was either going to end with Dipper being right about the guy being a zombie, or it being about how Dipper looks into things too deeply in a conspiratorial way and how he should be more trusting and accepting of people he deems weird, especially for the hapiness of his sister, Mabel.

I was not expecting them to go for a 3rd option of the guy being an even wilder third thing. I also do like how hime being a bunch of gnomes was foreshadowed by that being the page Dipper accidentally turned to when trying to explain his theory to Mabel. I genuinely didn't see any of that coming, and it definitely kept it interesting.

Another moment I really liked was their reactions to the main gnome guy. I thought it was funny how they immediately challenge him to violence and throw a shoe at him. They were real for that, trying to cut to the chase and avoid any gnome bs. I also liked how the actual solution with the riddle was a call back to the popsicle jokes at the beginning. It really gave the sense that there was a lot of planning and thought in the writing in order to have it all tie neatly together.

Overall, I really liked it and it made me even more eager to get into the real thing tomorrow.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 15 - 7/21/2023 - Current Streak: 15

For today's thing I watched, I watched the pilot for the Youtube series Guns for Hire.

I had mentioned in my first post that I had tried to do a thing like this before, just not written or published online. During that attempt, I had watched a Youtube movie titled The Damned, which was produced by the same channel that made this pilot I watched today. And I have to say, Guns for Hire does seem to be an improvement in the technical aspects of film making from what I remember about The Damned. It still has its flaws, especially with the VFX, but that's to be expected with a low budget project like this. I think Guns for Hire does a better job with the camera work. It has smoother movement and transitioning. I'd say it has better consistent composition too. I also think it does a great job at choreography for the action scenes. Although, early on it does a good job at still making the hits seem like actual contact was made, that was somewhat dropped towards the end. I can't tell if that was accidental or done intentionally in order to lean into the low budget aspects/aesthetic of it. My only other real complaints on a technical level is the audio mixing. Sometimes the characters are too quiet to properly hear and it can cause some confusion. I also find that the shots are a bit dim in a way that probably could've been fixed by just making it a bit brighter in post-production, but it wasn't too bad.

I'd say the main difference between The Damned and Guns for Hire's writing is the tone. The Damned is fairly serious while Guns for Hire is comedic. I find the comedy to be a bit hit or miss at times, but I do really like the background jokes that are done. Specifically the bit where the main guard gets the pizza he ordered, and you hear him complaining to the delivery guy while the main characters poison the water. My main complaint is that this pilot doesn't really do much to set-up the characters and the circumstances they're in. Come to think of it, I don't even remember the names of the characters being said. While it is able to set up the dynamic between the main characters, it doesn't do much to set up who the are, what the nature of their job even is, why they get hired despite their record, why they even went into this kind of business, or even anything meaningful about the antagonists faced in the episode. I'm guessing this info will be explained in later episodes, but these really are the kind of things you'd want to establish right off the bat.

I am intrigued enough to want to keep continuing though, and I eagerly await for the second episode to come out.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 14 - 7/20/2023 - Current Streak: 14

For today's thing I watched, I saw a horror short-film called Polaroid.

I thought it was really well done. It is a tad predictable, but it's only predictable in the sense that the reason you know what comes next is because that's the most effective way to structure this kind of thing. So I don't really hold that against it. The concept alone is already great. By having it so the monster is only able to be seen through slowly developing pictures, it really leaves a lot to the viewer's imagination. It leaves you thinking about stuff like what the monster is doing in each moment, how is it reacting to each photo being taken, how long has it even been there, etc. It also really did a lot to build tension in such a short amount of time. I do think it's slightly cheapened by having the monster visible at the flash of the camera and at the end. I think a more effective ending, rather than seeing it behind him when he turns around, would've been if we saw a monsterous print of an invisible hand grabing him from behind. However, since this was made on a small budget, and that would've required payment for a VFX artist, I understand why they went the route that they did. Alternatively, another ending I came up with would be if after the second picture, the guy started to slowly walk towards his door to leave (personally, I would've ran after one creepy picture, but two is better build-up). As he leaves, he drops the camera and it takes a picture of the doorway. It slides out developed while his back is turned to it while he walks away, only to show a large group of monsters camping the door. Cut back to him, and we see him falling after an invisible attack. His clothing falls to the floor, and he's nowhere to be seen (changed slightly from him disappearing entirely, I feel like there being some sort of remains to collapse is more impactful).

Overall, it seemed to be done really well. The pacing, tension and acting was great. Would recommend watching if you like that sort of thing.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 13 - 7/19/2023 - Current Streak: 13

Things were kind of rough today, so I was just looking for something goofy/light-hearted. I ended up choosing to watch the first episode of the Donkey Kong Country cartoon, and I can't say it didn't do its job.

I don't have much to say about the plot or the writing. It does a good job at establishing its characters and character dynamics while being a decent self contained story for what it's trying to do.

The visuals though...

First of all, I did not expect to see this iconic image so early on. I had no idea that it was a part of the opening song.

It then had an opening bit where it's zoomed in on Cranky Kong who was talking to the audience directly. And it immediately had me pulling out my laptop to find out more about the origins of the show because I thought that the english voicing was just a dub since there seemed to be some trouble matching the lines and lip movements. While I may be kind of right about it not being originally English (it seems to have started off as French from the little I've read), there seems to be another reason that the lip movement was as janky as it was.

Honestly, kind of wild that this was one of the first mo-cap cartoon series. Even though it saved time, that must've been tedious to work with back in the mid 90s. Honestly, despite how janky things turned out, there seems to be points where genuine effort was applied with this just being one of them.

Another aspect I specifically want to take note of is that they seemed to use normal-maps for the lighting on the kong's fur texture and the kremling's skin texture. They didn't have to do that, I definitely wasn't expecting them too, I respect them for that. Speaking of textures though, there does seem to be quite a few places where the UVs are stretched, but that's somewhat expected.

I also want to give credit to King K. Rool's voice actor, they were killing it and seemed to be having fun with the role. Donkey Kong's va really seemed to not fit the character though. It seemsed too high and young for DK.

I do have some major gripes regarding the character designs

I hate that his skull is apparently just shaped this way

2. They removed Funky Kong's drip. Look at how they massacred my boy

3. Everything about Bluster Kong, but that does seem to be intentional

Overall, I can't say I was disappointed by it though. And apparentally it got a big visual upgrade for season 2, so maybe I'll check that out at some point and do a follow up.

[give-me-stuff-to-watch]

Watching Stuff Day 12 - 7/18/2023 - Current Streak: 12

For today's thing I watched, I watched a short film called Pit Stop. There's not much to talk about it regarding plot or character. This seemed to be intentional, the description of it said it was just done to practice cinematography. The cinematography is good, especially when it came to altering the depth of field in order to change what the viewer is focusing on. But there isn't much to analyze outside of that. It's just about a guy who follows and beats up a girl at a pit stop, no characterization, set-up, resolution, etc.