MetaFilter posts tagged with Animation and weird

"Monsters Inc. meets The Nightmare Before Christmas inside a retro Japanese video game"

Rhaomi — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:15:12 -0800

"Once upon a time there was a game that nobody ever played, sitting on the floor in the back room of an empty arcade. The game was full of life and strife, mega-monsters and robot fights. We Are The Strange was the title. Now meet the players who live inside, idle." The story of filmmaker M dot Strange and his solo indie masterpiece, We Are The Strange. When the trailer hit the web in October of 2006, it was an instant sensation. The video depicted a surreal digital dystopia full of bizarre characters and an absurdist plot, all set to rockin' chiptune music. Soon the eccentric creator of the film, M dot Strange (a.k.a. Michael Belmont), opened up his production process to the web. Through use of an official blog, making-of videos, and an extensive "film skool" series, Belmont gave viewers insight into the innovative animation process he calls "Str8nime" ("strange plus 8-bit plus anime"). By collating disparate techniques such as CGI, greenscreen, stop-motion, papercraft, and even Mario Paint, he had perfected a striking, overstimulating visual style that was not quite like anything seen before. The premise of the film unfolded, too -- a mute "dollboy" named eMMM and a cursed woman named Blue meet, forlorn, in the Forest of Still Life. Together they sojourn into the sinister Stop-Mo City in search of the perfect ice cream parlor. Meanwhile, the chain-slinging superhero Rain and his psychotic origami sidekick, Ori, do battle with the monsters inhabiting Stop-Mo in pursuit of their ectoplasmic archnemesis, Him (based on videogame baddie Sinistar). But, like the 8-bit games that inspired it, the plot of the film is incoherent and somewhat juvenile -- the focus is on the action and the cinematography. By the end of the year, Belmont completed the film and even snagged a spot at the Sundance Midnight Movie Festival, which led to favorable write-ups in Wired, Variety, and the New York Times. (Not all the buzz was good, however -- several of the Sundance critics reportedly walked out in bewilderment halfway through the film). His work finished, Belmont payed back the community that supported him by releasing the movie for free in HD on the web (eager fans churned out art and translated the movie into 17 languages, including Icelandic, Brazilian Portuguese, and leet). He also put together a 2-disc deluxe edition with scads of bonus features. He still runs a blog where he chats about filmmaking, animation, and upcoming projects.

Cartoons unashamed of coming from a computer

mediareport — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:59:06 -0800

Somewhere deep inside a fractal.... Bizarre, nonlogical, glitchy cartoons that are "not ashamed of coming out of a computer." Satire? Or serious attempt to point animators away from "cushioned, balletic movements" and traditional stories, and towards "an aesthetic which adopts the native idiosyncrasies and flaws of the software in which it was born"? (Note: the 'PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THESE CARTOONS IF YOU SUFFER FROM PHOTOSENSITIVE EPILEPSY' applies mainly to the flashing intros, forward through the first 25 seconds in each cartoon and there's other stuff.) [via]

not for arachnophobes

nickyskye — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:50:44 -0800

Spiders [nsfw]. A weird animated short by the Danish artist Christen Bach via aniBOOM.

Kol-Belov

Gator — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:45:45 -0800

It takes a long time to load, but Kol-Belov's "PU's_tota" is just so creepy and bizarre and awesome with really cool music. The artist is obviously deeply weird, also highlighted in the series of shorts, "Self-Destructing Organisms." There's also a game. These are Flash animations. Nearly all of them contain a modest amount of cartoon violence/gore; may not be safe for work. Also, the guy really loves his industrial music.

The twisted animation of David Firth.

exlotuseater — Sat, 27 Nov 2004 22:16:13 -0800

"I'm having a little get together with some of my friends...." I found this bizarre and disturbing little flash-movie a few months ago. The first link is actually the second installment in what is now five episodes. There's more (including the first through the fifth) on his site. The music is phenomenal- bits of spookiness from sigur ros and aphex twin. When you're all done, there's an interview with the author regarding Salad Fingers here. People are still trying to figure out exactly who the character is and where he's from. If you look and listen carefully, there are literary references, anagrammed names, etc. If you liked Salad, you might also like "Hell"(non-flash)

I Love Egg

mr_crash_davis — Sat, 04 Oct 2003 22:06:11 -0800

I Love Egg

Gloomy the Vicious Bear

madamjujujive — Fri, 13 Dec 2002 20:42:12 -0800

Gloomy the Vicious Bear - we had a recent thread about the teddy bear turning 100. Here's a cute pink Japanese variation that retains a frighteningly feral blood lust. Osaka-based illustrator Mori Chack's innocent cartoon style belies the macabre nature. Just in time for the holidays, get your Gloomy Bear stuffed toys, hightops or other goodies before supplies run out! thanks, gmtPlus9.

Flash animation

madamjujujive — Thu, 21 Nov 2002 21:44:27 -0800

Flash with no name - think you've seen every bizarre Japanese flash? Good chance you haven't seen this one yet. I am at a loss for a title. This is not safe for work. This is not safe for children or small animals. Do not take with medication. Mock the message, not the messenger.

madamjujujive — Fri, 18 Oct 2002 06:48:13 -0800

Braingirl - she's brainy, she's bizarre, she's curiously compelling and she has a sidekick named Bag Boy. See all 8 episodes. Flash & sound effects alert, and not safe for work unless you work at a pretty funkified place.