Variations On A Theme
September 19, 2006
Well, I know Emily already posted a link to a Don Hertzfeldt video, but luckily for me it wasn’t the one I wanted to post. After someone last year did a report on Mr. Hertzfeldt in an Underground Film Class I took, I searched YouTube for more of his stuff. My favorite (so far) is The Animation Show (Mike Judge was also involved in this creation). I liked it so much I wrote a bit about it on my MySpace Blog this summer, so others out there would enjoy something they might not otherwise get to see (much like we are doing with this assignment).
It’s fairly easy to imitate this simplistic style, but many people lose the essence of his work when they try. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but when the work seems sloppy or regurgitated for the masses in comparison, it’s not very flattering at all. People seem either to focus on the oddness of his characters by making their own very goofy (like with Pop Tarts blatant rip off ads) or they focus on the violence without thought of anything else (like plot or character development, etc…). The latter can be seen through countless numbers of “stickman” animations posted on-line.
Don Hertzfeldt:
Pop Tarts:
