editors
JERRY BECK (LA)
AMID AMIDI (NY)
The 2008 Debate: How Will You Vote?
by amid
February 11, 2008 2:47 pm


While the rest of the US concerns itself with the 2008 Presidential circus, we in the animation world recognize what the real issues are…

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Ryan McCulloch says:
02/11/08  2:58pm
 
Floyd Norman says:
02/11/08  4:02pm

Where’s Ron Paul when you need him?

 
ovi says:
02/11/08  4:09pm
 
c.tower says:
02/11/08  4:22pm

Ron Paul would be a “direct to video original”

 
Paul N says:
02/11/08  4:35pm

Cute – too long by half, but cute.

 
Aaron H. Bynum says:
02/11/08  4:37pm

…and all in one take, or at least without one cut.

 
Amy Mebberson says:
02/11/08  5:19pm

That’s…some REALLY bad acting.

 
Bobby D. says:
02/11/08  5:24pm

Very funny….I’m also impressed with the single, continuous take! Coming from an acting background, I can tell you it’s quite difficult to get ANY actor to get through that much dialog without messing up. Bravo! (unless they were reading off of cards…in that case they did a great job of pulling that off)!

 
Chuck R. says:
02/11/08  5:27pm

Well, as a 3rd party choice, I’d have to say that “Surf’s Up” is a lot hipper than both Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan. :-)

 
Pedro Nakama says:
02/11/08  5:55pm

And like most Hollywood films this had bad acting and a predictable ending!

 
Unaffiliated Films says:
02/11/08  6:07pm

In defense of our actors: In order to get this out by Super Tuesday, they had less than 8 hours from the time they were handed the script until we wrapped. They were not reading off cards, and because we didn’t have time to do editing we couldn’t use their best takes of each bit. The entire project was done in about 14 hours (including writing it, and 2 hours to digitize the tapes) in order to get it out on Super Tuesday. All the bad stuff is because of the Director, the Actors did a bang up job of what they had to work with.

- Your friends at Unaffiliated Films

 
Bobby D. says:
02/11/08  6:31pm

Unaffiliated Films,

Whew…that’s a lot of dialog to memorize. As I said, great job by the actors…even more impressive given the time restraints!

 
Zach C says:
02/11/08  8:58pm

Jan Svankmajer? Ha! True animation nerds like me… this was a great video.

 
EHH says:
02/11/08  9:43pm

Brilliant satire

 
Kris says:
02/11/08  10:25pm

On Super Tuesday I went to the Democratic caucus, so I got a kick out of this video. Kudos to Unaffiliated Films. :)

 
Rodrigo says:
02/11/08  10:43pm

Surf’s Up is my sincere pick, though I know it stands no chance.

 
Harsh Critic says:
02/11/08  11:18pm

I hope those guys are better animators than they are actors. ( The guy at the end was decent though.) I also hope whoever wrote this is not in the story department. After the first 5 lines we got the joke. Move on already. With everything that’s possible in video editing today, they should have put some actual animation in to this. That would have made it really memorable. Like maybe have a cartoon character pop in and voice his opinion.”Hey what about me? Give me an annie award” That might have made it watchable by someone other than animation nerds. I don’t mean to be a party pooper. That’s just how I feel. I don’t owe you bastards anything.

 
Harsh Critic says:
02/11/08  11:20pm

btw that last line in my comment was said in a completely tongue in cheek way.

 
Unaffiliated Films says:
02/12/08  12:13am

Dear Harsh Critic,

Looking forward to the superior film you’re going to post. Let us know when it’s up for viewing.

- Your friends at Unaffiliated Films

(We readily admit the flaws in the film, but we decided not to let the good be the enemy of the timely.)

 
rachel says:
02/12/08  1:56am

To Unaffiliated Films, thanks for making this–it was a fun idea and it made me laugh.

I think part of the charm was that it did drag on a bit, much the way political discussions so often do. I still thought it was entertaining. And to address Harsh Critic’s point, I don’t really know if the point is to make this watchable to anyone BUT animation “nerds.” I feel like that’s pretty much the target audience here (and I doubt anyone but said nerds would know what an annie award is either).

Give these guys a break–this is obviously just for some laughs, I don’t think they’re looking for any oscar nods.

:)

 
Whut says:
02/12/08  1:58am

Good video and it touches the surface of what’s sort of up for debate in animation right now. I feel both sides have their strong points, animation does need change, yet a movie like Ratatouille delivers well in many cinematic elements. Rats back on the podium…no thanks, we do need to move on a bit after this rat most likely wins. Bottom line…I say if Pixar has a master plan they better, after Toy Story 3 if they so dare, put out that PG-13 film and establish a base in that audience. It would be nice to see an animation studio function similarly to Universal, Warner’s, Paramount etc. and make a different range of movies with their capabilities. Animation audiences grow up so why can’t animation from a superb studio seem to grow up with them.

 
Niffiwan says:
02/12/08  2:58am

Funny film, guys! Good job. Any non-animators/fans who watch this are going to be very weirded-out, though.

 
enrico casarosa says:
02/12/08  10:31am

eh eh eh …

 
red pill junkie says:
02/12/08  11:01am

It was funny :-)

If only democrats and republicans were THIS civil when debating.

 
Rick Farmiloe says:
02/12/08  12:26pm

Funny stuff….not to be taken seriously…….but, I find myself agreeing with the ‘older’ guy on the left…for whatever that’s worth. Just not a huge fan of PERSEPOLIS. Great style, nice animation…but the unrelenting misery wore on me after awhile. Get ready for your acceptance speech, Brad.

 
Harsh Critic says:
02/12/08  8:35pm

Hey Unafilliated Films,
You’re right. I must have been in a bad mood about something else and I took it out on you guys. I was being unfair and mean spirited. Please accept my humble apologies. I look forward to seeing more of your work. I really mean that.

 
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