i should win something for having sat through that.

I thought that was a cute movie and all, but how do you make something like that into a series??? But again, I’m just a shmoe, so what do I know?

Wow…that was lame. Sorry, but bad pun TEXT next to non-communicative visuals is just dumb. How about using that time to just say something VISUAL? Something funny, perhaps. Or at least entertaining. GEEZ.

That was a fantastic toon, really sad and really beautiful, plus I like the lolcats inspiration for the dialogue. Kick ass, and a deserved winner. A different, interesting cartoon.

It’s bad enough when mediocrity is rewarded but THIS? Coupled with catspeak(gimmick)??? Beyond amazing. Animation Magazine continues to be “the voice of the animation community”…WELL DONE!

Honestly I chuckled a few times, but where was the animation? Then again where is the animation in today’s shows anyway?

Jeepers. I just finished trawling down all the hater comments on the previous associated posting.

I’m fully with you Amid, on beating on the exploitative ‘competitions’ our industry keeps churning up, and more power to you to keep hilighting them. It’s one of the indistries biggest problems and worst practices, and I can’t understand why there was such a back lash from the Brew readership about it.

I didn’t watch the clip because I didn’t care that much, but I have to ask - does no one else see the inherent flaw in running a SHORT FILM competition, the prize for which is (tenuously) DEVELOPMENT FUNDING?

Surely the qualities that define any decent short film, are the qualities that make it work as a self contained entity - and that the opposite is true for any well developed series concept? This is just encouraging in creators, the corporate view that all commodities can and should be eligible for maximum commercial expansion…

Not that bad, really. But compare the frame at about 3/4 of the movie where the sloth sits on the table with this image: http://feed.stashmedia.tv/feed/2006/11/14/sloths-panoptic-and-mtv2.html

I think it’s OK to get inspired by other’s work, to expand an idea in a different direction. But one should avoid to copy that blatantly …

Daniel Cardenas, the director of ‘The Sloth Life, It Changes’ works with Panoptic. His film was the source for the MTV spots, not the other way round. It’s not theft if the work is your own.

http://www.panoptic.org/sloth/Sloth_origin.mov

How did everyone miss this when panoptic is in the credits?

ok, so how does that win an ANIMATION contest? there was barely any animation in it!

Here’s an interesting comment from Loren Bouchard regarding the contest entries:

“Besides the quantity, I’m impressed with the high level of originality. This is not a bunch of knock-offs - there are people taking real creative risks here.”

Ironic, ain’t it? Keep on sounding off on stuff like this, Amid. I may not always agree with you, but I always appreciate your blunt honesty in these types of situations. As evidenced by the winning entry, I believe your assessment of this contest (and of Mr. Bouchard) was correct right from the beginning.

No plagiarism here - Panoptic was responsible for production on both the contest entry and the MTV spots. The credits at the end of the contest-winning entry clearly state this.

um..wow. The original’s hand drawn. All he did was digitally scrunch it to get the captions to fit. Does this mean Panoptic gets his development deal? No? Oh well, congratulations to the runner-up.

AMID, I think there is a problem here. Your UPDATE says that some of this animation/design was ripped off of an old MTV spot by a studio called PANOPTIC. I just watched the actual short that one (from the link in your post) and it said in the end credits: “Production by: PANOPTIC”>

I think you need to do another update.

So someone watched that, chuckled a few times, and said, “LOLcats text and an almost complete lack of animated motion? Cartoon Network will love this! Make a series out of it!”

OOPS! PLAIGARISM!

Apparently the “great caution” Amid employs in throwing around accusations of plagiarism doesn’t extend to actually reading credits at the end of a piece. If either he or slowtiger had done so, they would have seen that Panoptic has a “production” credit. I’m no lawyer, but I’m fairly certain reusing your own work doesn’t constitute plagiarism.

Actually, I take that back. Both the MTV2 ads and this Sloth short were produced by Panoptic, with the same animator and sound designer. So, no, not plaigarized. Sorry.

P.S.

The sound for both the MTV spots and this short were done by the same guy too.

You’re right though Tony, I dunno how this would translate to a series. But maybe the development deal is only tied to the director, not the concept. I also generally agree with your views on these ‘contests’ Amid.

I’ll avoid comment on the piece itself, but what’s with the plagiarism accusations? Panoptic, the creator of the MTV2 spots from which the sloth is taken, is credited with “PRODUCTION” on the SLOTH LIFE cartoon. It’s by the same people, right?

The contest winner was also produced by Panoptic, according to the end credits, so I guess plagiarism isn’t really accurate.

As for the film itself, I am as big a fan of full, beautiful animation as anyone else, and I was annoyed by the limited movement at the beginning. In fact, I was skeptical as hell. But by the time the credits rolled, I was engrossed in the story and I cared about the character… and in that regard, the filmmakers succeeded.

Is the cat-speak a little ridiculous? Yes. But I think it serves an important role here… if the sloth had spoken normally, the film would have come off as way more preachy. As it is, the dialogue adds humor and takes the edge off a story that could have easily been too heavy-handed (”Look at the poor sloths / boo animal testing / etc.”). I haven’t watched any of the other entries, so I can’t judge whether this film was a worthy winner, but I think it does more right than it does wrong. In the end, the film pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I appreciate that challenge.

I laughed once or twice, and frankly, I’m glad there’s limited animation and artistry here. Bouchard wanted concepts and he got a concept. It’s as if Panoptic’s saying, “if you want the full-gloss treatment, ante-up, and we’ll talk.” Whatever deal happens, it will probably go unnoticed by me. I don’t have much time for TV.

..And yes, of course, Amid’s right about contests.

Goodness. If that… thing was the winner, I’d hate to see what lost.

So someone that already had a development deal with MTV2 won a contest for a development deal? Reminds me of those Publisher’s Clearing House commercials where they sneak up on surgeons and lawyers to suprise them with money.

A production company made this? Man that sucks for all those truly independent animators. *cough* me *cough*

LOLCat speak? Really? That’s all you’ve got?

“I can haz developmint deel?”

Everyone’s saying this vid ripped off LOLCat speak, but I also think it’s a blatant (and horribly watered-down) rip-off of illustrator Graham Roumieu’s wonderful bigfoot books (which came out in ‘03 and ‘05)–in both character design and text.

Go here to compare:

http://www.amazon.com/Me-Own-Words-Autobiography-Bigfoot/dp/091639784X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200605085&sr=8-2

I can see why Bouchard loved it - almost no animation, and you don’t need to pay voice actors!