An animator at the Milwaukee Animation Group meeting suggested this video for the Video of the Week. It is a student film by Kyu-bum Lee. It is created with traditional animation techniques which always blows me away as I stick primarily with digital tools. Without going on too long, let me introduce to you “Death Buy Lemonade”:
What I love about this film is that it has no dialogue.
- No voice over actors were needed. I have gone through the process of directing voice over work and to be honest it can be a huge headache. This is why there are people who’s only job is to direct voice over actors and people who only do voice over acting. It is hard and takes a lot of skill, but this movie side steps it by simply speaking with body movement.
- It translates into most countries with little work. The fact is, no dialogue means it is easier to translate to other countries. Now the stand does say lemonade and shows the cent sign, but I assume many countries and cultures would still understand the premise even if they don’t have the history/cultural experience of kids having lemonade stands.
- Saves time on animating lip sync. The creator obviously spent a lot of time on expression and character movement because that is how the characters communicate with each other and the viewer. Having to put all that time into animating and having to lip sync can be a nightmare. I personally hate lip syncing, especially on a project i am working with on my own. One reason being, I will some times want to change the timing or redo something after animating. Meaning all the lip sync must be redone.
As far as views go, the video only has 390,000 views in 1 year. This is not really a big deal because the video itself does not have any ads, meaning the channel doesn’t make money per view. The purpose of the film on YouTube is obviously to use as a demo reel and to show potential clients or employers the artists skill sets and abilities. Which in the long run will pay more than putting ads on the video in the first place.
You should check out the other videos uploaded by ckami’s channel as there are some great pencil tests and other films the artists has created.
Please leave your thoughts on this video in the comment section below. Feel free to send any links to your film projects and check out more “Video’s of the Week” at www.jasonloveslife.com/category/video-of-the-week
