Earth's got a case of the Humans

May 19, 2006 7:38 PM

Humans! A lovely little bit of educational animation.
posted by crumbly (41 comments total)

Great, and cute and now I'm gonna got shot myself.
posted by tula at 7:42 PM on May 19, 2006

err, 'go'
posted by tula at 7:42 PM on May 19, 2006

Some great animation, there. Thanks!
posted by brundlefly at 7:50 PM on May 19, 2006

We really shouldn't have drained the core. That was bad.
posted by dgaicun at 7:52 PM on May 19, 2006

Hasn't their short, Ricochet, been posted here before? I remember seeing this somewhere, and being impressed with the FX work (if not the direction).
posted by brundlefly at 7:56 PM on May 19, 2006

kinda makes you want to join VHEMT.
posted by roue at 8:11 PM on May 19, 2006

The irony is that they needed to anthropomorphize the planets to garner sympathy for the cause.
posted by voltairemodern at 8:25 PM on May 19, 2006 [1 favorite]

Good animation

Too bloody and short, though
posted by donkelly at 8:33 PM on May 19, 2006

Too bloody short, even.

I liked it, but I kind of wonder about the message. I was half-expecting the narrator to recommend bird flu or AIDS as the solution, but I suppose that would have been a bit too morbid...so what is it? Are they in line with VHEMT? Is it just supposed to inspire sympathetic head-shaking and no action? Or nothing at all?
posted by danb at 8:48 PM on May 19, 2006

I like the VHEMT videos, though. Though I can't keep myself from laughing at the extreme viewpoint. At least it seems extreme.
posted by donkelly at 8:48 PM on May 19, 2006

This might be the FPP that brundlefly is talking about. I thought, despite its lack of plot or purpose, it was really quite nifty.

This one however is just plain charming.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 8:49 PM on May 19, 2006

Ricochet - very well done - very realistic sniper gore (but how would I know what is realistic - it just seemed very real).
posted by donkelly at 8:50 PM on May 19, 2006

Cute. I think the message is we need to wise up.
posted by xammerboy at 9:01 PM on May 19, 2006

Ricochet - very well done - very realistic sniper gore (but how would I know what is realistic - it just seemed very real).

Rule number one with any action involved in film or video or any moving medium for that matter: it doesn't have to be realistic, it just has to seem that way.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 9:13 PM on May 19, 2006

That's it, SKSP! Great work in general. As someone who's just starting to learn 3D animation, these guys give me a lot of inspiration. Great FX work on a low budget.
posted by brundlefly at 9:16 PM on May 19, 2006

haha, voltairemodern. nice catch.
posted by blacklite at 9:16 PM on May 19, 2006

On posting: indeed, SKSP. If you feel it in your guts, it's real.
posted by brundlefly at 9:16 PM on May 19, 2006

I didn't think that head splatter was realistic at all really. I watched it in slow-mo and it looks like fire shoots out the back of his head for some reason. And it wasn't gorey enough. Damn good videos though.
posted by puke & cry at 9:40 PM on May 19, 2006 [1 favorite]

Aww. Those humans are so cute!
posted by eyeballkid at 9:43 PM on May 19, 2006

Are most effects shots intended for slo-mo inspection, though? It works when viewed at full speed, doesn't it?

*realizes he has spawned a head-shot-centered derail in this thread, and scurries off into the darkness, snickering gleefully*
posted by brundlefly at 9:45 PM on May 19, 2006

Yeah, the first time I watched it and didn't see it coming I thought it was awesome.
posted by puke & cry at 9:55 PM on May 19, 2006 [1 favorite]

I love this animation. Reminds me of the stuff that another design group does whose name escapes me.
posted by mathowie at 9:57 PM on May 19, 2006

Nice design and animation. The story reminded me of The Wump World but with more decapitations and no wumps.
posted by maryh at 12:18 AM on May 20, 2006

um, what's the story behind the name "Three Legged Legs"?

I've always thought that the supposed nonsense joke "What is the difference between a duck" and the standard answer None of its legs are both the same is really talking about some conflation of legs and penisis. Ducks do have have penises but they don't hang down so that someone might confuse it for a third leg.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 12:25 AM on May 20, 2006

I absolutely hate giving director credit to companies.
posted by delmoi at 12:29 AM on May 20, 2006

Awesome, and thanks for the link to VHEMT, those guys rock.

Speaking or rocking, Three Legged Legs' 2005 montage features a remake of Iron Maiden's Flash of the Blade, of which the original featured some of the most awesome electric guitar 'duets' ever, imho.
posted by Zombie Dreams at 12:36 AM on May 20, 2006

I want the sequel already.
posted by josephtate at 1:31 AM on May 20, 2006

'Speaking or rocking' should of course be 'speaking of rocking'. =/
posted by Zombie Dreams at 1:38 AM on May 20, 2006

I'm probably going to get yelled at for saying this, but what good is nature's beauty if there aren't any humans to observe it? Can anything be beautiful without creatures who appreciate beauty?
posted by Citizen Premier at 2:18 AM on May 20, 2006

I am a cancer.
posted by Eideteker at 4:24 AM on May 20, 2006

CP: when there are no humans, there is no use to discuss the idea of 'good', let alone the idea of 'beauty'. As long as we're around, we might as well do our best to do good as best as we can, to be able to enjoy nature's beauty as long as we can, just because of your point. Also, if you agree that something is beautiful, would you not want it to survive, even if you nor anyone else may ever be able to see it? Most people would never be able to see the buddha statues in Afghanistan, but were abhorred when they were blown up.
posted by Zombie Dreams at 4:30 AM on May 20, 2006

Nice animations, but the analysis of the situation is insufficient. Of course, if you remove the humans, nature would consist only of cute bunnies running around kissing each other.

This has a much better analysis and is also slightly less self defeating. [was already posted]
posted by vertriebskonzept at 4:31 AM on May 20, 2006

I liked it, but it seemed to end a little too abruptly. But maybe that was the whole point.
posted by crunchland at 6:23 AM on May 20, 2006

the earth will kill us way before we kill it. and then everything will die when the sun goes out.
posted by brevator at 7:27 AM on May 20, 2006

This video was good, but Ricochet was just a bunch of disconnected images of people getting shot, making it impossible to know what's going on apart from people are dying. I suppose that might be the point, but it seems directed rather poorly anyway for that purpouse. I also like how in a few shots the bullets that hit a person get the benefit of a gunshot sound, but all the missed shots that impact around the hapless fellow are mysteriously silent.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:31 AM on May 20, 2006

brevator: and you only live once so you might as well use drugs and everybody dies one day so you might as well eat what you want and I have an uncle who smoked his whole life and got to be 96 so smoking is not so bad as they say, etc.
posted by Zombie Dreams at 7:43 AM on May 20, 2006

"Let's be clear, we're not talking about a cure for baldness here," said Dr Alastair Kent, of the Genetic Interest Group, which represents families with disease. "We're talking about horrendous conditions - Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia and the like - which blight the lives of those people that have them and their families who have to look after them. Of course we must do everything to eliminate unnecessary suffering but at the end of the day, it's a stark choice: it's your child or a macaque. You make your choice and you live with the consequences."
posted by ZachsMind at 8:32 AM on May 20, 2006

Wow, that was a lot more fun than i expected it to be. i particularly like how crammed in the spaceships the humans are, it implies that we are not just going to visit other planets, we are going to swarm over them.

Good stuff.
posted by quin at 9:25 AM on May 20, 2006

ZachsMind: didn't Alistair Kent mean: 'it's stark choice: it's your child or several thousand macaques, and even then we're not sure we're going to find a cure'.

You know what's funny? Besides human children, macaques truly are the most annoying, back-stabbing and selfish animals I've ever had the discomfort of meeting in my life, and I'm still morally opposed to this.
posted by Zombie Dreams at 9:53 AM on May 20, 2006

you humans are a disease, a cancer on this planet. And we, we are the cure.
posted by delmoi at 10:41 AM on May 20, 2006

Drink more.


Drink more.


Drink... more.
posted by blacklite at 2:16 AM on May 22, 2006