Wednesday, August 16, 2006

YING YANG YO? YING YANG NO!

Steve Marmel contacted me on myspace wanting me to check his new show, Yin Yang Yo! It's a new show by Disney/Jetix that will debut Labour Day weekend. The producers, Steve Marmel and Bob Boyle, were the heads behind the hit Fairly OddParents and Marmel was also part of the brains behind other goodies like Johnny Bravo and Danny Phantom. So based on this track record I'd say we have another hit. But first impressions lead me to believe otherwise.



The character designs of the two main rabbits are great as they follow the style already familiar to us through shows like Danny Phantom and Fairly OddParents. But the rest of the characters look out of place. While the rabbits are round, all of the other characters are square and box-like. They don't look like they exist in the same world. However, I'm sure that it was intentional.

The main thing that bugs me is that this show will be added to the big pile of Flash animated shows currently overloading the animation market. I just don't like the way Flash makes things move. I'd much rather see these characters in a more traditional style of animation like Powerpuff Girls. Flash animation just seems to be a way for corporate execs to churn out new programs like a giant panda with diarrhea. Flash should stay on the internet and not infiltrate our television sets.

Steve, if you are reading this, I am excited for this show. But I hope the stories are really good because I don't think I'm too impressed with the animation.

6 comments:

Katie said...

I don't see what the big problem is with flash animation. No, it doesn't look exactly like traditional animation, but that's like complaining that 3D doesn't look like traditional animation. It's a different medium, it's meant to look different.

I like the look of it. I associate it with kids shows, smooth movement, clean lines. It's just a different style. Don't get me wrong, I much prefer traditional animation any day of the week simply because that's my prefered aesthetic. But if the director chooses to use Flash, then fine. It's not less of a cartoon or more about the big execs getting what they want. It's a style choice and that's what kids like right now.

Besides it's the only thing out there providing jobs for those poor 2D animators.

Kurtis Findlay said...

Local animator Jayson Thiessen says this:

"The challenge is making the animation not look like it was animated in Flash. Too many people just slide around symbols and pass it off as TV quality. I treat Flash like just a fancy high-tech pencil and paper."

This was taken from an interesting article about Flash animation with the pros and cons of the medium.

I do enjoy the well done Flash shows like Clone Wars that put effort into making it look good. But there are a lot of shows out there that don't do that. I'll need to see a whole episode of Yin Yang Yo! to be sure.

coolshades said...

Well sheesh...I didn't even know this was a completely different kind of animation. I always wondered why it looked a bit different than regular 2D animation, though.

I'm learning so much from your blog... :P

Steve said...

Hey hey.

I appreciate the kind and constructive commentary.

To me, there are two reasons to use flash. One, sure, is that it's less expensive than traditional 2D animation.

But the other is that it gives you control of the cartoon long past the return of the first footage. If you have a team of people in house, you have the ability to continue to tweak the episode all the way up until it's delivered.

And for the comedy, it gives you the ability to do the best joke you can up with... whenever you come up with it. Verbal or visual.

So... I hope ya like it. I'm proud of it. But even if you don't, thanks for taking a peek.

- Steve

Kurtis Findlay said...

Hey Steve, like I said before, your track record is great so I have no doubt that you know what you are doing.

I'll check it out for sure.

Anonymous said...

Saw it. It's peurile, loud, and stupid - pure Marmel from what I can see. After watching "The Fairly Oddparents" eventually take a seat on the porcelain bus, my kids and I won't be wasting too much time on this after sitting through the Labor Day marathon (and it wasn't a "labor" of love, believe me - farting talking animals! yay! Yep, just can't get ENOUGH of those!) The bland Flash animation is the least of this show's worries IMO. I have no interest in letting my kids get inundated with more of the "give-kids-what-they-want-instead-of-what-they-need" stuff that's just about ruined the worth of Nickelodeon. Lying? Stealing? Cool! Feeling guilty over mistreating somebody? Not cool! No thanks, Marmel. Go back to your stand-up. Kids deserve better than this.