3. Media Critique

Bravest Warriors Episode 1, Time Slime: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpDOscUDQ_0

Bravest Warriors is an animated-short comedy series created by Pendleton Ward (Adventure Time). The plot is loosely based on four teens who save people and fight evil monsters.

I think Time Slime opens a whole new level of cartoon realism relying heavily on verbal spontaneity and creative humor. The characters of Bravest Warriors use a new style of language that might begin to catch on with the next generation. Specifically, the characters use slang like “moop” to mean emotion and they change phrases like, “we have to go,” into “we got’s to book”. Not only is their dialogue different but their delivery is deviant (alliterations galore) of other cartoons. In Time Slime there are a few lulls in conversation that are reflective of natural conversation but not of cartoon conversation. Time Slime is also unique because of its humor. The comedy is a mix of both adult and child humor that draws upon multiple concepts of humor. One example is the reoccurrence of Danny’s middle finger. In improvisation techniques it’s taught that having situations reoccur are funnier than trying to tell jokes. Another example is the use of unexpected situations. During the scene with Prof. Fartsparkles a character yells, “Pour the slime” and there are sirens buzzing and machinery moving to prepare to pour the slime. The audience will then draw humor from the fact that the machinery didn’t actually hold the slime, it held a small person inside with a small bucket of slime with which a small amount was poured.

As a story, Time Slime follows a very sound plot structure. There is an apparent three-act structure in the story just from the setting locations. The end climax is reached because of a previous incident in the story (the glove) that brings the story full circle. Time Slime also does a good job of foreshadowing; later in the Bravest Warriors series it is revealed that Chris has a crush on Beth, they are two of the stories main characters. When the monster starts killing the characters Chris sacrifices himself for Beth, foreshadowing a secondary storyline that deals with Chris’s and Beth’s relationship.

To determine the aesthetics of Time Slime I rigged up some tools to help me visualize eye trace and the rule of thirds. In the pictures I show an example of a cut that utilizes good eye trace technique (titled Eye Trace pt 1 and pt 2) and some scenes that follow the rule of thirds perfectly.

I have more to say but adding another aspect to this blog will put it over 500 words. I have also posted my unabridged critique for anyone who wants to read it.