Unabridged Media Critique (see number 3)

Bravest Warriors Episode 1, Time Slime: Episode

Try this one if the first one doesn't work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpDOscUDQ_0

Bravest Warriors is an animated-short comedy series created by Pendleton Ward in 2012 (he also birthed Adventure Time, 2010). The plot is loosely based on four teens who save people and fight evil monsters.

Pendleton Ward has a unique style of storytelling and it is apparent in all his stories. I think Time Slime opens a whole new level of cartoon realism relying heavily on verbal spontaneity, narrative 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. Another aspect of this storytelling technique is its unexpectedness. With a plot set up like in Time Slime the audience would expect the heros to defeat the monster but in this story not only do the characters die, they also walk away! Pen Ward is also a sucker for inciting a dark backstory to his bright and childlike cartoons (In Adventure Time there was the Mushroom War that wiped all of humanity except Finn). Characters in the story very quickly incite ‘The Great Time Catastrophe’ and ‘the see through zone’. This adds the illusion that the audience is jumping into the action rather than seeing it from the beginning. Finally, Time Slime is 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. Naturally audience draws 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, first the main base, then the moon base, then the time room. The end climax is reached because of a previous incident in the story (Pixel’s jealousy) 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.

Now doing some digging I found a quote from Pen Ward about Bravest Warriors it goes like this, “I wanted teens fighting monsters in space with their emotions”. Without that knowledge it is hard to discern that these characters are fighting monsters with their emotions. If you were to review the episode Time Slime again you would realize that there are many different hints to the powers of emotion besides the obvious climax inclusion. In the beginning of the episode Danny explains that he’s taking “moop management classes”. We’ve already determined that moop is a synonym for emotion (Yes it is hard to tell that it means ‘emotion’ from that specific quote. At first it seems like ‘anger’ would be the more appropriate term but later in the episode anger wouldn’t work as a substitute for moop). The director decides to reintroduce this idea later in the episode not only for its humor but also for its importance to the story line. There is also evident emotional tension between Wallow and Gael from past experiences. There is the very sudden sacrifice of Chris’ life for Beth’s, grated a very hard one to catch not having seen anything else (my first reaction was ‘what just happened?’) but it shows the emotional bond between them. Finally there is the climax where the power of love, then hate, determines the characters’ fate. So over all as a pilot episode it does a very good job of inciting one of its main purposes that most people do not realize.

To determine the aesthetics of Time Slime I rigged up some tools to help me visualize eye trace and the rule of thirds. To measure the aesthetics for the Rule of Thirds I used a ruler, measuring tape, thread, tape, and my tv to determine where the four crosshairs are. To measure the eye trace I used a tripod, stabilizers, and my glass dry erase board. For eye trace I sat perfectly still and quickly plotted the eye trace using the glass board as a lens. The rule of thirds was generally followed very well, especially in images I’ve attached to the blog post. I also found that the cartoons action was never held on the outlying areas of the screen, all contained within or near the center of the television. When I paid specific attention to eye trace I noticed a pattern that emerged. Not only were the points of interest rather clustered but also when the point moved, it generally moved to the right. See the pictures way below for more detail!

Thanks for taking the time to read my long unabridged critique of Time Slime!

PS: I want to get into the topic of why Pen Ward’s material is so popular among kids and adults but that’d take a really long time… Basically… it’s because of nostalgia.

This is the end of one cut which leads directly to....

.... this one! The red oval constant over the two shots

Eye trace plots

This displays the right directional motion of the eye trace. At one point the far left dot moves the trace to the orange dot which then cuts to the next orange dot, the eye trace was a combination of movement and editing shots.

Danny and Chris are framed in the top two cross hairs

Great example of rule of thirds. Gael is framed in the top right while the other characters are grouped together in the bottom left corner. In context of the story Gale also has power because she can choose not to accept their help, this framing shot gives Gael power over the characters.

Danny and Chris are lined up along the left and right lines of the screen. Their heads fit in the crosshairs. Danny's circle button fits very nicely over the bottom left crosshair as well.