I'm with Stupid

If you would ask me what I am doing right now, my answer would have to be that I am not at all working on my final animation. Okay, so maybe in my head I am trying to make a bit of a story out of it all, but that's all very little compared to the other stuff I do at a daily basis. 

The other stuff would be the research I am doing for my graduation thesis. This thesis is supposed to complement my final poject, so it only makes sense that it should be the first thing I finish. That aside, I also want to finish the thing just to get it out of the way. Mind you, I am enjoying my thesis subject, but it is kinda in the way of what I REALLY want to do. So I am trying to plough my way through the thing as fast as possible.

The title of my thesis (as it is now) is 'I'm with Stupid', and it is going to be about comedy between two or more characters. There are lots of thesis at my school about comedy, some thesis about characters, but so far I have found no thesis that really covers the chemistry between two characters. Why is Spongebob with Patrick funny, even if they are both dumb? What is funny about the conflict between Zim and Dib in Invader Zim? This interests me a great deal, as to me, characters are the heart of a cartoon. So I really want to see why some characters work so well together, in order to flesh out my own characters for my final animation.

Right now, I am looking at some books (and reading them too, yes) about comedy in general. Since I will have to cover it anyway, it seems the smart thing to do, is to just get that part over with. After that, I will look somewhat more at the characters themselves (though I have some pretty good ideas already in that area), as well as doing some case studies, which most likely are going to be Spongebob Squarepants and Invader Zim. Funny, I always figured myself a Cartoon Network geek, but end up with two Nickelodeon shows.... Still, Cartoon Network builds on Nick's ideas, so I guess it's kinda logical :).

This was Joost, reporting for duty... now to get some coffee.

Brand New Showreel!

Hey everyone!

Though I do have some material lying around concerning my project, I think it isn't a good idea to overflow you with everything just yet. Instead, I'll try and post two or three things a week to give you a good idea of the progress.

Still, to tide you over until the actual project content comes... Here's a little something I put together today: a new showreel. The last one was two years old, and the material was a bit dated. This reel contains a lot of clips of the copyrighted stuff I've done and that you won't likely be seeing on youtube, but if you REALLY are interested, just ask me and I'll look up some stuff. For now, please have fun watching the showreel.

Let's get this party started!

Welcome to my blog! My name is Joost Vis, and I am a 2D animation student from Holland. I am currently in my last year, and am now in the planning phases for my graduation animation. For this animation I intend to make a pilot for an animated series, something that is extremely rare in Holland. People over here tend to make either commercial animations, or animated shorts. Though those might be great fun in and of themselves, I think there are plenty of Dutch animators who would like to go more towards the animated series branch. 

So what is my goal? My goal is, firstly, to graduate. But that won't be as hard. What's more important, is that I am going to try create a Dutch animation company that will be making animated series. That's a very, very though goal, and it might be way too ambitious. But nobody seems to be doing it, so I will probably be the very first to try this.

In this blog, I will try and keep you updated on my project. I will try and give you a 'behind the scenes' look. I will post my sources of inspiration, as well as how my research and the project itself are going. This way, by the end, I hope to have a great 'diary' for the project, that is not only interesting to me, but also to people who are working with me, or want to do so in the future. Feel free to comment in any way or at any time! All help is appreciated.

To infinity, and beyond!

Joost