HAMMERHEAD - Puppets of War v55- OFFSPRING - DIY Animation!

[RedSox6588]

this so should have won

[VJFranzK]

@RedSox6588 Thanks! I worked REALLY hard on this. Actually the grand prize winner was a similar but SIMPLER animation by a high school kid. ;-) Perhaps they decided to give him a $10,000 encouragement for the future? Or perhaps the political / supernatural elements of my video were too weird... BUT the official video for this song is ALSO very satirical? So who knows...

Whoever ran the contest kept us totally in the dark about everything the entire time, very disapointing.

[thehurricanegh]

franz keller??? are you from germay or your parents???

[BlastinTrex]

THIS SHOULD HAVE WON LOVED IT

[VJFranzK]

thanks! I'm making more puppet videos now... check back soon

[VJFranzK]

Hang on! I'm about to upload a newer version 65!

[monturner]

excellent ! Im watching with a hangover at half two in the morning with the sound turned down! Completely different to anything ive seen as a VJ. Is this a nle job or played live ?

[VJFranzK]

thanks! I aim to "do something different".

this one was heavily edited - from live puppet blue screen footage! I have a lot of examples of totally live VJing on my main YT page, though? Cheers, -VjF.K

[VJFranzK]

If you must know, this is what I think happens in this video -

you'll see it does actually make a story!

SPOILER WARNING!

PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO AND

THINK ABOUT IT BEFORE READING THIS? ;-)

----------

PUPPETS OF WAR

We enter a world of ink and paper -

an epic story drawn by an unknown hand?

[VJFranzK]

After World War 3, there were no humans left on Earth.

In this contaminated world, the animals evolved* and mutated.

(*or I like to think that they were "Intelligently Designed?' ;-)

Two great armies began World War 4! -

The Catnadians (in green) "A United Empire"

Rabitqstan ( in orange ) "A Rogue Republic"

They both believed that their way of life was "the only true way",

so no peace could be found.

[VJFranzK]

"Joe Felini" was a soldier in the Catnadian army.

He marched into battle with a smile, because he believed

strongly in protecting his people.

He was assigned to investigate "The Rabbit Hole",

a bar suspected to be a headquarters of the "Terror Rabbits"!

He threw open the door, and there was a fierce warrior with a sword,

ready to protect his wife, a belly dancer. Joe drew his combat knife...

[VJFranzK]

It turned into a huge, chaotic fight / slam dance competiton at the Rabbit Hole!

The Cat Nurse shut her eyes and cried at the sight of such carnage.

Meanwhile at sea, General Smokey was leading from the SS Catfish.

His opponent was Sheik Rabbitquistan himself!

Smokey believed the "scale of justice" was leaning in his favor,

and envisioned "lady luck" favoring their side.

[xmadvicx]

Very cool animation style! Good job.

[VJFranzK]

On land, the war had devolved into a crazy videogame,

where the only goal was to "crush the enemy", until there was "nothing left".

At that moment,

Joe had a vision - he was really just a "Puppet of War"...

he was just "doing what he was told" without thinking for himself.

"who was really the puppetmaster?"

[VJFranzK]

HE SUDDELY REALIZED HIS WORLD WAS NOT REAL AT ALL.

It was an insane creation made by an unknown hand.

He was just a puppet hanging by strings, from the hand of the Puppetmaster!

(He was a just dancing video on a screen!)

By this knowledge, his strings were cut, and he fell into an abyss.

Meanwhile, out on the battlefield,

the "Motorcycle Badass Cat" attacked a convoy of

enemy war supply trucks with a flamethrower!

Suddenly there was quiet... a great calm before the storm?

[VJFranzK]

A huge nuclear doomsday bomb was falling from the sky!

In the end, it didn't matter who had fired it...

the entire world EXPLODED!

The soldiers were thrown like ants in a hurricane of fire.

Joe and all the soldiers burned up,

Joe's angel rose up, and they found themselves in PUPPET HELL!

This place too was ruled by the Puppet Master,

who now revealed himself as a man in

a gothic striped shirt and devil mask,

using his claws to manipulate the Puppets of War...

[VJFranzK]

In "The Valley of Death", they were tormented by

The Reaper and various punk rock demons!

(There was a concert in Hell? Of course.)

Angel Joe wrestled with the hand of the Puppet Master,

trying to take away a Magic Brush,

which had drawn them all in the first place!

The demons continued their mad party,

until Joe used the Magic Brush to knock them out...

[VJFranzK]

He escaped Puppet Hell and flew off into the "Tunnel of Light",

off to Heaven, Freedom, or wherever?

With the Magic Brush, he could now "draw his own destiny"!

[kbanshee]

Looks great Franz! I like the style and I like the abstract narrative. I don't think it has to be some overly laidout narrative that is ultra obvious. Storylines are overrated.

[VJFranzK]

Cheers guys!  Glad to see your friendly faces. (Er... typefaces? ;-)

[TimHocker]

I applaud you for the amount of time this must have taken you. It was cool and very creative but I was going crazy just trying to see everything that was on screen at once and I couldn't pick up on any kind of story line (if there was one).

[VJFranzK]

And I was going crazy making it. ;-) ha ha (see "eye candy" below)

Okay, just for the record I will type a quick story synopsis here in a minute, so you guys can see that I do have a story, and it isn't just visual chaos.

[mattLPP]

great job man! Editing is awesome

[PsychosomaticAddict]

As a film editor, I can see how much work you put into this. A lot of layers. And might I add, you did a fantastic job in the composition. Great work.

[afroextreem]

i have one more opinion im not a fan of the lyrics on the video. and the locked and loaded part im not a fan of. other than that love the video 5 stars

[afroextreem]

great job man

[roguescribe]

I liked the previous incarnation also, I'd like to give some const. criticism. The style is great, definitely your strong point. There are points in the song that demand a cut, but the video was static. My main concern is that there wasn't a cohesive storyline. I was psyched about the story of a rabbit vs cat war, and what would unfold. To me it just seems like a bunch of cool, yet unrelated visual stimuli. Sometimes less is more, and cutting back on the "noise" would be good. Keep at it.

[VJFranzK]

you can tell that I have a background of abstract "video art" and "eye candy" for raves, can't you? ;-) But characters and storyline are VERY important to me - I want them "to LIVE" - albiet in their own twisted alternate dimension? There IS a plot here - perhaps I need to continue to clarify it. I'd like to describe it in words to you! But I don't want to ruin (or taint) the experience of the viewers by "telling them what to see". I want them to have their own unique opinion of it.

[VJFranzK]

Thats a major difference between american films and euro / japanese anime (which I have been heavily influnced by) - over here, it's "TELL exactly what happened" - over there it's more "hint or show clues"... very subtle, like a ghost guarding the meaning...

you have to follow the ghost

[dirytmagic]

haha nice dude...digging the got nurse lol

[VJFranzK]

she's in the "hell" scene also... dancing with a "demon octopus"? or perhaps that's her sister...