How to Kill A Mockingbird

[ThePolkadog]

THIS IS AWESOME!

[Chin3seDragon]

Wow you really caught the characteristics of a bird, the way they walk and shake their body, this is a great animation, only thing I didn't like was the last dog sounding more like it's wimping. Anyways, do you have a pet bird?

[4orkast]

Silly critics...

[Ilikepurplemangos]

Wow this is amazing!

[2000pokedude]

This is really cool how long did it take u to make that?

[MelissaVDP17]

@2000pokedude Thank you! It took about 2 1/2 to 3 months to create this from start to finish.

[BigDogJang0]

ranch. googe. com

[Pencilinator]

YOU LAUGH,YOU LOSE

[dearsilence]

This is REALLY nice- I love the part around 0:33- the movement is really dramatic, yet fluid and believable at the same time. Pretty exceptional for a freshman, from what I've seen on here. I'm trying to get in next spring, so wish me luck- hopefully I'll do as well as you have here. :0)

[FoxDemonNightmare]

lmao, very nice XD

[Chris477470]

pete van der pardtt is our music teacher :)

[MissSJAnimations]

This is a really brilliant animation! I loved the expressions on all of the characters! Really well done! Keep it up!

[kusanagisama]

A bird won't get electrocuted by squeezing the wires. It must create a path between one live wire and a ground or two live wires. So, when birds are sitting on a single wire, they are effectively part of the wire.

[MelissaVDP17]

@kusanagisama I know, in the animatic the bird's tail tipped to touch another wire in order to become electrocuted. However most of the people I showed it to didn't understand what was happening at the end, so I ended up changing it to something that made more sense to the general public. The animatic is also on my channel if you're interested.

[kusanagisama]

@MelissaVDP17 Hehe, that comment shows just how stupid the general public is.

[ChickenWingStudios]

This is fantastic - I especially love your style! I smiled throughout the whole thing :)

[SaturdaysEleven]

Fantastic animation, and genuinely funny- I giggled at the bloodhound imitation. :D

[ninjaman690]

this is sik! i love it wen he lands nd he shakes his feathers. tht was pure talent

[wingfire94]

wow, pure genius! poor mockingbird! i love it every time he fluffs out his feathers :D

[TheCouragousGirl]

Am I the only one who noticed that when the dog is running and barking and when the dog is leaning against the fence the sound effect for barking is playing but the dogs mouth isn't moving?

[MelissaVDP17]

@TheCouragousGirl Unfortunately for these films there's only so much time for animation, so stuff often is left out when it creates unnecessary pencil mileage. That, and the sound is added later once animation is already finished. It sounded odd not to have barking immediately after the mockingbird made a face, so I went ahead and added it despite it not being animated.

[TheCouragousGirl]

@MelissaVDP17 I understand, it was just an observation. This is a great animation, regardless.

[elvis4ever1935]

Ahahah xD

That only wasnt cool, that was funny! :D Good job

[merefin]

Thunderbolt was super effective!

[Cinedragon]

That was incredible! Amazing that you got into CalArts. I'm a European and it's my dream to once be a CalArts student.

Plus, the humour in this video is really good and original. Like the bird's wings imitating the bloodhound's ears :D 5/5!!!

[SharpieSabre]

HOLY SHIT that was awesome

[Iamagirlelfsexshop]

This is just great dood. Legit this was for a freshman film class? I'd love to see what kind of things you'll put together after school.

[dgrauberg]

well....i guess thats how to kill a mockingbird

[Soundwallz]

this was wonderful, the humor gave me a good laugh(:

i really like how the mockingbird fluffs up and sticks out his chest and such

great job~

[lolzfornoobs]

0:19 FATTY!

0:56 big eyeballed weirdo!

1:21 lazy Longear!

[StrikerZero6]

Rofl, Karma's a b*tch, and she'll getcha every one ; )

[darylsudden]

Very nice :)

[Nanakiangel23]

I love your final, the animation was fantastic, will this be in color?

[MelissaVDP17]

@Nanakiangel23 Thank you! =) Naw, this is the final version. I was thinking of possibly colored just the backgrounds during production but I didn't feel it was fully necessary for the story. That, and first-year CalArts films are supposed to be in black/white.

[DJacKnifeAlpha]

lol does it MATTER if the animation is realistic or not? It was funny and well made.

[queenesther09]

I plan to go to CalArts when I finish at Ai Minnesota... I've heard their 2d programs are great and a lot of Disney animators went there, and working there is my ultimate goal

[RotitaYamaneko]

The fluffing up of the bird was beautiful. Great character to him!

[malarky345]

hahaha! thats so funny! i love it!

[n3rdycow]

So the only thing you've taken so far was character animation? What about experimental animation, is that any good?

[MelissaVDP17]

@n3rdycow Character animation is a major not a class, so yes that is the only set of classes I've taken. Experimental I've heard is a pretty good program as well, there's a lot of really cool classes like puppeteering/stop motion. Character Animation students are open to taking the classes, but usually 1st and 2nd year character students have their schedules planned out for them so it's tough to take much of anything else. Some students have been able to pull it off though.

[ZukotheCat]

Oh, this is so adorable. Karma is a lovely thing, eh?

[SovietMudkipTheTiger]

Im sorry man ... but electricity doesnt work like that ... Wire couldve have killed the bird ... even an human standing on that ONE lonely wire wouldnt kill him ...

[MelissaVDP17]

@SovietMudkipTheTiger I know, the original(which was also uploaded to my channel) included a version where the bird was touching two wires and thus getting shocked. However, I wasn't sure if it was a well-known enough fact to be used for shocking the bird, so the more obvious(but much less possible) idea of having the bird's claws dig through the rubber of the wire was chosen instead.

[rockinsocks93]

Mr. Nichols showed this to me in art class and it made me laugh so hard:) i want to get into animating too and i love your style especially since it is close to mine. Awesome job and i hope you will continue to make these hilarious short films:)

[narrowedeyes]

This is what he gets for messing with PUGS.

I saw a mocking bird attacking a kitten once. The birds have too much spine for their own good.

[ujana19]

this is just wonderful!

[eyedirector]

this is by far the only video on youtube to make me laugh so hard!! I love it!

[johnkhackney]

Melissa I knew  you were talented! This was brilliant!! Love the punchline! We wish you the best!!!! Love you Marianneeee

[TheReignofSilence]

LOL, that is so cute and funny, that Mocking Bird deserved what he got for being so mean

[DisneySinger12]

That was amazing! Great animation, and the drawings were amazing! I hope to go to CalArts too for animation and I'll be taking CART next year! :D

[guaglianone1960]

This is wonderful!

Keep up the great work!

[dinodude19]

excelent, funny and very high quality animation

[Left4Courtney]

That's awesome! Great job!

[xGamermonkeyx]

Absolutely awesome. Especially with the animation and character design. The design just looks perfect and it's very malleable, so you can get real expression and character out of it ^^

I totally love it, keep it up! ^^

[iciewolf]

OMG XD So deserved!

[autumnleaf50]

cool xD

[komamuras0wolfgirl]

I love the fluffy little birdy!

[LeoOgawaLillrank]

you are a great animal drawer!! nice job!!

[mirrorkat23]

lol, that was absolutely adorable!

Your style's great for this, just perfect for the comical effect. :D

[enquaynay]

Ohmygoooood, that was awesome! Great story, and the motions on the bird were great! I LOVED the kinda... shaking settling thing he did. x) And the sound effects were perfect!

Good job!

[nalasanddemon]

XD That ending was brilliant

[vdp61]

Amazing! Really funny.