Friday, December 14, 2007

YouTube analysis: "You get away from here!"


This is one of the most animated live-action clips I've ever seen. The timing is simply perfect!

A few things I've noticed:

  1. Much of the charm here comes from the contrast between the busy, wild 7 seconds of the beginning, and the remaining 5 seconds of quiet aftermath.
  2. The dog detaches and leaves not at once, but gradually. It reminds me that the principle of arcs is much broader than we usually give it credit for: things tend to change direction over time, not in a single moment.
  3. Another gradient is his posture. He's hunched down for the first 6 seconds or so, then straightens in three beats:
    00:06 - slightly straighter, the dog is further now
    00:07 - almost fully upright, but his back is still arched forward - he's still inside the situation
    00:10 - fully upright, spine arch reversed, he's out of the situation.
  4. His arm up when he says "you go" is clearly an act of pride and victory.
  5. For the first 10 seconds, the only thing in the world is that dog. This we see through change: when he feels the crisis to be over, he looks at the photographer - the rest of the world is relevant again
I'm sure there's more - feel free add your own observations.

Kudos for Shuki Gamliel, who sent me the link.

3 comments:

Eric said...

Wow, great observations! :)

This feels quite minor compared to the analysis of the mini-story in the video, but I just love the dialogue. There's something almost poeticly arranged about it:

"Arrrggghhhhhh!
You get away-[rrghhhh]!!
You, get away from here.
You, get away from here.
You, get away from here.
You, go!"

I could very easily see that printed up on a lyric sheet for some brutal-and-angsty type of song.

Doron Meir said...

Great Scott, you're right :-) there's a rhythm there that really works. Thanks Eric!

Liron Topaz said...

Wow, such a nice catch Doron, and Shuki. This reminds me of the wonderful 1960s-1970s Disney's animations. Such as the Aristocats. Everything seems to be choreographed so well. And to see that in home video live action is really rare.