paintraseapea

PICTURE: Bird Poo Humor

Added 2024-05-17 23:02:09 +0000 UTC

So, during production of PART 2 of my next Mashed cartoon, I was suggested to add a particular joke to the animatic.

Essentially, there's a scene with a giant bird. And Tom wrote in his notes for the animatic that it should make a big poo on Eggman's head. My internal gut reaction was "What the hell? I'm not doing that." It would have required extra voice acting and just added a weird bump in the middle of the scene, all for Bird Poo Humor.

Look, I'll be real. I don't think I'm above a little Bird Poo Humor. I wouldn't personally think to add Bird Poo Humor to any of my cartoons. However, at Mashed, there's a lot of collaboration, and I usually like to work with what they give me. I could have rejected it, but I wanted to see what I could do with it.

Ultimately, I was actually really really happy with how it turned out. I think I legitimately made it work to a point where it bolstered the surrounding scene as a whole. I was kind of impressed with myself, honestly.

Here's an excerpt from the script:

ALT: POO SCENE
A giant heap of Flicky droppings splashes on the ground in front of Eggman, soiling his black boots.
EGGMAN:
Classy. (Shouting up to the sky) Well, just know the moment I’m back to size, I’ll have to lay waste to your entire ecosystem! (Muttering) Lousy woodland creatures. I ought to incinerate them all.
As Eggman mutters, a colossal, ominous silhouette looms behind him. A hot puff of fog spews onto his back.

And then it continues as I had initially planned from there.

Essentially, this is planting the seed for Eggman's hatred of cutesy small animals, which pays off later, and it also provides a moment for Eggman to boast his superiority in between two moments in the script where he displays sniveling cowardice, which is classic comedy in my eyes.

I'm eager to know what you all think of this, especially in context of the final video. Is it too far? Have a trudged too deep in the aviary septic? Are we pro- or anti-bird poo humor?