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> One thing I really appreciate about the show is the music [...] The music is great but many shows have great music. What makes Bluey stand out for me is the

by eru 2y ago

> One thing I really appreciate about the show is the music [...] The music is great but many shows have great music. What makes Bluey stand out for me is their commitment to 'avant-garde' formal constraints. Some examples: - In the episode 'Faceytalk' they never once break from the perspective of the iPad. - In 'Rain' there's not a single word of audible dialog. - In 'Turtle Boy' there's lots of sign language. Remember, characters in Bluey only have four fingers. The people making the show rose to the challenge of creating proper dialogue using only signs you can make with four fingers. I imagine that's about equivalent to writing English text without the latter 'e'. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Void https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Void)

prismatic 2y ago
Love this comment. Had never thought about Bluey and Oulipo in the same sentence before, but you're definitely on to something.
- eru 2y ago
  I only noticed the brilliance of Faceytalk when I looked over the shoulder of my daughter watching a recreation of the episode someone had done with merch dolls and put up on YouTube Kids. The recreation sadly broke the strict rule of 'singe take / no cuts, iPad view only', but that drove home to me how great the original was.
disillusioned 2y ago
The behind the scenes of Rain shows just how many effects shots they animated, and just how laborious the process was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GYwru8RdGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GYwru8RdGQ They also break the 4th wall specifically by showing the animator's point of view in a really fun sequence at the end of Puppets, and it's just... such a treat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvVl0CW670 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvVl0CW670
- eru 2y ago
  Thanks!
worthless-trash 2y ago
From YT: --- Video unavailable The uploader has not made this video available in your country. -- Wow, bluey team, not available. IN AUSTRALIA. Thanks.
- eru 2y ago
  If anything, I would expect Bluey to be less available on YouTube in Australia than in some other random country, because they are more likely to have special local arrangements there with the rights holders. YouTube is convenient, but it's not the only place where people might want to put their content.
  - worthless-trash 2y ago
    Oh for sure, but this is a behind the scenes.. from what I was lead to believe, I don't think ive seen this locally anywhere else.
knolan 2y ago
This reminded me. There was an episode of Modern Family made entirely on Apple devices.
TeMPOraL 2y ago
Can't mention 'Rain' without linking to the official song composed to the music from that episode - "Boldly in the Pretend": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhXgxriJPY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhXgxriJPY. I broke down in tears the first time I listened to it and paid attention to lyrics. (Then I put it on a loop when everyone was asleep, and cried a couple times more. This episode combined with the song caused a major adjustment in my attitude to parenting pretty much overnight; it hit a nerve running that deep.)
- noman-land 2y ago
  This is a really sweet story. Thanks for sharing it. Out of curiosity, what was the adjustment you made in your parenting? Being more playful or something?
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    The major thing was realizing my wife and I care way too much about kids getting dirty in play. This came mostly from being overwhelmed by laundry and cleaning up (and sand, sand f-in everywhere). The other big thing was, I grew so fixated about my own job and various adult stuff, that I actually kind of hated the playground, and often felt impatient when playing (wanting to get back to million unfinished adult things). I got stuck in a self-centered and rather sad mode of thinking, and with my wife going through her own hardships, we found it too easy to just let the kids do jigsaws or play with bricks, rather than playing with them or taking them somewhere. The song broke me down, and broke me out of my various mental loops, long enough to realize how deeply unsatisfied I am with how I act as a parent. Not just in the usual, system-2 "I realize my performance is suboptimal, I vow to improve it" way. I actually felt the weight of everything, of how much we, how much growth and happiness I am denying our girls, and it flipped something in me permanently that night. Adult problems were still there, but I suddenly felt I really want to play more, and I absolutely want to take them to playground, which became priority more important than work, and generally made me stress a little less about everything. And so I did stay on the playground the next day, and I loved it, and things really got better and happier for everyone from that day on. Specific things: we stopped minding the sand that much - which meant we started going to the other playground nearby, that's mostly built inside a big sandbox. Kids love it. And I started to engage with some of the more absurd imaginary stories my older daughter comes up with, to her great delight. And ever since, there was no more "can't do X/Y/Z, daddy needs to finish something for work" - I decided that, in Muffin's words, "this is unacceptable!"[0]. It's hard to put into words. It probably all sounds mundane from the outside, but inside of me, the change was as profound as it was unexpected. Switches flipped, priorities realigned, emotions purged. This was a big thing for me. But there's a lot of smaller things I took away from Bluey, too, that I feel makes me a better parent. It's truly a special show. -- [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqAlhCUgAVI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqAlhCUgAVI
sandworm101 2y ago
The no-dialogue thing is an industry trick. It can allow for animation to start prior to the vocals being recorded and therefore provide some wiggle room in the production process. Simpsons did something similar with the couch gags which were detached from the plot and so could be worked on regardless of vocal progress. More recently, Bojack Horseman also had a no-dialogue episode.
- eru 2y ago
  That's an interesting aspect! Creativity thrives on constraints. For the 'industry trick' part you can get most of the benefit from going 'most of the way'. Ie you get almost the same wiggle room, if 90% of your scenes are without dialogue, and 10% are voiced. For the artistic effect, there's a big difference between 90% and 100%. (Sparse dialogue is also a perfectly valid artistic choice, but it's doesn't make much sense to analyse it as '90% of a no-dialogue' piece.) I've mostly come to appreciate 'pantomime' in web comics. Many comics go overboard with text, be that speech bubbles, thought bubble or narration boxes. It's always interesting to me to see an author work out how use the medium to its full advantage, instead of writing a novel.

by eru 2y ago

prismatic 2y ago

Love this comment. Had never thought about Bluey and Oulipo in the same sentence before, but you're definitely on to something.

eru 2y ago
I only noticed the brilliance of Faceytalk when I looked over the shoulder of my daughter watching a recreation of the episode someone had done with merch dolls and put up on YouTube Kids. The recreation sadly broke the strict rule of 'singe take / no cuts, iPad view only', but that drove home to me how great the original was.

disillusioned 2y ago

The behind the scenes of Rain shows just how many effects shots they animated, and just how laborious the process was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GYwru8RdGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GYwru8RdGQ They also break the 4th wall specifically by showing the animator's point of view in a really fun sequence at the end of Puppets, and it's just... such a treat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvVl0CW670 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvVl0CW670

eru 2y ago
Thanks!

worthless-trash 2y ago

From YT: --- Video unavailable The uploader has not made this video available in your country. -- Wow, bluey team, not available. IN AUSTRALIA. Thanks.

eru 2y ago
If anything, I would expect Bluey to be less available on YouTube in Australia than in some other random country, because they are more likely to have special local arrangements there with the rights holders. YouTube is convenient, but it's not the only place where people might want to put their content.
- worthless-trash 2y ago
  Oh for sure, but this is a behind the scenes.. from what I was lead to believe, I don't think ive seen this locally anywhere else.

knolan 2y ago

This reminded me. There was an episode of Modern Family made entirely on Apple devices.

TeMPOraL 2y ago

Can't mention 'Rain' without linking to the official song composed to the music from that episode - "Boldly in the Pretend": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhXgxriJPY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhXgxriJPY. I broke down in tears the first time I listened to it and paid attention to lyrics. (Then I put it on a loop when everyone was asleep, and cried a couple times more. This episode combined with the song caused a major adjustment in my attitude to parenting pretty much overnight; it hit a nerve running that deep.)

noman-land 2y ago
This is a really sweet story. Thanks for sharing it. Out of curiosity, what was the adjustment you made in your parenting? Being more playful or something?
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  The major thing was realizing my wife and I care way too much about kids getting dirty in play. This came mostly from being overwhelmed by laundry and cleaning up (and sand, sand f-in everywhere). The other big thing was, I grew so fixated about my own job and various adult stuff, that I actually kind of hated the playground, and often felt impatient when playing (wanting to get back to million unfinished adult things). I got stuck in a self-centered and rather sad mode of thinking, and with my wife going through her own hardships, we found it too easy to just let the kids do jigsaws or play with bricks, rather than playing with them or taking them somewhere. The song broke me down, and broke me out of my various mental loops, long enough to realize how deeply unsatisfied I am with how I act as a parent. Not just in the usual, system-2 "I realize my performance is suboptimal, I vow to improve it" way. I actually felt the weight of everything, of how much we, how much growth and happiness I am denying our girls, and it flipped something in me permanently that night. Adult problems were still there, but I suddenly felt I really want to play more, and I absolutely want to take them to playground, which became priority more important than work, and generally made me stress a little less about everything. And so I did stay on the playground the next day, and I loved it, and things really got better and happier for everyone from that day on. Specific things: we stopped minding the sand that much - which meant we started going to the other playground nearby, that's mostly built inside a big sandbox. Kids love it. And I started to engage with some of the more absurd imaginary stories my older daughter comes up with, to her great delight. And ever since, there was no more "can't do X/Y/Z, daddy needs to finish something for work" - I decided that, in Muffin's words, "this is unacceptable!"[0]. It's hard to put into words. It probably all sounds mundane from the outside, but inside of me, the change was as profound as it was unexpected. Switches flipped, priorities realigned, emotions purged. This was a big thing for me. But there's a lot of smaller things I took away from Bluey, too, that I feel makes me a better parent. It's truly a special show. -- [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqAlhCUgAVI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqAlhCUgAVI

sandworm101 2y ago

The no-dialogue thing is an industry trick. It can allow for animation to start prior to the vocals being recorded and therefore provide some wiggle room in the production process. Simpsons did something similar with the couch gags which were detached from the plot and so could be worked on regardless of vocal progress. More recently, Bojack Horseman also had a no-dialogue episode.

eru 2y ago
That's an interesting aspect! Creativity thrives on constraints. For the 'industry trick' part you can get most of the benefit from going 'most of the way'. Ie you get almost the same wiggle room, if 90% of your scenes are without dialogue, and 10% are voiced. For the artistic effect, there's a big difference between 90% and 100%. (Sparse dialogue is also a perfectly valid artistic choice, but it's doesn't make much sense to analyse it as '90% of a no-dialogue' piece.) I've mostly come to appreciate 'pantomime' in web comics. Many comics go overboard with text, be that speech bubbles, thought bubble or narration boxes. It's always interesting to me to see an author work out how use the medium to its full advantage, instead of writing a novel.