YouTube Shorts
Posted on May 29, 2018 Posted by Athena Scalzi 19 Comments
If there’s one thing I love, it’s animated shorts. I have a pretty short attention span, so I particularly like watching shorts because they have so much to offer in such a short amount of time. Most shorts don’t have dialogue in them, or if they do it’s very limited, or sometimes the characters sing a song instead. This generally means shorts have pretty good music in the background, since that’s usually all the viewer hears.
I love shorts because you can watch one after the other, which can be dangerous if you’re procrastinating or just not good at keeping track of time If I’m bored and have some time to kill, I go through shorts like crazy.
So today I’m going to share with you five shorts I really enjoy!
This first one, “Yours or Mine”, is definitely one of my favorites. It’s on the shorter side of shorts, and is exciting and fun. The music is perfect for it, and I love this animation style. I think the plot is cute and the end is unexpected, and I think the addition of the end credit shots was a great inclusion.
Another of my all-time favorites is “Butter Lover”. This one is one of the few I’ve seen that has a lot of dialogue. Again, this is a drawing style I happen to love, even more so than the previous one. I think it’s drawn so smoothly and I love the characters’ designs. One of them has purple hair! How can you not love that? Another thing I love about this one is the plot is so out there, so bizarre, you definitely will not see this end coming. Also, make sure you watch until the very end for the end scene!
Are you ready for the funniest short you’ve ever seen? Here it is, “Death Buy Lemonade”! Another seriously short short, this adorable animation features one of my favorite things, the personification of death. There’s a cute little background tune that isn’t too distracting, and I think the title is perfect. I will be very surprised if you don’t laugh at the end.
This next one is called “Love Bites”. It’s cute and drawn pretty well, and the plot is humorous, if not a little messed up. I think the title is clever and just generally think it’s a pretty good one!
For the last short, I’ve chosen “Overweight”. All of the previous ones are funny, cute, and generally light-hearted. To end, I thought I’d choose one with a deeper meaning, one that isn’t comical. I feel that this one in particular has a message that relates a lot to current events, and I think it should be taken to heart.
There it is, five shorts I thought were really worth sharing! I hope you all enjoy them. Be sure to tell me which is your favorite in the comments, and if you would like to recommend one, I’ll be sure to try and check it out. Have a great day!
The Life of Death is pretty amazing, IMO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofnCdC8P70g
Ooo I like sharable shorts.
The two from the Butter Lover short remind me of Harold Ramis and Eugene Levy’s characters from Plutonium Nyborg scene in Heavy Metal: https://youtu.be/tw7_RqRn910 (note, once the trip starts, skip to 3:24 for the end)
This is still one of my favorite thing on the internets. Its “kinetic typography,” and probably a solid third of the view count are either mine or people I make watch it… It helps to read the little info thing for context. Dot dot dot: https://youtu.be/4Z2Z23SAFVA
Good ones, Athena.
Here’s one I always liked: “The Reward”. (Makes me wonder what a good adaptation of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser would be like.)
I love the variety here! I think I like “Overweight” the best.
I’ll just throw in one of my own personal favourites: Oktapodi!
Its hilly passages and and whitewashed houses with rooftop swimming pools are reminiscent of the Greek island of Santorini (sans shops & tourists).
Do you feel the same way about short stories? If so, then your dad’s slim volume of flash fiction must have really been up your alley!
Neat! I”ll have to check some of these out!
There’s a new series of shorts that just started on YouTube featuring a teenage girl superhero from the UAE called Emara. It’s quite a lot of fun. :D
https://bit.ly/2IX37nB
I love ‘The Present’ (aka ‘The Gift’) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjqiU5FgsYc
These were all great Athena! My fave was Death Buy Lemonade – that kid was such a punk! (And a tiny parable on greed.)
Looking forward to watching the other commenters’ suggestions, too.
I adore shorts! No procrastinating going on over here, no sir. *coughcough*
“Monsterbox” is a great one I love. It’s got a definite Lilo & Stitch vibe, and very sweet and colorful. https://youtu.be/DoLAoOkG5gY
“Love in the Time of Advertising” is hilarious while also exploring some serious themes. The protagonist wins over his love from his home inside a billboard. But my favorite part is how every line of the narration rhymes, so the short almost feels like an act from a musical. https://youtu.be/xk2ygwjpvJg
These were great! You were right, Death Buy Lemonade made me laugh. Keep ’em coming.
My prediction for this website.
First week: “Oh, look, there’s a cool new Scalzi posting!”
Second week: “I miss old Scalzi”
Third week: “I wish cool Scalzi would post more”
Fourth week: Change.org petition: please throw old Scalzi off the blog, we want Cool Scalzi!
Thank you for those links; I especially enjoyed the first one. It has a rather Raffles vibe, also a bit reminiscent of the original Charteris Saint stories I liked to read from my grandfather’s books (not so much the new ones in which he’s revisioned more like James Bond).
You might like this one, though maybe it’s too quintessentially (1950s) Dutch for non-Dutchies: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JeWIGubqxZA
Not colorful, more like an old sepia-toned black and white photograph; it’s not funny, more of a life story with a serious note.
The original award-winning version was set to music, but I prefer this version with the soundscape.
Not sure if you’ve seen “In a Heartbeat”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2REkk9SCRn0
Sweet drawing and heartwarming story :)
I knew at least one of these movies had to end in dudes making out, but in all honesty I thought it’d be the thieves one, with the butter dudes being eaten by the whatever.
I love these! This one is my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs
You might like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57jEMZ87ND8
My current favorite:
https://youtu.be/elERU7kcGm0
It’s technically a pilot for an animated series, but at less than 12 minutes, I still think it’s a short. And it’s sooooo gooooood!
For animated shorts, you need to check out the Animation Show of Shows (https://www.animationshowofshows.com/). The curator has been collecting the “best” of animated shorts from around the world for the past 19 years, and some of them are really spectacular.