10 Days of YYC’s favorite videos: Day 4

This video is directed by a duo named Daniels. They’ve had a huge influence on us this year, so they may well pop up on this top-10 list one or two more times over the next week. Their brand of off-beat (maybe even a tad dark) humor resonates pretty closely to Tyler and I on the funny-bone spectrum. They cook up great ideas, execute them well (and, until this year, on very small budgets), and they throw these fantastic indie special effects in that form a cohesive whole. I’ve yet to see a video by them that I didn’t like, and I love most of their work.

Here’s why this video stood out to Tyler and I: It’s a big idea, a difficult concept to pull off, and yet they created a willing suspension of disbelief. You watch it, and tell me you don’t think “How the heck did they do that?!?”

“Puppets” was an eye-opener for me. If Tyler had pitched this idea to me 9 months ago, I would have winced. “Great idea, but we can’t pull that off on a budget.” But as Tyler and I watched and rewatched “Puppets” – as we did what all filmmakers do and mentally reverse-engineered the video shot-by-shot – I realized we had the same physical tools Daniels were operating with. I don’t mean to minimize the film. In fact, I’m saying they didn’t create something this fun because of some silver spoon. They earned this through cleverness, good writing, great editing, and a rare ability to turn a whacky dream into filmic reality.

An old friend of ours, Austin Church, recently blogged about the importance of optimism and the importance of curiosity. Both are great reads, and they are lessons I need to continually relearn for the rest of my life. Great ideas – and great videos – aren’t born of timidity and cynicism. 

Long post, but I can’t quit this thought without adding this clip. This thought from Conan O’Brien has stuck with me for a year and a half. It gets super-inspiring around 3:15 or so.