Hey there everyone, DeepRising here with the Weekly News Letter and Weekly Topic competition. Don't forget to check out next week's topic theme and it's description, as well as the subsequent Upcoming Topics at the end of the News Letter. Also, don't miss the links in the topic description for inspiration and further information on the theme (Access these links through the Sudomemo Theatre at https://www.sudomemo.net/ ).
And now, here are the winning Flipnotes from last week's topic "A Sticky Situation". Well done to everybody who entered.
Our Favorite Flipnotes from last weeks Topic "A Sticky Situation"
In our first winning Flipnote this week, created by Mees, an adventurous wizard encounters a deadly giant spider in it's cavernous lair. An extremely sticky situation indeed, and made doubly dangerous when the beast blasts him with gooey spider web! How will he escape? Watch to find out!
We were delighted with this fantastic magic and monsters interpretation of our topic, and very much enjoyed it's story telling techniques, splendid character designs, and hand drawn animation.
Here's another very sticky situation! An impossible escape with top secret plans from a heavily guarded facility. Only a dare devil stick man secret agent would ever attempt such a feat. Look on in amazement as he dodges bullets, search lights, cameras, helicopters, missiles and parachute troupes, to effect his daring escape, in this brilliantly made epic Flipnote, by matthieu.
Our next topic winner Maya, has come up with the highly creative idea of a sticky drum, as a sticky situation. After beating the drum repeatedly, the percussionist eventually gets the drum stick stuck to it, and has to yank it free, with some effort!
The animation of the drum beating action is excellent, softening into the swing with two small increments of movement, followed by one big move impacting the drum in the next frame. This combines both gradual, and extreme movement to great effect.
The pulling on the stuck drum stick was also very expressive, with a facial a grimace, a straining lean away, and a well timed release.
A very nicely done piece of animation. Great work!
A hungry stick man gets his hand stuck in a jam jar, in this sweet and sticky situation, created by Noah😃.
Nicely scripted, the sketch plays out with great voice acting and sound effects. And we just loved the hilarious loop back to the start. What better way to celebrate getting free of the jam jar, than to get yourself stuck in it all over again!
Here we see another hapless victim of a sticky situation, in this our last winning entry this week, by FurryMLG. This time it's featuring the stickiest of all things. Glue!
We hope for his sake that it's not Super-Glue! He looks well and truly stuck!
This Weeks Topic - "Clunky Contraptions"
A contraption is a machine or a device that appears unnecessarily complicated and often badly made, or unsafe.
Throughout history mankind has built ridiculous contraptions from early flying machines and robots, to elaborate exercise apparatus, and overly thought out time saving devices. Over the years, there's been a contraption for almost anything, from eating soup and brushing your teeth, to cracking an egg and even improving your golf swing.
This topic would include any existing contraptions, or ones of your own design. And the clunkier and more ridiculous they are, the better!
Your contraptions could be all sorts different things; a big machine, a vehicle, a mechanised seat or suit, or a tool that you use. It could be powered with electricity, pedals, wind, water, balloons, or any other way you can think of.
A great source of inspiration for this topic is the artist Rube Goldberg, who famously specialised in drawing the most outrageous contraptions imaginable, in the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. Check out these You Tube video links about him and his incorrigible die hard followers. They are truly astonishing!
Rude Goldberg (Cartoonist) History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_hbEhyrNAM
Ok Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rude Goldberg Machine Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w
Crazy Contraptions - Joseph Herscher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEAyADoCtTs
One last example of a great contraption is the board game 'Mouse Trap'. The mechanics of it are particularly clever, using reciprocating actions, triggers, gravity, and momentum, to set off a massively complicated device, that finally catches the mouse. Here's a link to a video of it in slow motion:
Mouse Trap the Board game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6VmiYJ_IRk
And also, here's a link to a video about the early flying machines we mentioned earlier:
The first flying machines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Yww9LG3gw
What ever kind of contraption you choose to create and animate, have fun making it as clunky, awkward, rickety, and ridiculous as you possibly can!
We really love the way you're all so creative with these topics and look forward to seeing the Flipnotes you create for them.
Make sure to post your entries to the Weekly Topic channel Weekly Topic - Clunky Contraptions and the deadline for your entries is January 24th (12pm EST / 4pm GMT).
Also, we would encourage you to add a Flipnote description to your entry. This is your opportunity to explain any points of interest and specific details that we could feature in our reviews.
Keep on Flipnoting and the best of luck with your entries.
Upcoming Topics
Topic - Bubble Gum (January 24th)
Topic - Pac-Man (January 31st)
Topic - Tortoises and Turtles (February 7th)
Topic - Dripping (February 14th)