There’s a style of ‘animation’ that has become widely used on YouTube where they take a still image of a character then make them sway back and forth repetitively. I guess it’s cheap to make but I find it distracting and weird, even a bit patronising, as if they think we need moving pictures to keep us interested. I think it started with Veritassium and spread to other edutainment YouTube channels and now I just flat out avoid channels which use it.
Anyone else find it annoying?
In the first minute of that video, it depicts someone walking up the stairs, writing with a pen, and closing a cupboard. All of these scenes and movements were really well animated, actually. I didn’t see any awkward standing or wobbling that seemed out of place.
Random diagnostic question; are you an anime fan? I ask because anime often has scenes where people kind of just stand there completely stock-still and talk, with the camera moving around. The art style is a bit reminiscent of anime, so I’m wondering if the movement is coming across as uncanny-valley due to the similarity.
Interesting comparison. I don’t mind a sparse animation style, I think what bothers me is the animation used in these YouTube channels feels much more ‘procedurally generated’ and repetitive.
I could definitely have picked a better example, I just found the first one that popped up. It’s most jarring when it’s just a static shot of a cartoon toso swaying back and forth for like 10 seconds for no reason.