Happy Wednesday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! Today’s segment, as always, is Pop Culture Wednesday, the place where we dive into the various realms of western media. Before we get to that however, I would just like to take a moment to apologize to you readers. I have been a bit awful about posting to 4B lately, I guess midterms will do that to a guy, but those are behind me for the most part and you can expect the regularly scheduled post to be coming out…….regularly. Alright, no that I’m done begging for your forgiveness, let’s talk about short films.

In between cramming for exams and being a generally anxious mess, one of my classes introduced me to the wonderful world of short films. Short films are like regular films, but, you know, shorter. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as, “an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.”  What I personally like about short films is that they have a tendency to be more original, creative, and weird. Short films generally are not as popular or commercialized as feature length films, so the creators behind them are able to have more freedom and control over the project. The following are some short films that I have discovered online and have really enjoyed. I hope you like them as well.

Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell is a short animated film by Erica Wester. The film is about an overly friendly demon who is tasked with haunting an apathetic high schooler while hell is being renovated.While the animation may not be of the highest quality, the lovable and hilarious characters more than make up for it. Seriously, watch this video and tell me that the devil is not your favorite character. I also really appreciate how subtle, the emotions of the characters are. A good number of the short films I have seen kind of beat you over the head with emotion. Welcome to Hell is a bit less overt, and more enjoyable because of this. This film was made as a student project and the YouTube channel has been inactive for about three months, so it does not seem like the adventures of Sock and Jonathan are going to continue anytime soon. While that is kind of a bummer, I’m just glad this awesome short got made in the first place.

The Reward

This short film comes from the YouTube channel Sun Creature Studios and is tragically under viewed! This is the story of two dudes who go on an adventure with the intent of becoming rich. However, the tale quickly turns into more of a broventure. This short film is incredibly and apologetically as weird as it is epic. The animation is great and the overall tone just seeps adventure. Sun Creature Studios has successfully created a world that I desperately want to see more of. Thankfully I, and anyone else who cares to, can expect to see more of this story in the somewhat near future. Due to a successful Kickstarter campaign, Sun Creature Studios will be making two more, hopefully equally awesome, videos. I eagerly await seeing more of this epic tale.

Oh man, this post has already gone way longer than what I anticipated and I’ve only been able to talk about two short films. Sorry guys, I guess you’ll have to wait until next week to see some awesome, independent goodness. In the mean time you can keep yourself entertained by coming back to 4B whenever something new is posted. If you want to be notified when new posts are made you can subscribe to this blog via email in the upper right tab. You can also like the official BaddaBing Baddablog Facebook Page for news and updates. Following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter is also a good way to stay caught up. Have a great Humpday and be sure to come back on Friday for the next installment of News for the Mighty, News of the Week.

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