Seriously? #3 – Is Your System Sliding? (Trailer 2)

 

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So… things are getting a bit stranger.

This is another trailer for Seriously? #3, this time focusing on DivaTron doing what she does best — performing, posing, and possibly taking over.

There’s less story here and more attitude. It’s very much leaning into the music video side of things, which has been a lot of fun to play with while I’m finishing the film.

DivaTron is one of those characters that kind of designs herself as you go. Started as a simple idea, but the more I animated her the more she turned into this full-on diva presence — very controlled, very confident, and slightly… off.

“I’ll make it right for you.”

Still working through the final shots for Seriously? #3, but I’ve been cutting these trailers together alongside production. It’s been a good way to test different tones and see what stands out.

For anyone who saw the last trailer — this is a different angle on the same film. More performance, less setup.

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If you missed the previous trailer, you can check it out here:

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And if you’ve no idea what Seriously? is, you can watch the original short here:

👉 Seriously? #1

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More soon.

Be seeing you. Seriously.

Seriously? #2 – Sci-Fi Comedy Short Film | Alien Mayhem, Robot Guards & Slapstick Chaos

Seriously? #2 is here!

Back on the giant alien spaceship, things have escalated.

What started as an awkward romantic misunderstanding has now become a full-blown security incident involving two robot guards, one dangerously persistent admirer, and an alien who really just wants to be left alone.

There is love in the air again…

…which is unfortunate, because there is also a lot of alien goo.

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For this second short, I wanted to push things further. The first film was very simple and quick, but this time I introduced more characters, more moving parts, and a bit of full-on slapstick action.

The biggest addition was the two guards:

Big Bong – experienced, unflappable, not paid enough for this.
Rinky Dink – not experienced, very flappable, definitely shouldn’t be holding a weapon.

They guard a very important door.

What’s behind the door?

Well… Stinky Von Tentacles, still recovering from the events of the first film and understandably not keen on any repeat performances.

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Enter Pootle Mc Derp

Pootle returns, and he has learned absolutely nothing.

This time he arrives bearing gifts:

• A large potted plant
• An enormous heart-shaped box of chocolates

Which, in his mind, should smooth everything over.

It does not.

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Building the action

Unlike the first short, this one needed proper choreography.

There’s a sequence where:

• Pootle flips and bounces his way past the guards
• Rinky Dink tries (and fails) to stop him
• Big Bong attempts to maintain some level of professionalism

This was all animated very deliberately to feel fast, chaotic, and slightly out of control.

Rinky Dink in particular was a lot of fun to animate. He’s essentially a walking mistake.

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The problem with adding more

More characters = more complexity.

Suddenly you’re dealing with:

• Timing between multiple characters
• Clear staging so the action reads
• Making sure the joke actually lands

And most importantly:

• Making sure the ending is worth it

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The ending…

Without spoiling too much (although you probably know what’s coming if you’ve seen the first one),

Let’s just say:

• Things escalate
• Physics becomes a factor
• And Stinky’s day gets significantly worse

Again.

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Visual style

I kept the same sci-fi setting:

• Large metallic environments
• Big doors, heavy machinery
• That slightly ominous “something’s not right” atmosphere

But contrasted it with very silly, exaggerated character animation.

That contrast is really what makes it work.

I also made a lot of trailers for this where I experimented with some different directions, my first real try at the youtube shorts format.

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Final thoughts

Seriously? #2 is bigger, louder, and messier than the first.

It’s still short, still ridiculous, and still built around one very simple idea:

Some people just don’t take the hint.

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Just when things couldn’t possibly get any worse…

They do.

Seriously? #3 is coming.

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You haven't watched Seriously? #1 you can catch it here.

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If you enjoy it, please share it around — it really helps.

Be seeing you! Seriously!

Time lapse drawing Toxic Zombie

 Here is a time lapse of me drawing on my new tablet. I did it on the train. It's not very edited so there are some gaps. I'm not used to editing these weird tablet resolutions and all my kit is set up for standard TV and film resolution. Well it's 720 by 1200 so I would probably be fine if it was the other way round. I tried using the editor in youtube studio but it is pretty awful.

 It's the first time for a long time I put some effort into 2d and recorded the results. I do occasionally work on paper with my daughter when she is drawing. I have never done a time lapse like this before I know a lot of drawing apps have it built in but it's my first time trying it. Interesting to see it. I usually work very roughly and I don't mid a sketchy rough finish. I think it gives more character plus overly finishing a drawing or painting kills the dynamism I've always thought. Digital art is different to traditional art as you can go in and edit as many times as you want where as with traditional paper and art materials there comes a point where you destroy the paper if you over work too much.

I usually use on old Wacom where I draw on the tablet and see what I'm doing on the screen. This is because when I shifted over to tablet the cost of a set up where you are drawing on a screen was extremely high. I was working in games at the time and even the concept artist who was doing nothing but drawing was working on a standard pen tablet. Grunt artists like me used to hand paint our textures, back then a Wacom was standard issue. There was always a bit of a faff with pens going missing.

I don't often get it out and my Wacom is very old and it broke! The pen kind of sprang apart and springs and pieces went everywhere. At first I couldn't put it back together and I started looking at alternatives and that's what led me to looking at a new tablet. I have since fixed my Wacom pen it seems a little unhappy and does not fully fit back together as it used to but still works.

I still splashed out on a new tablet which is very portable and like a doodle pad. I used to draw all the time as a kid when I was bored. In the back of lessons on the cover of my exercise books or in the back pages. I've worked with other animators who have apple tablets that they doodle on. I hate apple so I got an Android one. It feels odd to have a pen back in the way of what I'm drawing I'm so used to the line magically appearing while I scratch away on my Wacom.