I’m a World-Famous Animator… sort of

It’s only natural that my love for drawing and my love for music would come together as a love for animation, and – – – Oh… I didn’t mention that I dabble in animation…?  And I forgot music too? Huh – weird…

Historical Note: I’ve been told that the KO Title Sequence was the first ever Animated Theme Song intro of any YouTube Channel… And while I’m not at all not sure how true that really is… it’s still really cool that I’ve been told that!

===> * * * WATCH THE VIDEO… IT’S SHORT, I PROMISE! * * * <===

Well, I guess I just figured that the Opening Sequence for KatiesOpinion made that kind of obvious… I mean, you do remember KatiesOpinion – right…?  What… NO…?!? Why that’s preposterous!!! EVERYONE knows KatiesOpinion!  On what planet do you spend most of your time?!?  I mean seriously – WTF!?!  Why don’t you try pulling your head out of your – – – !!!

I know, I know… of course I’m just kidding. I know KatiesOpinion was never THAT big… But it was kind of popular… back in the good old days… waaaayyyy back when in the olden times of 2006-2008

. . . cue flashback . . .

Back in those days – which I like to call “The Time Before YT Sucked” – YouTube was really an exciting space.  It was the time period just before–and right after–the Google buy-out of YouTube in the Fall of 2006.  The world was fascinated with YouTube–which translated into something like 100-million views EVERY DAY–but the corporate media giants hadn’t gotten a fix on how they could control this new communications channel just yet.

As a result, there was this all-too-brief window of time where YT was like a Wild-West Gold-Rush Town.  Everyone and ANYONE had a chance of capturing the eyeballs and imagination of the globe, and that could lead to… well, anything… or nothing… nobody knew for sure, but it was exciting to be in the mix.

And we were in the mix… at least at a certain level.  KatiesOpinion gained notoriety (or maybe a better word is “infamy”) among a certain segment of “The YouTube Community” that was very active in creating and criticizing (I’d say “critiquing” but it really was mostly “criticizing”) original content.  We collaborated with (and/or battled with) some of the biggest names on the Tubes… and we always felt like that big “POP” was just around the corner… as if the next video might be the one that would make us all rich & famous…

Well… the “pop” never came, and we never got rich & famous… though we DID make “some” money (very little money) and we DID amass a respectable audience – the KO YouTube Channel is still active, and at last count was up to 27,628 subscribers and 6,535,890 video views – yes, that’s right… over 6-1/2 MILLION video views!  But it certainly wasn’t enough for any of us to quit our day jobs… well, except for when Katie quit her job (technically a night job) moved to LA, ended up landing some voice-over work on certain primetime TV cartoon and then – – – but that’s a different story…

. . . end flashback . . .

So now that you’re up to speed on KatiesOpinion, let’s move on to what I meant to talk about in the first place… one of my very favorite pieces of work ever… the Opening Animation & Theme Music for KatiesOpinion.

I’m really proud of this one… all 22 seconds of it.  Yes – short, I know… but keep in mind, it was meant to appear at the start of every episode of a weekly webshow series… so short was the idea.  It was even criticized (more than a couple of times) for being “way too long.”  My goal had been to get it down to less than 15 seconds… but I just couldn’t bring myself to cut it down any further.  To those critics… “Meh – bite me”

The KatiesOpinion Theme Song may be the best piece of music I’ve ever created.  If not the best, then certainly my personal favorite.  The tune was composed while walking around whistling and snapping my fingers (I wonder if that comes across in the finished piece?) And the actual music production I did on my PC using an awesome program called Acid Pro.

The animation I produced in Flash (yes – Flash is awesome too) as a timeline sequence of individual scribbles done on my Wacom digital pen tablet.  And as crude as it is… it’s the only animated sequence I’ve ever created that has been viewed millions of times by people all over the world!  Not too shabby for a bunch of doodley neon-colored stick-figures!

Animator’s Note:  I’d originally intended the stick-figures to just serve as a rough storyboard/animatic while I figured out the sequence… but as I went along, I actually started to really like the style.  And yes–I’ll be honest–frame-by-frame animation can be a grueling and time-consuming job… so when I realized I might not NEED to redraw everything… I was plenty happy with that!

Now if you hadn’t already experienced the unique brand of entertainment that is KatiesOpinion… well then I’m glad that I had this opportunity to introduce you.

WARNING:  KO can be an acquired taste… and is not always family- or office-friendly. 

It’s nothing obscene or anything like that… but depending on how easily-offended your co-workers, your kids, or possibly your parents are, it might be best if you just put on your headphones first.  So check your sensitivities at the door… and enjoy!

P.S. – keep your eyes open… there could be a new KO video on the horizon… you never know!

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