I want to start this off by stating that I was a $5 Patreon patron for Watcher. For years, I watched the guys make content, and I couldn't afford to give any kind of support. Towards the end of last year I reached a point where I could just manage the $5 tier. As someone who is a creative, I know how important it is to be able to have the finances to make the things you want to make. And while $5 might not be much for some, it's still $5. Money is money.
I was absolutely stunned by the way Watcher handled things this past weekend. And while I am willing to continue watching them after seeing their apology video, I will be hesitant to give them any financial support in the future.
There has been quite a bit of discourse regarding things that were said in the "Goodbye YouTube" video, and since others discuss those things far better than I am able, I'm not going to cover most of the things I found myself questioning. However, there is one point I do want to tackle.
Watcher's claims of making TV quality content.
Do the guys make quality videos? Yes. For YouTube, their videos are excellent. Do I think that they are TV quality? No. Just because you have enough staff to fill out a TV show's credits, doesn't mean your content is TV quality. What they make are shows that I would expect to find on YouTube.
The show I keep coming back to regarding this claim is Puppet History. I adore that show. Puppet History is clever and endearing. I sense that Shane truly loves making it. That said, Shane is not a TV quality puppeteer.
I started learning to be a puppeteer when I was 5. From ages 5-34 I was involved with puppetry in some way, shape, or form for all but four of those years (that's 25 years of experience). I performed, I directed, and I taught basic puppetry. At my best, I was an average puppeteer, but I have helped train kids who were excellent at puppetry.
I say all this, because I want to make it clear I'm not just picking on Shane. He is a talented and smart man. I believe that if he had some training and practice, he could be a TV quality puppeteer, but right now he is not.
I would love to see the guys be able to make TV quality programming, but I think they need to pull back on some of the bells and whistles and focus on what actually works and make an effort to improve that.
Edit: I haven't done any puppetry since 2018, but here are a few photos of a couple of my puppets and myself.
can we as a society make puppetry cool again. like lets make it trendy. Mainstream. more people should get into doing it and more people should appreciate it. puppetry requires craftsmanship and charisma and physical acting and vocal performance!! you can’t get that from ai. it has a charm to it that neither 2D nor cg animation has. Have you ever watched a puppetry performance and realized you were genuinely convinced that the puppet was getting into bed or eating something or giving a hug that you wholly forgot there was some guy’s arm in there.
isn’t it lovely. to make a funny little guy to tell stories with. is that not so human of us. it’s such a lovely art form. I love you puppets I love you muppets I love you marionettes I love you handmade sock puppets I love you paper bags with googley eyes I love you armatures I love you I love you I love you!!!!!
Not seeing many mention this, but I want to point something very important out about the new FNAF trailer especially, in case you haven't noticed...
You see these guys? This is not cgi. These are actually fully-created animatronics developed by the crew at Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
These things were purposefully designed to look as close as possible to their video game versions, and to be as absolutely unsettling as the well-known 90s animatronic versions of Chuck E. Cheese and the Rock-afire Explosion.
Clearly, they pulled this off phenomenally well for this film!
These designs are intricate while also staying very close to the original character designs seen in the games, which proves how dedicated the team behind this movie really is about making a true-to-itself FNAF film! Seeing the quality on display here in just this first official trailer gives me some very high hopes for what we'll get to see in the movie once it comes out this October!
Process of making the River Spirit from The Moonlit Princess. ๋࣭ ⭑☽︎⋆。˚
When working on an art piece, sometimes it's easy to become discouraged in the beginning, because many times we focus on the end product instead of what it takes to get there. Working on puppets is time intensive & takes many different steps. It teaches you to be present and simply enjoy the journey; the destination is the culmination of that.
It's humbling but also rewarding. That's what I love about puppetry.