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Kickstarter film 'Animator vs. Animation IV' posted online, goes viral

Screengrab of Animator vs Animation IV (YouTube)

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In 2006, then-17-year-old Alan Becker made a short animated film in Flash, titled “Animator vs. Animation,” and posted it online.

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An animator faces his own animation in deadly combat. The battlefield? The Flash interface itself,” Becker wrote. “A stick figure is created by an animator with the intent to torture. The stick figure drawn by the animator will be using everything he can find — the brush tool, the eraser tool — to get back at his tormentor. It’s resourcefulness versus power. Who will win? You can find out yourself.”

Then he made a sequel. And another one.

Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign last summer, Becker was able to create the greatest installment in the series yet: “Animator vs. Animation IV.”

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Animator vs. Animation plays with the idea that the little stick figures that you animate can fight back and do damage to your computer. Since the world of computers is so vast, the possibility for gags is endless,” Becker wrote on Kickstarter. “I’ve had the stick figure engage in matrix style fighting with all the icons on the desktop, a one-on-one duel with Clippy (the old Microsoft Word Assistant), a solitaire fight with another stick figure using cards, the list goes on. Now we’re entering the age of tablets and iPhones, so the spectrum of possibilities is even wider now.”

In his short film, posted online today, a stick figure revolts against the animator after the animator deletes his friends.

The general consensus so far: it’s awesome.

"Man, the improvement and the quality of this one is amazing. I really knew an awesome video would come out when you started your kickstarter," wrote Reddit user Blauwdrop.

I feel emotionally invested in a stick figure. This is awesome,” wrote CrimsonConcrete.

"The ending made me feel all tingly inside, awesome!" added Reddit user 3v3r1n.

And for those wondering, yes, www.sticksfight.com really exists. Becker created it for his film.

Wish you, too, could make stick figures fight back? Find Becker’s animation tutorials here.

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