At the soccer game, Bo readies himself for Lil’ Bo’s legendary kick. The soccer ball races toward Bo’s family jewels instead of the goal, and makes a surprising detour right back to Lil’ Bo’s face ⚽️

Short Commentary

Some shorts start as simple ideas and throughout development, retain their simplicity. That’s ball buster. Back when I was developing shorts ideas for Giggle Gang, I knew I wanted to make some slapstick cartoons in the same vein as Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry. I’ve mentioned it previously, but it does bear repeating that the Giggle Gang is supposed to be my rendition of those classic cartoons I grew up with (also discussed previously is how the old rendition of these shorts were meant to be avenues to animate trendy videos on TikTok). It’s important to state because this change has helped with my desire to continue making these shorts. Developing original ideas and bringing them into reality is much more engaging to me than animating over someone else’s audio.

That said, the goal of this specific short was to retain its simple joke. Simple gags are easier to get across in short videos and are more fun to make. As I’ve made more shorts I’ve noticed that keeping things simple and snappy helps make a better video.

The most interesting thing about this short is that it was part of a batch of shorts where I upgraded my production process. This upgrade was centered around smoothing over the pre-production and production stages. It was an attempt to introduce elements to make my shorts more consistent in presentation and scope.

Overall I’m pleased with the final version of the short. The production was simple and mostly painless. I really enjoyed working on the character’s interactions as well. Usually shorts with multiple characters can be tough to animate, but the new production process helps me budget which shots to focus time on. This makes for a far more pleasant experience.

Finally, it was originally scheduled to release in September, but I pushed it up due to the World Cup and thought it’d be a good way to ride some of that positive momentum. When I planned the short originally, I didn’t realize the World Cup was happening in June - July. On top of it, I didn’t even know that it was taking place in America! I loved seeing all of the videos and stories of foreigners coming to the country and loving it. I knew after that it would be best to change around the initial release date of this short to capitalize on the good will. Timing is not only important for jokes, it’s important for releases.

That’s all for now!