Rall Envisions President Obama’s First Day
Remember the classic live-action video President Clinton’s Last Days in Office? It was Clinton’s swan song, and a funny one at that (years after, Bill Gates offered his take on departing). The other side of the coin would be Ted Rall’s short below - President Obama’s First Day. This animated piece offers what the Democrat’s might be imagining for Barack’s first steps into the oval office. It is the first animated cartoon by Rall, the nationally-syndicated editorial cartoonist who was a Pulitzer finalist in 1996.
The piece was animated in Toon Boom by David Essman, who is still a student at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “There are some great Flash-based edittoons out there, but they take a different approach than I do. I see each animated cartoon as a skit, as a mini TV show,” Rall said. “I hope people enjoy watching ‘Obama’s First Day’ as much as David and I enjoyed making it.”
Tags: Political, Toon Boom
September 18th, 2008 at 8:55 am
What the??? I don’t get it- Ted should have bought a flash license instead of toon boom. He could have used the extra money to hire actors, an editor, a writer, a sound designer, and a good recording booth.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
That was an oddly done cartoon. Very rough around the edges, but the animation was strangely enjoyable!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Very ambitious animation, but I don’t quite get it. That’s more an comment on the author than the animator, who apparently was working hard, and it shows.
Nice dancing sequence near the end, and the bike lock was funny, but Pulitzer or not, for the most part the writing was just weird. And the Obama impression (if you can even call it that) seems like it changed accents mid-cartoon!
And of course, nothing in there you couldn’t do in Flash.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Very interesting animation. It really captures the loose drawing style I’m used to seeing in political cartoons. The production quality was poor to say the least but the unpolished art and animation was worth the look. I look forward to seeing more work from Mr. Essman.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:30 pm
All I have to say is, the animation a nice effort. I couldn’t bring myself to watch the whole thing.
The writing / content and cartoons . . ecch..
UP with Dirty Danny!