from Hacker News

The Netflix Logo with Yarn was a lie

by jasonlfunk on 2/15/24, 4:21 AM with 50 comments

• by Timothee on 2/15/24, 6:01 AM

  To me it’s like magic tricks/illusions.

  As if David Copperfield had an idea to make the Statue of Liberty disappear. He has a plan he thinks will work, but it doesn’t. So instead, the audience is made entirely of stooges. And we’re made to believe that they’re all random people.

  Or it works, and he can actually put random people for whom the illusion will work!

  Either way it only really works on TV if you believe that the live audience is real. If it’s a fake audience, anyone can do it, and it’s not interesting. (there are many well known magicians who use stooges and/or camera tricks all the time)

  I feel the same here. The very reason people liked the video was the process he presented, not just the result. So lying about it is lame.

  And I think it's unfortunate because he could have posted almost the same video with just saying "and… it didn't quite work! So I edited my real yarn logos and threads to get the final clip" and it would still be a cool result.

• by spencerflem on 2/15/24, 5:10 AM

  End result looked good, but lying for clickbait isn't cool even if you admit it in a blog post way after the fact.

• by jonhohle on 2/15/24, 4:58 AM

  I think his conclusion about pivoting when a more efficient method was necessary is totally reasonable. I would wager a significant amount of any frame-by-frame animation takes similar shortcuts, so it doesn’t reduce the quality of the final product in any way, imho. There’s nothing “pure” about the process of creating motion pictures. It’s all tricks. The result is all that matters.

  I’m not sure why he would even “fake it” in the first place. Part of making something is the journey to get there and often an initial idea doesn’t work out, or a better way is discovered once the work begins. That’s what I enjoy about watching makers: how they pivot when they run up against a wall.

• by Jimmc414 on 2/15/24, 5:23 AM

  Confession: My sixth-grade solar oven science fair project (that took third place) cooked bacon about as well as a well-positioned hand mirror. I used a microwave for the final bacon pictures.

• by curiousgeorgio on 2/15/24, 5:23 AM

  It's not a problem to take shortcuts when making something for the screen; in most cases that should be encouraged.

  But this project wasn't about making a Netflix logo animation; it was about using a fun, low-tech method for achieving a similar result. The whole point of the project was the method, not the result.

  So if he had taken shortcuts when making the original Netflix logo animation, there would be absolutely nothing wrong with that. But claiming that he used a specific, unconventional approach to do this (focusing on how he did it, not what he did), then lying about that for clicks... that's pretty disgraceful in my opinion.

• by neom on 2/15/24, 5:17 AM

  As the mantra went in film school, a zillion years ago, before we had clicks to fake things for: The most creative people do the best job of hiding the source of their creativity.

  Like it or not, stuff like this has been the norm in the art world since forever.

• by po on 2/15/24, 5:27 AM

  One thing this blog post is missing is the words "I'm sorry" or "I feel bad about this." I suspect he doesn't feel bad about it at all and revealing the deception is now just for more clicks and attention.

• by from-nibly on 2/15/24, 2:28 PM

  What is everyone going on about here? Lying is bad. He lied. That's bad. What is all of this "if he didn't hurt anyone what's the big deal" crap? Is this how y'all run your companies? Are you all just riding the edge of morality in case you profit from it?

• by MichaelMug on 2/15/24, 5:35 AM

  This reads like a submarine ad designed to drive clicks to his site which happens to sell stop motion and visual effects courses. It just rubs me the wrong way- because the video was impressive, so before this disclosure I'd be inclined to buy his courses.

• by yen223 on 2/15/24, 5:14 AM

  When you realise that

  a) it's easy to lie with videos, and

  b) videos are still way more trustworthy than any other media on the internet because those are even easier to fake

  It's not hard to think that you really shouldn't rely on the internet as a source of truth for anything anymore.

• by dvsfish on 2/15/24, 5:31 AM

  I don't feel deceived. The process is just different than I thought, but I also didn't even have a concrete idea of the process to start with.

  Good exercise in not blindly accepting things, which is arguably more valuable than a cute Netflix homage

• by AndrewKemendo on 2/15/24, 5:31 AM

  It seems this is only a problem to the author

  Which means its probably not an actual problem but was good subterfuge to get more attention

  So, well done kayfabe and that got a follow on life for something (At least I) had no idea existed let alone had a problem with.

• by Mathnerd314 on 2/15/24, 5:36 AM

  I wonder how fake "art" videos differ from fake news? Certainly, the "art" videos claiming that they are real is part of the cachet, but also the fake news would not be as impactful if it wasn't believable. Maybe it is just a part of life now? There is the solution to annotate fakes instead of removing them but it is not really usable right now, e.g. I can see no way to link this article from the youtube short.

• by bitwize on 2/15/24, 4:49 AM

  Please don't tell me the handcrafted miniature city and practical effects used in the 1983 HBO intro was all a lie too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agS6ZXBrcng

• by cyberdrunk2 on 2/15/24, 5:13 AM

  "In my experience, every artistic project hits a 'valley of despair' about half way through. It's that moment where your imagination gets ahead of your ability and failure seems inevitable. However, it's in that valley where creativity thrives because it takes out-of-the-box thinking (or a switch of toolboxes) to climb out.

  Creative success isn't always about sticking to the plan. It more often than not looks like finding alternate solutions and being flexible in the face of challenges."

  This touched me, no lie

• by serial_dev on 2/15/24, 5:57 AM

  I didn't see the original, so I'm not really emotionally invested in the thing, but it's a good learning opportunity.

  IMO it's deceiving and dishonest to fake an elaborative creative process and tell the viewers it's something that it isn't.

  On the other hand it's also a good reminder that only because a puppy eyed artsie guy makes a 7 minute documentary-style video that looks completely honest and believable, it doesn't automatically make it honest and true.

  It was time I learned that, I added the "arts behind the scenes" category videos to the fake prank videos, pickup videos, political commentary, and product reviews. Everyone lies.

• by not_your_mentat on 2/15/24, 2:43 PM

  Thanks to the comments we now know who not to do business with.

• by zoklet-enjoyer on 2/15/24, 5:46 AM

  I can't believe someone would just lie on the Internet

• by em-bee on 2/15/24, 5:49 AM

  i don't understand why he didn't add one more part to the rig so that he could move all yarns at once instead of one at a time. or move the camera.

• by apapapa on 2/15/24, 5:33 AM

  Who cares if it was or not?

• by mmaunder on 2/15/24, 5:34 AM

  Flagging. No need to provide even more clicks.