You wander through the bottomless depths of the network and RUclips, once a month you come across something really memorable, once a year you can see the Diamond. Then you will watch it dozens of times and you will be very impressed. This is just a diamond. You who dare to criticize something here, shut up, you are dust, nothing. Turn around and dump in horror at the Gate. How much did all of humanity create worthwhile animated fantasy works? Yes, even if you take all the fantasies, including cartoons and films, - and then typed no more than 2-3 dozen. That is, 7 billion minds gave birth to a couple of dozen worthwhile works of this genre. Feel the salt? Exordium is a unique thing. Piece of art. This is incredibly difficult to create for a thousand reasons. Just try to create something worthwhile yourself .. This is definitely the most powerful and epic cartoon on RUclips.
@@GorgonautAnimation I'm not the only one here who considers this the best video on RUclips!) There should be millions of views! We are waiting for the Spine of the Night!) It also seems to me that you could quickly rise a crowdfunding for such a full-length movie)
Watched Spine Of Night last night & have been thinking about it non-stop for over 24 hours now. Came to this short after reading an interview with you & being blown away at the dedication it took to spend like 9 years on a project like that & even more when I realized you did almost half of the movie by yourself & the rest was by 3 people, with 2 at a time. I envy that kind of dedication & it makes me want to get off my ass to finally get a project off the ground that I started in 1993 but never got going due to funding.
Honestly it's my favorite short animated film ever. It just has some sort of otherworldly feeling to it, I can't quite put my finger on it. Some sort of depressive-fatalistic magic. Have been rewatching it atleast every 3 months since 2014 and it still gives me chills. I was really hyped for a spin-off or a sequel, but guess those things take time.
Coming from someone who’s done rotoscope (15 second shorts), and goes to school for animation, the patience and endurance it take is incredible. This film is beyond anything I could ever do, and I have never seen anything like it. Insane job!
There's a set of armor in the Dark Souls video game that has a gold helmet with a beard that people call Giant Dad and have long thought looked sort of like the Gatekeeper.
Hi Morgan! I just want to thank you for answering his question. I would of done it but google didn't notify me for some reason. And thank you for making such an amazing short film! It was awesome to watch and a real journey.
I watch this at least once a week for years now. It brings me some kind of a peace I'm not sure I can describe, it's apocalyptic, yet I feel calm. We are nothing.
The Watcher's voice is soo sooing. "O son of man... it means nothing" As a curiosity, "son of man" is Biblical. It's the common Hebrew expression for "human" (more precisely, it's "son of Adam", "be'n Ada'm"), it just means "one born of men", as opposed to "one born of a bird", or any other animal. But for being transposed from an ancient language, it sounds so ominous in English. Another curiosity: "man", from which we take the root of "human", means "earthly", just like in Hebrew "Adam" (adamah is "earth"), as opposed to "celestial", "from the heavens", which describes the gods, so "man" describes primarily a being that is not a god, rather than a being that's not an animal.
I can't believe I finally fucking found this. I first saw it in 2013 and I loved it, but I forgot what it was called. I have been looking for it on and off ever since then and I finally fucking found it. This is so satisfying.
It told so much in a short animation. I watched it a lot of times, wanted more of it but now I understand how independent the story is. It raises the most important question -- the question of life itself. The warrior fighting for survival of its people gets the bloom, the panacea but it has something more in it. When the man is freed from all human chains he finally asks himself the greatest question -- why? The question to the whole existance itself. He doesn't find any reasonable answer but the sorrow of meaningless. Why is it like this? Why is it only like this? In this concept, as I understood, humanity is so uselees, so meaningless to the whole whole existance, that it just doesn't bother the Gods. This truth is so rough that it must be kept behind the walls far away in the cold by the gatekeeper.
This video shows how a person comprehended the main secret of the world, but realized that people are not worthy to know this secret. now he becomes to guard save secret!
Still absolutely stunning after all these years. Beautifully scripted, scored, performed and realised. Really hits that nexus between Sword and sorcery, and Cosmic Horror PERFECTLY.
I am an animator, and I have made some stop motion shorts and I have started experimenting with rotoscoping after being inspired by films made by the legendary Ralph Bakshi. And after watching this rotoscope animation, I had a HUGE THROBBING ANIMATION BONER! The animation was AMAZING! And the music truly captured the 70s/80s Fantasy/Sci-fi movie feel. Keep up the good work! I'll be looking forward to your future projects.Cheers!
I came here after watching The Spine of the Night tonight with my husband! We both loved it! Amazing work! Also we were curious about your previous work so that's how we ended up here. We loved the way the world is built and the stories and legends told were incredibly neat! We hope you have a good career out of this!
OMG, this was so freaking cool. Reminded me of a cross between Fire & Ice and Heavy Metal -- but still original. Not only was the animation fantastic, but the story sucked me in as well. And that's ultimately the most important aspect to accomplish. Loved the atmosphere, characters, story, and presentation. A+!!!
Morgan King Hey, just wanted to share something cool with you. In the game Dark Souls 2 (i assume you've heard of it) there is a dlc that was released about two weeks ago. After playing through it I found a mask called "Pharros Mask". Something looked familiar about it but I wasn't really sure what, a day later I realized that it looked just like the mask of the gate keeper! (atleast in my opinion it did) If you want to check it here is the wiki, darksouls2.wikidot.com/pharros-mask
NeonGorill4 Oh, that's awesome! I definitely was looking at ancient masks when I was designing the Gatekeeper - there was a whole thing about epic helmet beards and it being a symbol of power. I haven't played DS2, but I did play a lot of DS1, and those gothic armor stylings were definitely on my mind! Thanks for sending that my way!
Я посмотрел каким-то чудом Экзордиум в тот же год, когда Вы его выложил и тогда же он мне запал в душу. Настолько там все было на своём месте, ощущалось очень особенным. Спустя много лет, когда я узнал, что у Вас получилось сделать полнометражное продолжение, и в день просмотра Хребта Ночи я был как рад словно ребёнок. И фильму, и самому факту, что у Вас получилось, уважаемый мистер Кинг. Спасибо Вам, Вы создали по-настоящему особенную вещь, которая стала очень важной частью моей жизни. И если ничего не имеет смысла, то я нахожу свой в осозании того факта, что мир полон такими талантливыми людьми, как Вы и у нас есть возможность наслаждаться творчеством этих людей.❤ P.S. В интервью русскоязычному каналу вы спрашивали, почему так много прсмотров из россии - за всех не скажу, но лично я часто видел экзордиум в тредах с видеороликами на одной популярной российской анонимной имеджборде. Наверное, оттуда многие и узнали.
Hello, Morgan! I saw Exordium back in '18 and have been going back and rewatching it occasionally ever since. And just recently I was surprised to discover Spine of Night! Like. what? There's a full-length version of this short!? And it's so, so impressive and awesome that it still gives me goosebumps. I run a RUclips channel of movie and cartoon dissections, and I really want to do a dissection of Exordium and Spine of Night. Tell me, would you be interested in a small interview with me, literally for 30-40 minutes? I would like to know what you as an author put into your creations, what meanings and ideas and.... what questions you wanted to ask the viewer, what problems and dilemmas you wanted to put them in front of.
I would Kickstart the hell out a full length feature film like this. I bet it would do well too, might even start people being interested in rotoscoped animation again.
Thanks! We're actually wrapping up a feature length one now, after many years of animation - I'll post a trailer here as soon as we're ready to get it out there!
Morgan King that’s so sick! If you guys ever need to source voice talent, I know some actor/geeks who’d do it pro bono and we have decent recording equipment. Otherwise, fair winds- can’t wait to see the final product.
This story truly is a piece of art. I just watched it about 5 times in a row, so I would like to express my own interpretation here and what I discussed with my friends. The main character, "the bearded man", indeed succeed because he was destined to. But why was he? It's about the time circle. The Gatekeeper was defending the Bloom. Why? Because he touched It too, he knew about It and its divine power. Thus we know, that the Gatekeeper was the God himself. If he was a God, it means that he let the bearded man to kill him. But he can let the bearded man to kill him only if the bearded man is the God=Gatekeeper himself. It's the omnipotence paradox, and here is where the time loop lies. It's pretty logical to assume that the God's mind isn't limited with our understanding of time and cause-effect relationships. The Bloom blossoms only when the Gatekeeper strikes the bearded man's head, although everyone hearded about the Bloom before. And we can clearly see whose skull it is. When the main character sees the vision of the Man and the Woman killing the Man, it's how he sees two galaxies, when one devours another. The last sparkle of their lifes is the skull. Skull of the God, skull of the main character, skull of the Gatekeeper. When bearded man realises everything, he just replaces himself on the watch, waiting for next himself. This way he can contain the divine power and gnosis within the Bloom in this loop. And this why the Gatekeeper says: "Oh, son of man, it means nothing". He doesn't even help his people, after all he realises: the best way to use his powers is to hide them from the world, because whether everything has or doesn't have any sense it's better to let everything be as it is. This story reminds me of some Lovecraft's statements or the The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus. It's also pretty much similar with Bioshock's and Watchmen's main concepts. Besides, I can see obvious reference to Novalis and his "Blue flower", since the Bloom isn't only the source of divine powers, it also reflects the great will of the main character. Moreover, maybe there is a reference to one of the Koran's myths, where Muhammad splits the moon in two to convince the unbelievers. I hope the author of this art will respond to my opinion after almost 6 years.) Anyway, greetings from Ukraine.
Very good theory! I don't agree in a couple things, like the point were you say the Gatekeeper is God, but you say that he touched the Bloom too, so was he human before? I think he is more like the Maiar of Tolkien, a Spirit of great power, in a superior dimension of existence, put there by someone even superior to him, with the particular task of guarding the Bloom from the humans, or protecting the humans from the Bloom... I don't think he was a human, as he calls the bearded guy "Son of Man", and thus I believe he is really of another species or some kind of Spirit, or Demi-God. Another theory I have is that the Bloom might be a drug... A drug that makes humans acquire a different level of understanding about existence and time. Even to make them be able to manipulate matter. But every human, consumed phisically by te drug, and becoming this black skinned, blue eyed guy, concludes that this knowledge has to be hidden from the humans, like a child's fear and despair is avoided by hiding what is about to come (exempli gratia, a mother singing a lullaby to his baby son while the enemy army is raiding their village, right before they get inside the house, kill the baby and rape the mother). But this theory leaves a couple things unexplained... Anyway, it was a pleasure to read you comment. Oh, I almost forgot! About the woman killing the man, I think it represents Andromeda (the name of the nearest spiral galaxy, that's coming to us at 110 km per second and will colide with ours), the wife of Perseus in Greek Mythology, killing humanity. Just a supposition. Sorry for the mistakes and the grammar errors, English is not my first language :)
I think god died in that place and from his skull it bloomed flowers with some sort of his reduced powers and who ever touches it becomes acknowledge of “the truth” which sadly it means nothing and that’s why the carrier wants to prevent the humanity to carry such a weight
Found this (finally) after rewatching Spine of Night for what must’ve been the 10th time. This is just as good, and god I wish I’d known about this sooner. There needs to be more like this!
Чел, как ты мог сперва посмотреть Хребет ночи, а потом это шедевр увидеть? Я в России и то сперва этот мульт лет 7 назад увидел и всё время ждал продолжения.
I finally got around to watching The Spine of night, last night… It’s easily my favorite adult animated movie. Yourself and everyone involved outdid themselves and should be proud of what yall created. I hope you’re working on something else, if so, I’m more than excited for what else you bring forth.
Wow. Jaw-dropping. I think this is one of the most beatiful things that i have seen in my whole life. Please keep up making masterpieces like Exordium.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was completely done in rotoscope as well as the Rankin-Bass Lord of the Rings film. Not sure if any other animated films have done this.
I can't stop watching this. What a great story. Great editing and sound design. I love the sequence when he discovers the blue flower. The camera angles are perfect for expressing his new found power and then his acceptance of futility. Just fantastic.
The gatekeeper seems like he was actually the hero in the story because he was trying to keep men from realizing there was no hope beyond the gate. Though the bloom can grant one Godhood but at the end of the day empires still fall and men still die. Our hero was still willing to keep pushing even when he was fighting for his life just because the sliver of hope that this lotus gave him. Alas the battle was won and like Icarus he flew briefly in awe before coming to the realization that the cycle would eventually repeat itself and a new hero would come seeking the same power. As the previous gatekeeper tried to tell him. - "oh son of man, This means nothing" He briefly became God, realized he had all the power in the world and then realized that no matter what he could do with that power he would still die, wars would still be fought and mass suffering would continue.
The nostalgia from this video now almost half a decade ago... Damn. A bunch of stuff has happened between the twelve-year-old dumb kid I once was to the seventeen-year-old dumb kid I now am. Somehow rediscovering this masterpiece gave me even bigger goosebumps than the first time I watched it. This will always hold a weird, yet beloved part of my heart.
Thanks so much for your comment! That really means a lot to me - I started on this project specifically because I wanted to pass on the life-changing experience I had watching Heavy Metal at a sleepover when I was about 12. I apologize that the follow-up has taken so long to be completed, but it is coming!
Just finished Spine of Night, holy crap that was amazing, can't believe you got Lucy Lawless and other celebs to voice.. It was mind blowing. I was stoked to see there are shorts available to get more lore on characters and the world. Hope to see more productions from your studio in the future. I've always been a big Heavy Metal mag and movie fan, your production was like finding a lost Heavy Metal production, was glad to finally get another epic movie made with so much love and care. With the advancement of technology like EBSynth and A.I. art generation that could take years of animating work off your hands, I can only imagine what crazy stuff we might possibly see from your future works. Hell would love to see what ever was the journey and maybe fate of Mongrel.
@@Volodya78 Я снял его, потому что мы делаем новый трейлер с окончательной музыкой и звуком - тот был сделан из такой старой версии, что я хотел заменить его. Надеюсь, новый будет загружен в ближайшее время!
Just showed your movie to a friend last night after watching it a bit ago and we both love it. Not sure if there's more serious rotoscope animations out there but you've definitely sold me on the medium. Awesome themes too. Thank you.
Замечательное произведение! Работа со звуком впечатляет: слова произнесенные персонажами весьма выразительные, эмоциональные и до глубины души пронизывающие!
Wow, this is so well done. I can't even imagine the amount of patience and time that went into creating something like this. Keep up the great work! I can't wait to see more!
I watch this about four times a year. I keep coming back to this and the soundtrack. I saw the RB trailer for Spine of Night, and I can't ever remember being so excited for a movie.
I love this animation for many reasons but the best reason by far is the fact that there are so many different ways of interpreting it, as evidenced by the many comments that it has generated. Truly a work of art.
That's.. So impressive! It looks like a new transcendental vision of the old fairy tail about the hero, the dragon and its magical treasure which turns people into the next dragon. But it's kinda look from another angle on the whole plot. I must say that this masterpiece doesn't need a sequel or else. This story is already a reason itself to think about some things about life.
Thank you so much! I'm working on more now - it's tough to tell a longer story and retain that esotericism, but I think it's going to be pretty awesome.
Your audio design is pretty awesome to. The gatekeeper sounds really sad and cosmic and the hero's opening lines sound rough, like a low quality punk recording. There's so much to compliment. Thanks for your work!
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Why did we ever stop making these stories? I'm so glad the algorithm brought this to me.
the answer to this would be considered antisemitic
Have you seen The Spine of Night? Fantastic!
"The bloom is beyond the grasp of men , it is only sorrow "
Those epic lines though , it gives me chills
its the two previous lines that get me.
"It is our only hope!"
"Then abandon hope."
@@claycross840 Abandon hope is cliche and pirate-ty. The bloom is beyond the grasp of men, it's only sorrow. Is original and more thought provoking.
@@Charles-ij1ow That's just, like, your opinion, Man.
@@claycross840 I've seen too much
@@Charles-ij1ow not enough Lebowski apparently lol
You wander through the bottomless depths of the network and RUclips, once a month you come across something really memorable, once a year you can see the Diamond. Then you will watch it dozens of times and you will be very impressed. This is just a diamond. You who dare to criticize something here, shut up, you are dust, nothing. Turn around and dump in horror at the Gate. How much did all of humanity create worthwhile animated fantasy works? Yes, even if you take all the fantasies, including cartoons and films, - and then typed no more than 2-3 dozen. That is, 7 billion minds gave birth to a couple of dozen worthwhile works of this genre. Feel the salt? Exordium is a unique thing. Piece of art. This is incredibly difficult to create for a thousand reasons. Just try to create something worthwhile yourself .. This is definitely the most powerful and epic cartoon on RUclips.
You are too kind! Thank you.
@@GorgonautAnimation I'm not the only one here who considers this the best video on RUclips!) There should be millions of views!
We are waiting for the Spine of the Night!) It also seems to me that you could quickly rise a crowdfunding for such a full-length movie)
This really deserves more attention than it has garnered...
Absolutely! This is amazing
Lucky that he finally made it into theaters!
More than 50% of big movie budgets are spent on the marketing. More people will see it over time, hopefully.
Yea its a movie now same rotoscope and all
Watched Spine Of Night last night & have been thinking about it non-stop for over 24 hours now. Came to this short after reading an interview with you & being blown away at the dedication it took to spend like 9 years on a project like that & even more when I realized you did almost half of the movie by yourself & the rest was by 3 people, with 2 at a time. I envy that kind of dedication & it makes me want to get off my ass to finally get a project off the ground that I started in 1993 but never got going due to funding.
Have you figured out why the bloom brings so much power to Men, but still the gods die by Man's hands so easily?
@@Eikinklosterno, have you?
Best short animation I have ever seen. Hands down
I've watched this probably every other month. I love it. Incredible piece of art.
Thank you so much!
I totally agree with you, what other shit u into ?
Back for the 18th or 19th time.
Destructiviser the 3rd oh wow youre still doing it
@@Jo-yg5qc yep, back again. So fuckin goooooood
Honestly it's my favorite short animated film ever. It just has some sort of otherworldly feeling to it, I can't quite put my finger on it. Some sort of depressive-fatalistic magic. Have been rewatching it atleast every 3 months since 2014 and it still gives me chills. I was really hyped for a spin-off or a sequel, but guess those things take time.
That is very kind! The film - The Spine of Night - should be out later this year - we're wrapping it up now!
@@GorgonautAnimation Hey dude, didn't you die there? Is it worth waiting for The Spine of Night, this year?) I'm still waiting, but will I wait ...
@@qreemer5078 I still live! TSON is headed for festivals in the very near future, so we should have all sorts of news in the next couple of months.
@@GorgonautAnimation That's cool! Boss, I'll wait. Good luck bro.
@@GorgonautAnimation I just saw this linked on reddit and I'm super hyped to read that there's more on the way!
The music in this is amazing.
Coming from someone who’s done rotoscope (15 second shorts), and goes to school for animation, the patience and endurance it take is incredible. This film is beyond anything I could ever do, and I have never seen anything like it. Insane job!
Aidan Fordyce you should check out waking life or scanner darkly, not the same content as this but full rotoscope
Please watch The Spine of Night
fire and ice is probably what this is inspired by
@@dawnofthedave5072 Wizards was Ralph’s best IMO.
I saw the Spine of Night first, so it's cool to find this and see how things did or didn't change compared to the film.
The Legend lives.
*Giant dad appears in the distance*
lol
i dont get this reference?
There's a set of armor in the Dark Souls video game that has a gold helmet with a beard that people call Giant Dad and have long thought looked sort of like the Gatekeeper.
oh i see, thanks! i thought it was something i missed from the previous videos or something.
Hi Morgan! I just want to thank you for answering his question. I would of done it but google didn't notify me for some reason. And thank you for making such an amazing short film! It was awesome to watch and a real journey.
THE LEGEND NEVER DIES. Srsly, that guy with a mask is giantdad.
No, this is "mask of pharros".
@@ShMokou r/woooosh
"The Bloom is beyond the grasp of Men. It is only sorrow." Thats some straight up depressing shit that hits me hard in my Dark Souls feels.
I watch this at least once a week for years now. It brings me some kind of a peace I'm not sure I can describe, it's apocalyptic, yet I feel calm.
We are nothing.
The Watcher's voice is soo sooing. "O son of man... it means nothing"
As a curiosity, "son of man" is Biblical. It's the common Hebrew expression for "human" (more precisely, it's "son of Adam", "be'n Ada'm"), it just means "one born of men", as opposed to "one born of a bird", or any other animal. But for being transposed from an ancient language, it sounds so ominous in English.
Another curiosity: "man", from which we take the root of "human", means "earthly", just like in Hebrew "Adam" (adamah is "earth"), as opposed to "celestial", "from the heavens", which describes the gods, so "man" describes primarily a being that is not a god, rather than a being that's not an animal.
7 years and this still looks great
Since watching Spine of Night, I can't stop watching your stuff, it's truly captivating.
I come back to this from time to time…..just because
Same for me.
Imgur.... Thank you for taking me to this magical video. I appreciate you.
I can't believe I finally fucking found this. I first saw it in 2013 and I loved it, but I forgot what it was called. I have been looking for it on and off ever since then and I finally fucking found it. This is so satisfying.
What I'm going through right now. I typed so much nonsense into google before "youtube rotoscope warrior animation" saved me.
@@cesarevisari8040 just search rotoscope on RUclips. Its the 4th result
@@celestialowl8865 , not anymore
@@mazadancoseben4818 Yeah, 8th now
i found again on youtube by qwords "rotoscope viking battle"
I FOUND IT AGAIN FINALLY, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
I have found it just today
Herozilla 545 hell ya man. I know the struggle
@@wombatzzzz8446 yea
Welcome home!
Come watch it.
Something about this masterpiece, keeps me coming back years later
Come watch it
Лучший художественный мультфильм на ютубе, я серьезно.
10/10 однозначно.
+WoolistTea76 Согласен. Чего только саундтрек стоит!
+Александр Бабич как саундтрек называется?
Старый Беккер Вообще саундтрек легко можно найти в Google. Ссылка на музыку: gorgonaut.bandcamp.com/releases
what
@@roxwize Go buy yourself a dictionary
STILL the best shit on RUclips. Always a must watch before putting on the spine of night!
Come back
This vid is so underrated
Feels like I discovered a gem
I saw this video for the first time years ago. Today it was suggested to me again and I really enjoyed it again. Very strong storytelling.
It told so much in a short animation. I watched it a lot of times, wanted more of it but now I understand how independent the story is. It raises the most important question -- the question of life itself. The warrior fighting for survival of its people gets the bloom, the panacea but it has something more in it. When the man is freed from all human chains he finally asks himself the greatest question -- why? The question to the whole existance itself. He doesn't find any reasonable answer but the sorrow of meaningless.
Why is it like this? Why is it only like this?
In this concept, as I understood, humanity is so uselees, so meaningless to the whole whole existance, that it just doesn't bother the Gods. This truth is so rough that it must be kept behind the walls far away in the cold by the gatekeeper.
This video shows how a person comprehended the main secret of the world, but realized that people are not worthy to know this secret. now he becomes to guard save secret!
pay attention to the symbolism of the Black Sun on the Guard and the chopping off of the head by the celestial maiden
is there a reference for that?
Love that people still do rotoscoping.
LEGEND NEVER DIES
Still absolutely stunning after all these years. Beautifully scripted, scored, performed and realised. Really hits that nexus between Sword and sorcery, and Cosmic Horror PERFECTLY.
I still watch this every few months. Always enjoy it.
Come watch it
@@subarollawatched it last week lol
@@subarollawatching it ?
Watched The Spine of Night last night randomly, and really love what you guys have done. Keep it up!
and here I am again, seeking the forbidden knowledge
Sol will comeback...........😮
When you finally grind enough to beat the Boss, you want to cut the NES off but you must see whats up ahead.
I am an animator, and I have made some stop motion shorts and I have started experimenting with rotoscoping after being inspired by films made by the legendary Ralph Bakshi. And after watching this rotoscope animation, I had a HUGE THROBBING ANIMATION BONER! The animation was AMAZING! And the music truly captured the 70s/80s Fantasy/Sci-fi movie feel. Keep up the good work! I'll be looking forward to your future projects.Cheers!
Thrilled to hear it! Thanks - I'd love to see any rotoscope animation you end up with!
I came here after watching The Spine of the Night tonight with my husband! We both loved it! Amazing work! Also we were curious about your previous work so that's how we ended up here. We loved the way the world is built and the stories and legends told were incredibly neat! We hope you have a good career out of this!
OMG, this was so freaking cool. Reminded me of a cross between Fire & Ice and Heavy Metal -- but still original. Not only was the animation fantastic, but the story sucked me in as well. And that's ultimately the most important aspect to accomplish.
Loved the atmosphere, characters, story, and presentation. A+!!!
Awesome, man - thanks!
Morgan King Hey, just wanted to share something cool with you. In the game Dark Souls 2 (i assume you've heard of it) there is a dlc that was released about two weeks ago. After playing through it I found a mask called "Pharros Mask". Something looked familiar about it but I wasn't really sure what, a day later I realized that it looked just like the mask of the gate keeper! (atleast in my opinion it did) If you want to check it here is the wiki, darksouls2.wikidot.com/pharros-mask
NeonGorill4 Oh, that's awesome! I definitely was looking at ancient masks when I was designing the Gatekeeper - there was a whole thing about epic helmet beards and it being a symbol of power. I haven't played DS2, but I did play a lot of DS1, and those gothic armor stylings were definitely on my mind! Thanks for sending that my way!
Я посмотрел каким-то чудом Экзордиум в тот же год, когда Вы его выложил и тогда же он мне запал в душу. Настолько там все было на своём месте, ощущалось очень особенным. Спустя много лет, когда я узнал, что у Вас получилось сделать полнометражное продолжение, и в день просмотра Хребта Ночи я был как рад словно ребёнок. И фильму, и самому факту, что у Вас получилось, уважаемый мистер Кинг. Спасибо Вам, Вы создали по-настоящему особенную вещь, которая стала очень важной частью моей жизни. И если ничего не имеет смысла, то я нахожу свой в осозании того факта, что мир полон такими талантливыми людьми, как Вы и у нас есть возможность наслаждаться творчеством этих людей.❤
P.S. В интервью русскоязычному каналу вы спрашивали, почему так много прсмотров из россии - за всех не скажу, но лично я часто видел экзордиум в тредах с видеороликами на одной популярной российской анонимной имеджборде. Наверное, оттуда многие и узнали.
Hello, Morgan! I saw Exordium back in '18 and have been going back and rewatching it occasionally ever since. And just recently I was surprised to discover Spine of Night! Like. what? There's a full-length version of this short!?
And it's so, so impressive and awesome that it still gives me goosebumps. I run a RUclips channel of movie and cartoon dissections, and I really want to do a dissection of Exordium and Spine of Night. Tell me, would you be interested in a small interview with me, literally for 30-40 minutes? I would like to know what you as an author put into your creations, what meanings and ideas and.... what questions you wanted to ask the viewer, what problems and dilemmas you wanted to put them in front of.
I would Kickstart the hell out a full length feature film like this. I bet it would do well too, might even start people being interested in rotoscoped animation again.
Thanks! We're actually wrapping up a feature length one now, after many years of animation - I'll post a trailer here as soon as we're ready to get it out there!
Morgan King that’s so sick! If you guys ever need to source voice talent, I know some actor/geeks who’d do it pro bono and we have decent recording equipment. Otherwise, fair winds- can’t wait to see the final product.
This is how Game of Thrones was supposed to end
I just don’t get why this doesn’t have millions of views
This story truly is a piece of art. I just watched it about 5 times in a row, so I would like to express my own interpretation here and what I discussed with my friends.
The main character, "the bearded man", indeed succeed because he was destined to. But why was he? It's about the time circle.
The Gatekeeper was defending the Bloom. Why? Because he touched It too, he knew about It and its divine power. Thus we know, that the Gatekeeper was the God himself. If he was a God, it means that he let the bearded man to kill him. But he can let the bearded man to kill him only if the bearded man is the God=Gatekeeper himself. It's the omnipotence paradox, and here is where the time loop lies.
It's pretty logical to assume that the God's mind isn't limited with our understanding of time and cause-effect relationships. The Bloom blossoms only when the Gatekeeper strikes the bearded man's head, although everyone hearded about the Bloom before. And we can clearly see whose skull it is.
When the main character sees the vision of the Man and the Woman killing the Man, it's how he sees two galaxies, when one devours another. The last sparkle of their lifes is the skull. Skull of the God, skull of the main character, skull of the Gatekeeper.
When bearded man realises everything, he just replaces himself on the watch, waiting for next himself. This way he can contain the divine power and gnosis within the Bloom in this loop. And this why the Gatekeeper says: "Oh, son of man, it means nothing". He doesn't even help his people, after all he realises: the best way to use his powers is to hide them from the world, because whether everything has or doesn't have any sense it's better to let everything be as it is.
This story reminds me of some Lovecraft's statements or the The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus.
It's also pretty much similar with Bioshock's and Watchmen's main concepts. Besides, I can see obvious reference to Novalis and his "Blue flower", since the Bloom isn't only the source of divine powers, it also reflects the great will of the main character.
Moreover, maybe there is a reference to one of the Koran's myths, where Muhammad splits the moon in two to convince the unbelievers.
I hope the author of this art will respond to my opinion after almost 6 years.) Anyway, greetings from Ukraine.
Very good theory! I don't agree in a couple things, like the point were you say the Gatekeeper is God, but you say that he touched the Bloom too, so was he human before? I think he is more like the Maiar of Tolkien, a Spirit of great power, in a superior dimension of existence, put there by someone even superior to him, with the particular task of guarding the Bloom from the humans, or protecting the humans from the Bloom... I don't think he was a human, as he calls the bearded guy "Son of Man", and thus I believe he is really of another species or some kind of Spirit, or Demi-God.
Another theory I have is that the Bloom might be a drug... A drug that makes humans acquire a different level of understanding about existence and time. Even to make them be able to manipulate matter. But every human, consumed phisically by te drug, and becoming this black skinned, blue eyed guy, concludes that this knowledge has to be hidden from the humans, like a child's fear and despair is avoided by hiding what is about to come (exempli gratia, a mother singing a lullaby to his baby son while the enemy army is raiding their village, right before they get inside the house, kill the baby and rape the mother). But this theory leaves a couple things unexplained... Anyway, it was a pleasure to read you comment. Oh, I almost forgot! About the woman killing the man, I think it represents Andromeda (the name of the nearest spiral galaxy, that's coming to us at 110 km per second and will colide with ours), the wife of Perseus in Greek Mythology, killing humanity. Just a supposition.
Sorry for the mistakes and the grammar errors, English is not my first language :)
I think god died in that place and from his skull it bloomed flowers with some sort of his reduced powers and who ever touches it becomes acknowledge of “the truth” which sadly it means nothing and that’s why the carrier wants to prevent the humanity to carry such a weight
@@shsebastian8 what means nothing?
Found this (finally) after rewatching Spine of Night for what must’ve been the 10th time. This is just as good, and god I wish I’d known about this sooner. There needs to be more like this!
Чел, как ты мог сперва посмотреть Хребет ночи, а потом это шедевр увидеть? Я в России и то сперва этот мульт лет 7 назад увидел и всё время ждал продолжения.
I finally got around to watching The Spine of night, last night… It’s easily my favorite adult animated movie. Yourself and everyone involved outdid themselves and should be proud of what yall created. I hope you’re working on something else, if so, I’m more than excited for what else you bring forth.
this is why i woke up today. Im so sad it has taken me this long to find it. 11/10 chef kisses
that was the most epic thing that i have ever witnessed.
Come watch it
Makes me even more excited to see The Spine of Night.
Man, this is just beautiful, the gem of youtube. I even desired to re-watch Bakshi's Lord of the Ring and Fire and Ice.
Really exelent work. Hope author will make something... One day.
Thanks! We're working on new stuff now, it just takes a long time to do it.
Wow.
Jaw-dropping.
I think this is one of the most beatiful things that i have seen in my whole life.
Please keep up making masterpieces like Exordium.
Thank you so much! I'm thrilled it could connect with you. It will be quite a while before it's finished, but I'm working on more right now.
You have to make more of these I love it!!!
The full-length film is nearly complete!
@@GorgonautAnimation Awesome!
It resonates with me on so many levels. Thanks a lot
Really LOVED Spine of Night!! Thank you!
Man, I'd love a whole movie like this. ^-^
JEEVES635 Thanks! The movie is coming, but it's going to be a while.
Morgan King this is epic, dude!
Thanks, man!
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was completely done in rotoscope as well as the Rankin-Bass Lord of the Rings film. Not sure if any other animated films have done this.
@@GorgonautAnimation I can see it did take awhile. Spine of Night looks awesome, man!
I can't stop watching this. What a great story. Great editing and sound design. I love the sequence when he discovers the blue flower. The camera angles are perfect for expressing his new found power and then his acceptance of futility. Just fantastic.
Rory Deol & Maria Magner Thank you so much for the kind words!
INSTANT LIKE. I hope there's a sequel.
*Why isn't it popular? This is a masterpiece!*
The gatekeeper seems like he was actually the hero in the story because he was trying to keep men from realizing there was no hope beyond the gate. Though the bloom can grant one Godhood but at the end of the day empires still fall and men still die. Our hero was still willing to keep pushing even when he was fighting for his life just because the sliver of hope that this lotus gave him. Alas the battle was won and like Icarus he flew briefly in awe before coming to the realization that the cycle would eventually repeat itself and a new hero would come seeking the same power. As the previous gatekeeper tried to tell him.
- "oh son of man, This means nothing"
He briefly became God, realized he had all the power in the world and then realized that no matter what he could do with that power he would still die, wars would still be fought and mass suffering would continue.
This needs more views. Gather people.
The nostalgia from this video now almost half a decade ago... Damn. A bunch of stuff has happened between the twelve-year-old dumb kid I once was to the seventeen-year-old dumb kid I now am. Somehow rediscovering this masterpiece gave me even bigger goosebumps than the first time I watched it. This will always hold a weird, yet beloved part of my heart.
Thanks so much for your comment! That really means a lot to me - I started on this project specifically because I wanted to pass on the life-changing experience I had watching Heavy Metal at a sleepover when I was about 12. I apologize that the follow-up has taken so long to be completed, but it is coming!
I think I’ve watched this every 6 months for the last 7 years. What a wild film, I’m so glad this lives on the internet.
This is really awesome stuff! It's nice to see something stylistically not so common, done so well! Eager to see what you do next!
I watch this for 5 years now. For some reason, i just cant hold tears every time
initiate phase one. power up the bass cannon. fire!
BPBPPBPPTPPPBPBPPB
Spine of Night was fantastic! Now I'm back here for for my thousandth rewatch
I need more
+LordLazarus - It's coming, slow but steady:
ruclips.net/video/1jTBbODYcZs/видео.html
This is gorgeous
Thank you very much!
this was freaking amazing! well played mr King, well played.
Just finished Spine of Night, holy crap that was amazing, can't believe you got Lucy Lawless and other celebs to voice.. It was mind blowing. I was stoked to see there are shorts available to get more lore on characters and the world. Hope to see more productions from your studio in the future. I've always been a big Heavy Metal mag and movie fan, your production was like finding a lost Heavy Metal production, was glad to finally get another epic movie made with so much love and care.
With the advancement of technology like EBSynth and A.I. art generation that could take years of animating work off your hands, I can only imagine what crazy stuff we might possibly see from your future works. Hell would love to see what ever was the journey and maybe fate of Mongrel.
For some reason the audio for the voices sounding distant like that fits for some reason. Real great work here. Love the music too
This is spectacular!!! We're in absolute awe. WOW.
Смотрел это множество раз на протяжении нескольких лет, это что-то удивительное и потрясающее! Жаль что нет новых работ(
Скоро будет новый! Это заняло много времени, но мы почти у цели.
Morgan King, очень рад слышать. Спасибо огромное.
Не нашел на канале трейлер "The spine of night" .Только подумал что всё заглохло, а тут такие новости.
@@Volodya78 Я снял его, потому что мы делаем новый трейлер с окончательной музыкой и звуком - тот был сделан из такой старой версии, что я хотел заменить его. Надеюсь, новый будет загружен в ближайшее время!
Morgan King , ясно, понятно. Еще раз спасибо. Да здравствует перфекционизм!
Just showed your movie to a friend last night after watching it a bit ago and we both love it. Not sure if there's more serious rotoscope animations out there but you've definitely sold me on the medium. Awesome themes too. Thank you.
потрясающе.
впечатляет, не так ли?
Как же долго я искал эту анимацию..... наконец-то
а хребет ночи смотрел?
Замечательное произведение! Работа со звуком впечатляет: слова произнесенные персонажами весьма выразительные, эмоциональные и до глубины души пронизывающие!
Большое спасибо!
@@GorgonautAnimation вы из России?
@@papaboys0318 No, just using Google Translate. I'm in the USA.
@@GorgonautAnimation very nice film.
@@GorgonautAnimation lmao
I found this just before I bought Spine of Night. It is amazing and hope to see more of this style.
Why hasn’t this blown up. This is incredible 🔥🔥🔥🔥. Mad respect
Aw, thanks! I have to assume a whole lot of new people will see it when the feature film, The Spine of Night, comes out next month!
@@GorgonautAnimation Holy fucking shit oh my god
I watched this when it came out back in 2013, I forgot to save it and been looking for it ever since, I finally found it ♥️
Did you find it again because of Spine of Night?
Wow, this is so well done. I can't even imagine the amount of patience and time that went into creating something like this. Keep up the great work! I can't wait to see more!
Thank you so much!
I'm still coming back to this after all these years. So much potential! Cant put forward how great this is.
aw, thanks! At long last, the feature film The Spine of Night, is coming out in Oct.
@@GorgonautAnimation I can't wait mate 👌
Это самый крутой мультфильм из тех что довелось увидеть
Все еще пересматриваю
You have a gift man, keep on doing what you do
Thanks! Working on something new right now.
Morgan King Well right on man, scored yourself another subscriber. Looking forward to your next project
I miss hand drawn animation so much! This was incredible!
Legend never dies, boys.
I rewatch this every few weeks.
The Spine of Night is an instant MASTERPIECE! I highly recommend everyone watch it.
Слишком много положительных эмоций вызывает этот шедевр. Не знаю как это описать. Всё идеально,от музыки до идеи. Хочется продолжения. Творите гении.
I watch this about four times a year. I keep coming back to this and the soundtrack. I saw the RB trailer for Spine of Night, and I can't ever remember being so excited for a movie.
Incredible!
I love this animation for many reasons but the best reason by far is the fact that there are so many different ways of interpreting it, as evidenced by the many comments that it has generated.
Truly a work of art.
This short film has more sense than my life!
Without sarcasm, it's a great movie.
Now that’s how synthesisers are meant to be used. Epic!
Who's here after The Spine of Night?
Nobody cares
Where do we watch it?
Still love this
who's not here after Spine of Night?
Я.
That's.. So impressive! It looks like a new transcendental vision of the old fairy tail about the hero, the dragon and its magical treasure which turns people into the next dragon. But it's kinda look from another angle on the whole plot. I must say that this masterpiece doesn't need a sequel or else. This story is already a reason itself to think about some things about life.
Никита Демин fafnir. That is the name you are seeking
2020...
i am still waiting to continue...
Not too much longer - we're getting close.
That's great to hear!
@@GorgonautAnimation yes, yes, yes, yes! Epic
These lines are clean as hell for rotoscoping, great job.
Thanks! The new film we're working on is even cleaner, I think - it's something we're trying hard to do, while also not having any still frames.
Очень круто. Боже 6 лет прошло а ждать осталось чуть чуть
I've watched this at least a dozen times now. Awesome use of rotoscoping. Please make more of this esoteric and amazing art.
Thank you so much! I'm working on more now - it's tough to tell a longer story and retain that esotericism, but I think it's going to be pretty awesome.
Your audio design is pretty awesome to. The gatekeeper sounds really sad and cosmic and the hero's opening lines sound rough, like a low quality punk recording. There's so much to compliment. Thanks for your work!