{"id":1078307,"date":"2026-01-23T05:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=499736"},"modified":"2026-01-23T05:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:44:08","slug":"you-could-spend-the-rest-of-your-life-watching-amazing-animated-shorts-on-youtube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/you-could-spend-the-rest-of-your-life-watching-amazing-animated-shorts-on-youtube\/","title":{"rendered":"You could spend the rest of your life watching amazing animated shorts on YouTube"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The upside of YouTube\u2019s \u201cYou watched this one video, so you must want to see everything else we have in that vein\u201d algorithm is that it helpfully surfaces things you didn\u2019t even know to search for, based on interests you\u2019ve already demonstrated. The downside is how fast that algo can get samey: Just because you watch one single episode<\/em> of \u201cGoogle Translate Sings<\/a>\u201d doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you want your YouTube launch page to suddenly push a thousand more episodes at you from the same channel.<\/p>\n

But if you ever want the YouTube equivalent of a timeline cleanse and\/or rabbit hole you could fall down pretty much forever, it\u2019s easy to get there with one simple trick. Watch a few stand-alone animated shorts on the service, and YouTube will instantly start populating your page with an infinite variety of visually creative, experimental, and above all, ambitious short stories. <\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t many outlets for short films these days, apart from sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and so forth: The days of celebrated animated-shorts tourn\u00e9es<\/a> are over. (Almost?<\/a>) Outside of film festival showcases or museum events, there aren\u2019t really good places for animators to sell their shorts for profit. So a lot of them post their work on YouTube, where it can be seen and distributed, garner word-of-mouth recommendations, and serve as a calling card for young talent looking to step up to feature films. All of which means there\u2019s a lot<\/em> of short animation on the site \u2014 a nonstop self-curated shorts festival coming from people who not only want to tell visually oriented, bold stories, but sometimes want to change how those stories are told. <\/p>\n

Some of this animation comes from students \u2014 France\u2019s famed animation school Gobelins puts its students\u2019 projects online<\/a>, and its library alone is a feast. (See also the CalArts channel<\/a>, the Sheridan College channel<\/a>, the Rubika channel<\/a>, and so forth.) Some of the videos are from small studios or independent creators around the world, looking for eyeballs and recognition. Many of these shorts have been in festival competitions. Some are slick, professional work that apes Pixar or DreamWorks styles of production and storytelling. Many, many more are experimental, playing with design, style, mood, and expression. You can often tell pretty quickly from a video\u2019s thumbnail what kind of style the creators are going for.<\/p>\n

If you want to start someplace simple and satisfying, I\u2019m a longtime fan of Jacob Frey\u2019s 2014 mega-award-winner The Present<\/em>, a simple, heartwarming story about a teenage gamer and the new puppy that disgusts him: <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n