Animated Influence: Adam Ruins Everything

Animated Influence: Adam ruins Everything                                                                          11/12/2022

 

Figure 1: Adam ruins everything:https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.trutv.com%2Fshows%2Fadam-ruins-everything&psig=AOvVaw1cpTR3OETrG4kh7vEEW_rd&ust=1670870178878000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCPDt_Mma8vsCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

As mentioned in my assessment video, one of my side influences for my project is the TruTV docu-comedy series "Adam ruins Everything" created by former CollegeHumor employee Adam Conover.  The premise of the show is that the host, Adam, reveals little-known truths about everyday subject matter to the straight-person of the episode, including nutrition, the workplace, animals, healthcare and music, with interviews from experts to verify his iconoclasm. The show also shows links to the sources of its information so that the viewer can personally verify it. Whilst this is primarily a live-action series, the show incorporates animation in it's infographics using the theme of the surroundings to highlight it's information, and briefly aired an animated segment called "Reanimated History", where Adam would apply his format to historical events.  Adam Conover is clearly of the animation medium, and has long been the partner of Lisa Hanawalt, a production designer on Bojack Horseman (2014) and the creator of the short-lived Tuca and Bertie (2019).  He is also an advocate for the rights of writers in animation, where they often receive less than the writers for live-action shows.

 

Figure 2: The Disturbing History of the Suburbs | Adam Ruins Everything: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETR9qrVS17g

The reason why I have noted Adam ruins Everything as an influence for my project is because of its creativity in its infographics.  An example of this is in the episode "Adam ruins Suburbs" where he discusses the redlining policies of the mid-20th century that resulted in racist housing plans and children being segregated in schools.  The racist real estate developer, William Levitt, is depicted in an animation style identical to the Monopoly mascot, and is used to express a racist policy that forbade anyone other than white people to live at a home in Levittown.  The animation is incorporated onto a game instruction leaflet to blend into the surroundings.  This is inspiring to me because of how it mocks an everyday item (a Monopoly board game), and uses it to illustrate a real-world problem.  A similar example, in the same episode, is where they discuss the fundamental flaw of how cul-de-sacs are organised and distance residents from everyday essentials.  The animation style is designed to mimic a child's chalk drawing on the road, and encourages the audience to believe that this is part of the environment that they are viewing.  It also plays into the outdoor environment of the cul-de-sac where the segment is taking place, increasing the benefit of the environmental association.

  

 

Figure 3: Adam Ruins Everything - Why cul-de-sacs are dangerous and harmful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKrQDdQ5GA

 

 

Software-wise, the show mainly uses three methods to create its visual, Cinema 4D, Maya and After Effects.   Some of the animated segments used in the show's social media posts, such as Adam discussing how teens are rigged to sleep later than others, uses very simple character designs that are geared more towards an audience with a shorter-attention span, so he knows to appeal to those who have less time to view content.  The show was also always experimental with how it utilised it's infographics, and could do things such as illustrating a pie chart in a tyre, create a comparative bar chart using a blood-pressure guage.  It's this kind of encorporation that has made me think of how to use the surroundings to highlight my animation and to better convey its messages, such as union and revelation.

 

Figure 4: Adam Ruins Everything -Why Some Prescription Drugs Are More Dangerous than Illegal Drugs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcAkAyI985U 

 

Figure 5:Adam Ruins Everything - How the Continental Army Was Actually Formed | truTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHLHT-nbqHQ

"We really have a “kitchen sink” approach to making the show. We do digital effects, we do animation, we do puppets, we’ve done Claymation. I come from a sketch comedy background, so I love to parody every single format under the sun. Last year, we did an all-animated episode for the first time, a Magic School Bus parody. We had a ton of fun doing it". -(Conover, 2017)

Bibliography

Gunderson, A. (2018) The 10 Best Episodes of Adam Ruins Everything. Available at: https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/adam-ruins-everything/trutv-adam-ruins-everything-10-best-episodes/.

Malone, M. (2018) Adam Conover Gets Animated. Available at: https://www.nexttv.com/news/adam-conover-gets-animated-418730.

Maynard, M. (2017) Adam Ruins Everything. Available at: https://www.maxon.net/en/article/adam-ruins-everything (Accessed: December 11, 2022).