Toasting to Humour: Mean Bread

Mean Bread’s Totally Bitchin’ Adventure
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By Russel Stepan
Demented Ferret

A thoroughly funny comedy, Mean Bread’s Totally Bitchin’ Adventure of Stinky Doom is both a demonstration of v3dmm skills and the comedy of Russ Stepan and Demented Ferret, which is apparently his real name. Though it tends to look more like a Flash cartoon than 3dmm at times, the fact that it is funny in a comedic rather than a slapstick sense is refreshing and welcome.

Story
The story involves a piece of toast who has an anger management problem. He breaks his alarm clock and is forced to go to the store to get another one, which sets off a chain of events that set the plot in motion. Though a little unclear in the middle, the plot contains many opportunities for comedy, which it never fails to exploit. It becomes more coherent at the end, with several twists and some genuinely funny visual gags to back up the offbeat dialogue.

Presentation
The presentation is smooth and clean, with a cinematic camera that better fits the mood than the handheld look would have. Camera work is done in moderation, making it a pleasing experience to watch. Cameras are not forced to pan. As a result, there are an almost equal amount of still scenes and panning scenes which proves to be a perfect mix for this film.

Visuals
The visuals have much of the appeal and almost all of the problems with the film. V3dmm is the name of the game here, and Ferret and Stepan have poured many resources into giving it a fresh, original look. The main characters are custom textures on flat tiles, which has mixed benefit. In one way it is thoroughly original, allowing hand-drawn characters into 3dmm for the first time. However, these characters tend to look more like simple sprites than actual 3d characters. The cell-shaded look of the film benefits from this style, but at times these sprites became distorted, muddying up the look a bit. It almost looks like Flash at these points, but within moments that feeling goes away and it regains the depth 3dmm offers.

Sound
The sound is very well done. The voices were excellent. Many were done by Stepan (Mean Bread did sound quite Colombian at times…) as well as other members of the community to great effect. The music also augmented the film, with tracks ranging from the Beatles to one very exaggerated scream. These complimented the visual gags with appropriately odd dialogue delivered nicely by all involved.

The Final Word
It all pulls together to bring a fresh and honestly comedic film into the community with a fiercely new style and great energy. The style of the movie is felt between both directors thoroughly to the point where it’s impossible to distinguish who did what in the movie. It works, it’s funny, and it’s great fun to watch.

*********(9/10) Outstanding