Indie Spotlight: ‘Creatures Of Yes’ Is A Puppet Show And A “Time-Travel Experiment”

We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now. Read previous installments here.

A puppet show on YouTube is taking viewers back to the 70s –and it’s accomplishing that feat with period-appropriate equipment. In Creatures of Yes, which is a self-described “time-travel experiment,” creator Jacob Graham breaks out the cathode-ray tubes, analog synthesizers, and others old-school gadgets to form a series of short, odd vignettes.

Each Creatures of Yes episode chooses a topic and examines it through a combination of humor, poignant dialogue, and striking visuals. The show’s themes take some thought to unlock, but it’s unique visual style and synth-fueled soundtrack (Graham is also a co-founder of the band The Drums) will compel even the viewers who have no interest in unlocking Creatures of Yes’ deeper meaning.

The most enticing quality offered by Creatures of Yes is its combination of bygone production technology with a modern sensibility. “The idea behind the whole thing is to create a show that has that old, familiar feel to it, but to have the humor be more modern, and more snappy,” Graham told The Creators Project. “And also not immediate, to not have jokey jokes, but to have the humor be more subdued and a little more left of field.”

Individual Creatures of Yes episodes can be viewed on the project’s YouTube channel.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• No Actor Parking. This satirical Hollywood mockumentary is looking to fund the rest of its episodes through Kickstarter.
• Wasted Nights. This series follows a group of bar patrons and uses a well-composed visual style.
• The Tinder Games. Two ladies swap Tinder stories and fend off advances from their coworkers.

Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here. For best coverage, please include a full episode in your e-mail.