About

"Going to the Store" is a viral 3D animation video of a nude man walking clumsily through a suburban downtown. Set to the background music "Little Ships" by Jean Jacques Perrey, the unique style of the animation appealed to millions of viewers on popular video-sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo.

Origin

The short film was directed by David Lewandowski^[1] as the final episode of the anthology series Everything^[3], which is part of the nonprofit film festival Channel 101.^[4] Director David Lewandowski is best known for his position as lead graphics animator for the 2010 film Tron: Legacy.^[2]

The video was uploaded to both Vimeo and YouTube on September 2nd, 2011, garnering 482,000 views and 1,000,000 views respectively in the first days. On YouTube, the video also earned the #2 spot in Top Favorited (This Month) in Comedy for September 2011, as well as #2 Top Favorited of This Week.

Spread

Videogum^[5] and LaughingSquid^[6], Buzzfeed^[7] and eBaum's World^[8] all posted the video on September 2, 2011. It hit the Huffington Post^[9] on September 5th.

The character's walk has been compared to the QWOP flash game and Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks sketch.^[10]

Sequel

David Lewandowski has since created a sequel "Going to the Store." On October 25, 2013, "Late for Meeting" was posted on YouTube.

Notable Derivatives

Going to Discover Yourself (A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton)

Live Action Spoof

The Dubstep Walk

Search Interest

Because "going to the store" is a common phrase in English, it is difficult to gauge the search interest of the video. However, Google Insights graph yields a huge spike in September 2011, around the same time when the video was posted online.

External References

^[1] David Lewandowski – David Lewandowski's Website

^[2] IMDb – Full Cast and Crew for Tron: Legacy

^[3] Channel 101 – Everything show page

^[4] Channel 101 – Homepage

^[5] Videogum – Going To The Store

^[6] LaughingSquid – Going To The Store, A Bizarre Short About A Silly Walking Man

^[7] Buzzfeed – Naked Wobbling Guy Goes To The Store

^[8] eBaum's World – Going To The Store

^[9] Huffington Post – 'Going To The Store': Short Animated Film Confuses, Entrances (VIDEO)

^[10] Wikipedia – The Ministry of Silly Walks