“You Only Frame Twice” is a collaborative animatic project made by fans of the TV show Our Flag Means Death. 

After a critically acclaimed two seasons run and a growing passionate fanbase, the network unfortunately decided to not renew the show for a final season, ending prematurely the three-part story act imagined by the show’s creator and producer, David Jenkins. 

David “pirate daddy” Jenkins then posted on Bluesky, between Christmas 2024 and Valentine’s day 2025, a short story that picks up after the end of the second season. Still missing their beloved show, fans took to their styluses, pencils, canvasses, recording devices, and editing software to animate David’s story into a small video feature, showcasing some of the fandom’s incredible talent and devotion. 

The project brought together artists of varied talents, all working together and after their day jobs, to see David’s vision come to life. 

To begin with, the story was edited and formatted into a usable script, and character and set designs were created. After all -- we could have just used the familiar outfits from the show, but where's the fun in that?

Next, the voice actors recorded their lines, and the sound team turned this into a usable track. 

Meanwhile, background and foreground artists worked alongside each other to make a cohesive visual story. 

Finally, the video team edited it all together to turn it into a watchable video -- an entire almost half-hour fan-made episode of Our Flag Means Death.

David posted the last part of his story on Valentine's Day, 2025, and the finished project was released just four months later, at the end of Pride Month.

• Who is behind this madness?

  • LibRoseITM floated the idea just hours after David posted the end of the story, and fellow unhinged folks jumped on board. Learn more about the co-captains on the About Us page.

• Where can I read David's story?

  • You can find it on Bluesky, beginning here.

• Why are all the pieces of art so different?

  • We really wanted all of the artists involved to be able to put their own spin on their parts, and to be able to insert their own vision. We wanted enough continuity that it made sense, but we had no interest in asking everyone to use the same visual style or follow blocking done by others. Many artists on neighboring scenes chose to collaborate so that scenes would flow better, but everyone had the chance to realize their own ideas.

• How did this even happen? Where did these artists come from? Did anyone get paid?

  • Everyone involved in the project volunteered their time! (With one sort-of exception). Once we had an idea of how the project was going to fit together, we put out a call on Bluesky for folks who wanted to get involved, and boy, did they answer. Over a hundred people signed up to do everything from creating art to recording foley to voice acting to website help. Then it was just a matter of getting everyone organized and pointed in the right direction!

• You said there was an exception?

  • Kind of! Hugo Pierre Martin, who played the "Haughty Attendant" in s1e5 (The Best Revenge Is Dressing Well), donated his voiceover talents to the OFMD Craft Fair auction. The fan who won, Zuckerbaby_1, allowed us to utilize his skills. We believe we chose the best possible role(s) for him! So some money did change hands, but nobody got paid except a charity serving trans youth. (Thank you so much to ZB and to Hugo!)

• Is anyone making any money off this?

  • Not a dime. In fact, a fair bit of money has gone into things like hosting, program licenses, this domain name (isn't it great though), etc. This has all been done 100% purely out of love.

• How big an endeavor was this anyway? 

  • Let's just say the total time investment has to be in the thousands of hours. Well over a thousand unique pieces of art were created for the animatic, and that doesn't count all the time spent on recording, editing, promo... not to mention organization, organization, and more organization... :)

• Okay, but why???

  • The fandom is known for its dedication and for lacking hinges. Does any of this really surprise you?