The Morning Watch: 'Back To The Future' VFX, Taika Waititi's Tragic Comedy & More

The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.

In this edition, a video essay explores how Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi uniquely combines tragedy and comedy to beautiful, intimate stories. Plus, take a dive into the visual effects of the Back to the Future trilogy and check out a new Stranger Things theme song that makes far too many references to the 1980s.

A new video essay by We Need to Talk About Film takes a close look at how director Taika Waititi has mastered the art of happy sad cinema, combining laughter with the tragedies of life. Waititi says the kind of comedy her prefers comes from finding the lighter side of tragedy, and you can see that illustrated in Eagle vs Shark, Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

We previously featured Part I of VFXcool's look at the movie magic that made Back to the Future possible, and now they're back with Part II. This time they explore the use of split screen camera work, including motion control camera rigs, to allow actors to appear in the same scene with themselves .

Finally, Conan has a new theme song for Stranger Things season two that goes out of its way to make even more references to the 1980s. In fact, there might be too many references for it to really take off.