Channel Frederator Blog

Liam Brazier is no stranger to Channel Frederator. A few episodes back, we featured his short short “Balloon” and all loved it. He’s back with a very quaint and charming vengeance in the guise of a beautiful music video for a band called, Amplifico.
I’ve already interviewed Liam before, and we both agreed it might be cool to try out something different for his featured film this time around. So I asked him to come up with a paragraph or two about what his entire experience was in the creation of his hit music video.

Take it away Liam!

About a year ago Amplifico, a shockingly polished bunch of musical types (album out October 1st woo!), fresh from warming the audience clapping mechanisms prior to Regina Spektor, KT Tunstall, and the like sent out their feelers for creative types and pencil owners to get involved in producing a video for them. I was graciously handed this info via mutual friend Jo Overfield- a woman with so many creative fingers in so many productive pies I swear her sleeves must smell of pure patisserie. I was doubly pleased as my interaction with animation by that time mostly consisted of pointing hysterically at Saturday morning television and whimpering “It moved!!”

A few months into doing the video (it was squeezed in here and there around other commitments), around the time I realised that these animated characters would have to actually, y’know; move and whatnot, I thanked my designated deity that I’d had the foresight to make them essentially potatoes with eyes - much easier on the tweening hand (underlined thrice - yes, I know that’s impossible in html). I think the project as a whole was a process of restraint; simple characters, simple scenes - the magic of moving the immovable again winning out and baring a garish t-shirt emblazoned ’sensible’.

I was actually given two tracks to choose between, and ..perhaps my naivety showed when I lunged for the longer-by-a-clear-three-minutes of the pair. More song equals more work Liam. Idiot. Thankfully by this stage, elsewhere on planet me, I had been recruited into forming a little production company ‘Littlenobody’, for just such endeavours, by bestest best friend, queen of super productiveness, and self-appointed ‘other brain half’ Karen Penman.
When I showed her the remaining gaping blackness of that incomplete her proverbial boots travelled swiftly rear-wards (in the dual attack form of impatient sneers and helpful animatics).

With everything finished and equal parts spick and span I’ve had some lovely encouraging words from everyone associated with it - the band have been especially gracious. I still consider myself a newcomer to this animation lark but am embracing the ‘ooh’s’ and ‘aah’s’ so tragically absent from your normal day-to-day illustration (ahem..www.liambrazier.com), and, with Littlenobody, am steamrollering into it head first and full of enthusiasm (there are new projects already on the go!) and. am. loving. it.

Great Job Liam. We hope to see more of your shorts grace our eyeballs, Ipods, compooters, and heart-bones.
-Jeaux Janovsky