Channel Frederator Blog

Channel Frederator fans are in love with this weeks episode featuring “Moonboy” by Adam Calfee. Calfee, along with Gus Trauth, Jordan Held, and Ron Levellie have established MoreFrames Animation, a collective offering various creative services within the realm of animation, illustration, and design.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Adam Calfee: I (and the rest of the fellows at MoreFrames Animation) studied at and graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, which is where “Moonboy” was completed during the final semester of my senior undergrad year.

CF: Who are your favorite artists?

AC: MoreFrames is inspired by too many artists to name. But we are big fans of (in no particular order) James Jean, Katsuhiro Otomo, Ashley Wood, Jamie Hewlett, Frank and Ollie, Sylvain Chomet, P.T. Anderson, Hayao Miyazaki, everyone involved with the absolutely beautiful little shorts produced by Les Gobelins, Bobby Chiu…

CF: For such a short piece, the content in “Moonboy” is pretty epic. What gave you the idea for the film?

AC: The idea for “Moonboy” developed from a doodle that I did in my sketchbook of a boy jumping into the air and transforming into a bird. In the early stages of development, the boy reaching the moon was just the beginning, a slew of fantastic things happened from that point.

CF: Why did you choose hand drawn animation over other media?

AC: Good old-fashioned 2D traditional is my weapon of choice. It’s not that I fear or despise more current forms of animation, it’s just that 2D has always been my favorite; MoreFrames and I are trying to keep it relevant in a 3D world.

CF: What is your favorite part of “Moonboy”? Was there a particular sequence you liked working on more than others?

AC: The production of “Moonboy” was hectic to say the least. We didn’t follow any semblance of a pipeline during the production and so the film was built up evenly throughout the three semesters that it took to complete. That being said, coming up with the vignettes for the television (which were mostly animated by fellow MFer Gus Trauth) was fun. Also, the bit with the boy at the edge of the cliff, from the point of him trying to decide what to do up until he jumps and the screen goes black, is a personal favorite of mine. That bit was a late addition to the piece.

CF: Can you tell us anything about the music in the film?

AC: The music was composed and performed by Reid Wellock who is a friend of mine and who also attended Edinboro University. I knew that I wanted the music to sound like Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata but with a crescendo. So, with that simple instruction, Reid, who is a musical genius, worked something out in a few days and basically ad-libbed the score on his keyboard while watching the finished animation on a little monitor.

CF: Are you working on anything new you can tell us about?

AC: We have been working hard lately trying to get MoreFrames Animation up and running. We are keeping busy developing some original properties that will hopefully be successful, and trying as hard as we can to find any jobs to stay afloat. It’s a hard market to break into. But we don’t give up easily!

CF: Best of luck! I see world domination in your future. Thanks for the interview, Adam!

You can check out “Moonboy” right here on Channel Frederator!

-Bailee DesRocher