Saturday, February 6th, animation’s highest honors were handed out at the 37th Annie Awards. This years contenders all had a fair shot at top honors, with Sony, Dreamworks, Pixar, and Disney all repped pretty evenly across the board in major categories. With so many excellent films this year, it’s safe to say that animation is the winner.
The absurd, ‘violence for violence’s sake’ antics of Mr. Broose are causing a stir this week on Cartoon Hangover. Here, SG from Zillis Media discusses his new venture into animation and alternative media.
Cartoon Hangover: Where (if at all) did you study film/animation?
SG: I have no formal training in art or animation. Any similarities between my work and professional animation are purely coincidental [Read more…]
Kevin McCullough and his fellow student animators are responsible for this week’s awesome film “Electropolis”. Below is a little insight into the collaborative process and what we can expect from the class in 2010.
Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?
Kevin McCullough: All 13 students that participated in the creation of the film attend Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Canada in the BAA Animation Program. “Electropolis” was created during our 3rd year of the program, and was our major assignment for the year. We are all still currently in the program, and will graduate in April of this year.
CF: Who are your favorite artists?
KM: The artists that inspired us the most for this film were from Sylvain Chomet’s animated film “The Triplets of Belleville,” but we also took inspiration from the concept artists from some of the bigger studios like Disney and Pixar.
“We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.” - Japanese Proverb
Just watch the episode this week. It’s awesome. ‘Nuff said.
“Electropolis”, submitted by Kevin McCullough: A restless walk sign changes the lives of bored city dwellers. The product of thirteen third year animation students at Sheridan College!
*New episode of Cartoon Hangover this Friday! Mr. Broose! You can now follow CH on Twitter! Be our friend on Facebook! WOO!
*Follow CF on Twitter too!
*Want to submit? Then go for it! Click here!
WARNING: Channel Frederator is rated EXPLICIT. Man, Groundhog Day is so *bleepin’* awesome! Oops. Sorry. Some content on CF is pretty grown up. If you’re under 18, get your parent’s permission prior to viewing.
-Bailee DesRocher
Animator/director Chris Conforti’s “Frog” is a Cartoon Hangover favorite, only a few hours after the episode was posted! Below, Chris tells us about screaming, eating live animals, and candy mishaps.
Cartoon Hangover: Where did you study animation/film?
Chris Conforti: School Of Visual Arts (SVA).
CH: Who are your favorite artists/animators?
CC: Tex Avery, Bill Watterson, Shannon Wheeler, Don Hertzfeldt, Nicolas Marlet, Christy Karacas, Mark Van Orman.
CH: What gave you the idea for “Frog”?
CC: Spending a summer at my parents home in Florida. It was always crazy hot and frogs were everywhere - in the pool, in the car, in the cat’s mouth.
CH: What is your favorite sequence in the film?
Filmmaker Sally Andersen Ward’s “Left Brained Larry & Right Brained Rachel” is a favorite on the internet. Here, the writer/director tells us about the creative process. It’s a rather unique one, since the school she made the film at doesn’t have an animation program.
Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation/film?
Sally Andersen Ward: From September 2008 till May 2009 I attended the European Film College (EFC), an 8½ month foundation course in film making. During my stay I had many great courses, where scriptwriting was definitely my favourite. I ended up having it twice, both as a regular and masterclass.
It was during the masterclass that I finally decided to write “Left-brained Larry & Right-brained Rachel” (L&R), an old idea I had been carrying around, but that I didn’t think would be possible to make with my level of experience. The amazing thing about L&R is that almost none of the people who worked [Read more…]
Jonathan Katz, star of Comedy Central’s Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist and host of “Hey, We’re Back” took a moment to answer a few of Cartoon Hangover’s questions about his career and his animated short “Death Row Diet.”
Cartoon Hangover: What drew you to comedy initially?
Jonathan Katz: I had no other skills. I tried to tune pianos and I was a flop. I had a band and we were moderately successful. On a good night we made 600 dollars. We never had a good night.
CH: Who was good to you and gave you a lot of encouragement when you first started as a stand up comedian?
JK: Dom Irrera, his ex-wife, Lisa Mende, in her own odd way. Silver Friedman, the owner of the NY Improv. My wife. My wife again. Carol Siskind, a comedian who taught me the trick where you right something down. Carol Leifer, a wonderful comedian, Rita Rudner, Paula Poundstone, but [Read more…]
Mike Salva, animator of “Max the Hero” and this week’s Cartoon Hangover ‘toon “Death Row Diet” gives us some background on his work with comedy and capital punishment.
Cartoon Hangover: How did you become so involved with comedy? I mean, as adorable as animated tragedy is…
Mike Salva: I blame it on nine years of Catholic school. Laughter of any kind was discouraged. And I was there when the nuns weren’t allowed to hit the students anymore, so they started punishing the children with mental cruelty. And by golly, those nuns got to be pretty darn good at it!
CH: Why did you approach Jonathan Katz about animating “Death Row Diet”?
MS: I was a big fan of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. Jonathan had watched a cartoon I had made called “Max the Hero” and we had talked about Jon doing a voice in a future cartoon of mine, but I didn’t have a particular project in mind. [Read more…]
Alex De Campi is a writer, visual artist, and film director (also director of this week’s Channel Frederator vid “Raindrops Keep Falling on the Dead”). Here, the investment banker turned jack-of-all-trades tells us about the journey to her current state of happy artist and her upcoming work.
Channel Frederator: Where did you study art/animation/film?
Alex De Campi: I have zero film, animation or art training, beyond some amazing middle and high school art teachers and a summer at RISD. Everything I know, I’ve learned on set, or by just closing my eyes, bracing against cold water and jumping in. I’m lucky to come from a very technical/mechanical family (my father and grandfather were great tinkerers, and were both still photographers) so the technical side of filmmaking holds no fear to me - in fact it’s probably my favourite element. I have a ridiculously nerdy love of old film cameras… my dream is to [Read more…]
You like music? Animation? DINOSAURS?! Then it stands to reason that you will love this weeks animated music video. Thanks for casting your nominations for Channel Frederator and Cartoon Hangover at the Streamys! You’ve proven time and again that Frederator fans are the best fans of all the fans!
“Raindrops Keep Falling on the Dead”, by Alex De Campi: Flash animated music video for the group Flipiron.
*New episode of Cartoon Hangover this Friday! Jonathan Katz & Mike Salva! You can now follow CH on Twitter! Be our friend on Facebook!
*Follow CF on Twitter too!
*Want to submit? Then go for it! Click here!
WARNING: Channel Frederator is rated EXPLICIT. Man, 2010 is so *bleepin’* awesome! Oops. Sorry. Some content on CF is pretty grown up. If you’re under 18, get your parent’s permission prior to viewing.
-Bailee DesRocher
![[large][black] FReDERATOR badge](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3502/3317571331_e33068a3c8_m.jpg)
