Channel Frederator Blog

A couple months ago I had the honor to work for JJ, animation director and studio head in White Plains NY. He was the creative pencil behind most of the TV Funhouse stuff on Saturday Night Live, not to mention iconic commercials and animated sequences [like “Tek Jansen” from the Colbert Report, as seen above].

Read the interview I did with him for Animators Unite here.

Enjoy!
-Jake

One day, I predict that Elizabeth Ito will be designing toys we toy nerds and little kids alike will all want. I’m not sure if it will be the bunnies from HCB, or another variant version of Mister Monster, or perhaps it will be something new altogether, but you never know with Elizabeth.
The brief and very fun time I shared with Elizabeth, when we both worked at Mattel, were daily adventures. What a bizarre, weird, and interesting world, the corporate headquarters of toy making is. But enough about that.
Go Buy Mister Monster!
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Neal Sopata, is someone any young animation student should strive to be like. Not only does he have a stellar career in the mainstream animation field and the feature film industry, with such credits as Looney Tunes, Freddy vs. Jason, Cody Banks, Dare Devil, Hart’s War, Behind Enemy Lines, Driven, Scary Movie II, Enterprise, Max Steel and Fairly Odd Parents, but he also has a strong presence in the Independent animation circuit as well. Garnering awards for beautiful and raw, strong yet delicate graceful shorts. Autumn, is no exception, and is very wonderful to watch and get swept away by the emotions. The soundtrack is equally as strong.
Thanks for submitting to us at Channel Frederator Neal. We sure appreciate it, and consider ourselves lucky to have you as a friend!
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Ben Hobo’s music video for the all GRRL band The Stolen Minks’ song Cerchez La Mink, is a frenetic, fun romp through the dewey wet pop-culture nostalgia grass of your childhood memories. Thanks for taking me back to a time where my world was populated with comic book characters, monsters, hot sci-fi chicks, and playing Rampage at the local 7-11 in the hot summer sun waiting for the cherry Slurpee machine to be refilled.
Those were the days.
I’m glad you submitted this film Ben, thanks.
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Yaniv Cahoua is an animator working out of Tel Aviv, Israel. He gave us the secrets to his Madness and film, “Machin Machine”, featured last week on Channel Frederator episode #82!
Thanks for the Interview Yaniv, better late than never I always say!

1. How did you come up with the idea for this film?[/b]
I wanted to make a movie to push the technique of cutout that I used in my book ” le songeur de lune, it’s on my website.
I decided to make a crazy animation, not so serious that I like to see it as an illustration of life: you born on a rail road and go through a mad world.

2 Who are some of your influences?
My inspiration comes mainly from children books and modern art, in which I feel more freedom in creativity. I love the illustrations of Pablo Bernasconi, and lot of artists from cubism, futurism, abstraction… I love [Read more…]

I was fortunate enough to go to E3 last year while I was working for Disney Interactive (BVG). To the uninitiated into the world of geekdom and video games, E3 is a GI-normous video game conference where the crème de le crème of video game developers, big and small, unveil new video game consoles, devices, and games. I stumbled into Rare’s beautiful and colorful Pinata inspired booth for their video game Viva Pinata. Viva Pinata is a game where you raise a farm of, well, Pinatas. Well worth checking out.
This has nothing really to do with Sean’s film, The Monster Within, save for the fact that there’s a Pinata in his film, and the designs vaguely remind me of that game. Anyhow, Sean’s film was nicely done, both in style and story. I love the design and look of the piece. Very refreshing. If there were any monsters in his film, it would have [Read more…]

A lonely little girl meets a lonlier, unintentionally creepy, Octopus under the sea. That’s the premise of Artist/Animator Julie Bergman’s prize garnering short, Sinking Margot, a cute and cuddly yet strange and eerie bed-time tale you might hear from a grizzled, old, mildly drunk, sea-faring sailor type kind of a guy. I bet he would wear a yellow raincoat and galoshes.
(But why would he.. be putting… me…. to… uh, sleep?)
Why a grizzled, old, mildly drunk, sea-faring sailor type kind of a guy in a yellow raincoat and galoshes is putting me to bed with spooky cute lullabies isn’t important. What is, is that Julie took the time to answer a few Channel Fred Qs about Sinking Margot.
Thanks again Julie!
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Yan Theriault is an animator who runs his own one man animation studio, based out of Montreal, Quebec, where he produces his Phone Prankster show: The Scamtoons.
Keeping with the irreverent traditions of Phone Prank luminaries such as the Jerky Boys, Longmont Potion-Castle and Comedy Central’s Crank Yankers; Yan is part of the new generation keeping the phoneline tapped.
Lucky for Channel Frederator, Yan has call waiting and he took the time to answer a few questions for us!
Thanks Yan!
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John R. Dilworth is a very talented artist/animator/cartoonist who’s most know for creating “Courage The Cowardly Dog” a show I really enjoyed ( My favorite cartoon on TV at the time and even now I still really love watching it!). A little while ago John pitched his cartoon Garlic Boy for Frederator Studios’ Random! Cartoons. He was kind to an interview.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where you grew up, went to college, where you currently work etc.
(Please see biographical info on www.stretchfilms.com)
Academy Award nominated director John R. Dilworth is a New York-based animation director and designer whose work has appeared on CBS, Showtime, HBO, FOX, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, MTV, Canal +, and Arte. His films have been featured in museum programs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. He is the founder of Stretch Films, Inc., one of [Read more…]

Turkey Legs, submitted by Scott MacDonald. TL has a great Art style and a great Soundtrack as well.
Watching Turkey Legs is kinda like a finding a Bizarre vintage cartoon in your crazy yet tasteful Kooky Grandfather’s attic.
Not that I had one…uh… of… those.
Anyhoo, he took some time to answer a few CH.Fred Q’s. Thanks Scott!
-Jeaux Janovsky
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