Channel Frederator Blog

Animators Peter Smith and Magnus Møller (along with fellow students Alice Holme and Anders Brogaard) submitted their outstanding multimedia treat-for-the-eyeballs “Elk Hair Caddis” and Channel Frederator was more than thrilled to show it! Below, Peter speaks on behalf of the creative team and gives us some in depth info on the filmmaking process. Check out the production team’s ‘making of’ videos here.

Channel Frederator: Where did you you study animation?

Peter Smith: The Animation Workshop, Viborg, Denmark 2006 - 2010

CF: Who are your favorite artists?

PS: Well, I can mention a few: Rodin, Michelangelo, Krøyer, Rubens, Tintoretto, Tex Avery, Hanna Barbera.

[Read more…]

Aussie animator and director Darcy Prendergast’s film, “Ron the Zookeeper”, is featured this week on Cartoon Hangover. Finally, a quality stop-motion about panda masturbation.

Cartoon Hangover: Where did you study animation?

Darcy Prendergast: RMIT, Melbourne. That said, there was no clay animation class there at the time, so I was largely self taught. The ol’ trial and error… Errors-plural would be more fitting.

CH: Who are your favorite artists?

DP: Jim Henson, Jean Pierre Jeunet, Jeff Soto, Joe Sorren. I didn’t intentionally choose artists that all start with J. It just happened that way.

CH: I saw in another interview that Ron is based on your father who was a zookeeper. What does he think of your film?

DP: He absolutely loves it. I was shooting this film in my uncles Garage, and no one was more supportive than my old man. He’d bring down changes of clothes, meals… Everything. Mum hardly ever ventured down, and as such, [Read more…]

Sorry for the late post friends - if you haven’t seen this week’s episode yet, grab a box of tissues and affix your peepers to one very touching hand drawn film. What’s your favorite hand drawn flick? Let us know on the CF homepage.

“Moonboy” by Adam Calfee and the good people at MoreFrames - A young boy, weary of a superficial and dangerous world, finds solace in space.

*Follow CF on Twitter!

*New episode of Cartoon Hangover this Friday! “Ron the Zookeeper”! Follow CH on Twitter! Be our friend on Facebook! WOO!

*Want to submit? Then go for it! Click here!

WARNING: Channel Frederator is rated EXPLICIT. Man, the moon is so *bleepin’* round! Oops. Sorry. Some content on CF is pretty grown up. If you’re under 18, get a parent’s permission prior to viewing.

-Bailee DesRocher

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…]

Are you artsy? Or are you mathy? Left brained or right? Or, like the protagonists in this weeks film, are the halves of your brain in two separate heads and you’re just having a bear of a time getting along? Yeah. Me too.

“Left Brained Larry and Right Brained Rachael”, by Sally Andersen Ward : Opposites attract when creepy conjoined twins combine their brainpower.

*New episode of Cartoon Hangover this Friday! Chris Conforti! 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, 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

Your insides - the final frontier. Seems like it would take a lot of work and brainpower to uniquely interpret the inner workings of the human body (and then some). Zhivko Dimitrov, director of “Body” tells us how he did it.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Zhivko Dimitrov:Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. I was on the Communications Design program, so it was really a melting pot of typographers, photographers, digital media geeks and other weirdos - not your typical animation school… Didn’t really teach anything about animation, but a fair deal of insight on conceptual thinking and experimentation. Took me a while to realize those matter so much more, but I think just in time to make the most of it [Read more…]

Michael Stevenson is a super talented award winning animator and pigeon expert. Half of that is a lie. Read his interview and figure out which half.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Michael Stevenson: I did a couple years of animation at San Francisco State University. When I was shopping for colleges I discovered that SF State contained this hidden gem, a two-year animation emphasis that could piggyback on a Cinema degree. Although it was a small and woefully neglected program, our teachers were phenomenal and we were given boatloads of freedom to experiment and learn. I spent one year taking 2D and computer animation classes, and another year teaching myself stop motion and making my film.

CF: What are your sources of inspiration?

MS: Real life events are by far the best source of inspiration. Most of my work reflects the structure of a fish story - it starts off as experientially genuine, and [Read more…]

Michael Hickox has done a great new short that takes people back to their arcade days in Lego Arcade. This was a lot of work, and the results are great.

-Floyd Bishop

Eben Zboch, director of “Walter’s Bed”, tells us a little about his Oren Lavie inspired stop-motion short.

Channel Frederator: Where did you get your animation education?

Eben Zboch: At a young age, my animation education began as trial and error. As I got older, I began to realize what I was doing and gained a passion for animation and film. I am now taking classes at my local community college on film and I am applying what I learn to my newer films.

CF: Who or what has influenced your work the most?

EZ: I am influenced by films and studying them helps me progress in my work. A local animator here in Charlotte , John Lemmon, who has worked on many commercials, has been a mentor and friend in my progression.

CF: How did you develop the concept for this film?

EZ: I developed the concept of this film through studies of a music video by the musician [Read more…]

I saw this video today while looking at animated shorts on YouTube. I was really impressed with the way the colorful characters move. The way their blobby bodies mimic people in long robes is brilliant.

Does anyone know anything about this piece, or where it came from? It looks to be part of a larger anthology type film.

-Floyd Bishop