Ratzafratz

Other than our pop singer “Shakaza” in Ratzafratz!, what has been your favorite animated character to play?
That’s a hard one, because I love Shakaza SOOO much. I suppose, Jimmy Neutron and Jackie from Bobby’s World.

How did you get into the animation biz?
I was actually in Nashville pursuing Country Music as a singer/songwriter. It was suggested to me that I might have a good voice for animation. I had never even thought of it before that. So I sent my demo to some casting directors back in LA and my now dear friend, Ginny McSwain, called ICM on my behalf. They have been my agents ever since!

I’ve heard you had the most requested children’s song on Sirius Radio. What is it about and where can we find it?
The song is called “Baby Banana” and it is from my new children’s CD entitled “What A Way To Play”. It should be [Read more…]

Ratzafratz! wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday.

Be sure not to eat too much!

Other than Ratzafratz!, Six Point Harness also worked with Frederator on “Wow Wow Wubbzy” for Nick Jr., which looks great. How was that experience and do your Flash animators work 1000 hours a week?

SPH: We would like to enforce the 1000 hour work week and build a fancy time stretching machine that could help with that. Until that becomes a reality, we work hard and we play hard… and try to plan our projects to be executed with as much efficiency as possible. We set up a special crew dedicated to Wow Wow Wubbzy so that project would get the attention it deserved while we tackled other projects such as the “Where My Dog’s At?” series for MTV with a completely separate dedicated crew. We do rotate people from project to project to ensure that both teams benefit from the strongest talent.

How did Six Point Harness get started?

SPH: We were producing an [Read more…]

Other than Ratzafratz!,what other animated shows have you composed music for?
The first animated series I worked on was TINY TOONS. I started out as an orchestrator and eventually got to compose a few cues. The Warner Bros. series that I worked on were: TAZMANIA, ANIMANIACS and THE SYLVESTER AND TWEETY MYSTERIES. Over at The Disney factory I worked on the series: QUACK PACK, HERCULES, GOOF TROOP, BONKERS, DARKWING DUCK, and THE LITTLE MERMAID. I’ve also scored three animated films: TOM AND JERRY AND THE MAGIC RING, MICKEY’S ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS and TWEETY’S HIGH FLYING ADVENTURE.

You also compose for live action films. What is your favorite?
I enjoyed working on the live action film MIGHTY DUCKS II.

Is there any difference in scoring for live action versus animation?
There is a very big difference between scoring for an animated series, an animated film and a live action film. I could give a very [Read more…]

Amazingly, it has only been about a year since I was sitting in Kevin Kolde’s Wow Wow Wubbzy production office talking about an animated feature project of mine. “You know, we have a shorts program at Frederator. You should try to put something together”, he said.

[Read more…]

You are directing Ratzafratz!, as well as two other Frederator Random Cartoons, Bronk and Bongo and Ivan the Unbearable. Are there any different challenges to directing a short versus a series show?
GC: Working on the Random Cartoons has been a blast. My job is easy…the creators face the real challenge in making these shorts: introducing new characters, new worlds, and telling a story, all in just six minutes and forty seconds. The hardest thing I do is deciding whether to have a jelly donut or a bran muffin before production meetings.

Ratzafratz! is the only short you are directing being animated in flash. Is there any difference in directing flash and conventional 2D animation?
GC: One of the best parts of doing “Ratzafratz” is that, because it’s in Flash, it’s being animated right here in Hollywood. As a result, we get to sit with the animators, look over their shoulders, and drop donut crumbs [Read more…]

That is how some described the voice of Crank, our Mall Security Guard.

[Read more…]

We have a great song in Ratzafratz! sung by our pop singer, Shakaza.
Debi Derryberry, the voice of Jimmy Neutron, came into our recording session and nailed two voices in our short, including this song.

Our composer is J. Eric Schmidt, who has worked on many live action and animated projects. We will be talking with Eric in a later blog entry about his career and scoring for animation.

Download the song here in a .wav format:You Can Be My Baby

Let us know what you think.

Ps. Save it to your computer for it to play.

There might be a few clever rats out, looking to bag some candy tonight as well as little witches, so be on the look out for these costumes!

and be extremely generous when the hand goes into the ‘Bowl ‘O’ Sweets’.
Frighteningly yours,
Urban, Cyrus and Squawk

At the bottom of the Spanish steps, a kind Roman centurion took time out from his busy duties to pose with Cyrus, Urban and Squawk.

By this time, the rats had made two friends for life on their journey through Italy.

Maximus and …

[Read more…]