Hello,
My name is Bobby Miller. I’m the jerk running ChannelFrederator.com right now. I just wanted to let you know that WE GOT A GREAT MONTH OF ANIMATION IN STORE FOR YOU!

(sorry about the caps there.)

First off, this week is Valentine’s week here at Channel Frederator. If you’re anything like me, Valentine’s Day is a great day to remember how bone-crunchingly alone you are. I don’t know about you, but I could use a dose of some toons.

Today we’re showcasing Daisy Edwards’ beautiful little film, “Without Thunder”. You may have seen her work with Isabella Roselini’s Sundance Channel series “Green Porno”. Oh, and watch it with headphones, as Daisy makes excellent use of STERO SOUNDDDD. You can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWBly423Vas

On Friday, February 12th, Kelly Loftus is bringing us home with an animated music video…about the Olsen Twins… I mean, honestly could you have a Valentine’s week without them?

(Between me and you, you probably could.)

Outside of our Valentine’s Day flavored programming, we have a bunch of other stellar films. Including a really bizarre animation straight from Sundance 2010. (And trust me folks, you’re gonna wanna stay tuned for that one, as it’s one of the most bizarre films I’ve ever seen. It debuts on Cartoon Hangover on February 19th (Friday).

Speaking of Sundance, I had a short film in competition out there (TUBmovie.com) and I got to meet a ton of talented Sundance animators. It’s my goal to share these wonderful shorts with you here at Channel Frederator.

So, buy some chocolates and fire up the ol laptop. And save the crying into your pillow for later!

<3

Bobby Miller

From the On Air Promotions group in Atlanta.

– Eric

David Hornsby as Fanboy, Nika Futterman as Chum Chum, Jamie Kennedy as Kyle, and Jeff Bennett as the Scrivener Elf.

– Eric

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.

“Up” took Best Animated Feature and Best Directing in an Animated Feature to Pete Docter. Best Writing in an Animated Feature went to Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach for “The Fantastic Mr. Fox”. “Coraline” took a few honors for Character Design (Shane Prigmore), Music (Bruno Coulais), and Production Design (Tadahiro Uesugi).

Tom Kenny won Best Voice Acting in a Television Production for Spongebob and Jen Cody won Best Voice Acting in a Feature Production for her role as Charlotte. Huzzah!

Nickelodeon/Dreamworks grabbed a few awards for “Merry Madagascar” including Best Storyboarding in a Television Production (Robert Koo), and FOP’s own Guy Moon won for Best Music in an Animated Television Production for his work on “Wishology”.

A complete list of winners can be found at www.annieawards.org.

-Bailee DesRocher

Hey guys!

So it’s been awhile since my last post. I’ve been working hard on my latest project, a screen writing application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It took over 4 months to develop, was rejected 6 times before being accepted, but now it’s finally on iTunes! I created this app because (at the time there were no other apps for screenwriting and) I wanted to write my screenplays for my cartoons anywhere. Compared to my competitors, Scripts Pro is by far the easiest and most desktop-like screen writing experience for any mobile device. I hope you guys check out my app, could pass on the word, and find great use in using it! My application’s website is www.scriptsapp.com! On a side note, I didn’t code the app. I had collaborated with Wiselinc Technology to develop it. They did an AMAZING job!

Steve

The Annie Awards have all been handed out. Congratulations to Guy Moon for the big win in the Music in a Television Production category for Wishology.

It’s really nice to see how the awards were spread around - Pixar, Disney, Fox, Nick, Dreamworks, Laika, and others were rewarded. All well deserved, if you ask me. Hats off to all the winners.

Next year? Let’s all hope Fanboy and Adventure Time will dominate the proceedings.

– Eric

P.S. ASIFA, you need to bring back Steve Marmel or Tom Kenny as host.

Jeremy Shada as Finn, John Di Maggio as Jake, Tom Kenny as Bufo.

– Eric

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 Actually, I’ve always been intrigued by animation and spent many years reading about how it’s done and experimenting. I’m still just experimenting really, but now that we have computers, animation software, and showcase options - it’s very inspiring.

CH: Who are your favorite artists/filmmakers?

Frank Frazetta’s work during the 60’s and 70’s was amazing to me. Consistently arresting and full of life and power, but with a surreal almost cartoonish quality. Many artists are good like that but there’s only one Frazetta. I could go on forever about how much I like his work. But I shant do that.

CH: Can you tell us a little about Zillis Media?

SG: ZILLIS-media is myself and my brother, Zeb. It’s really more of a state of mind than a business venture. We’re compelled to create. We really just don’t know what else to do with ourselves. Video, music, writing, the whole gamut. I hope to produce a feature film one day. Simply because movies incorporate all the arts.

As I mentioned earlier, with computers and YouTube, etc. everyone can be their own media production company today. We’re ZILLIS-media.

CH: Which car is the best car of all the cars? Is it a Firebird?!

SG: I really dig American cars of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. I could never nail it down to one choice. But I’m definitely a Firebird guy.

CH: What gave you the idea for Mr. Broose?

SG: Mr. Broose goes way back to 1980 or so. Zeb and I were constantly making comic books out of notebooks back then. We were inspired by Mad magazine, Cracked Magazine, and especially a short lived one called Crazy Magazine.

We would make these “magazines”, keeping them secret until they were “finished” and show each other and anyone else who would read them. Of course, we were always raising the bar as far as how absurd and violent the jokes would be. Of course these magazines were a big hit in school and all that.

So one day I created this very simplistic character with the curly hair and pointy teeth, the whole thing. And it all just clicked. I envisioned this little guy as the veritable poster boy for absurd violent entertainment which all young boys love to waste their time with.

The Adventures Of Mr. Broose is meant to be a multifaceted parody of our culture’s fascination with violence and absurdity, but also a sarcastic commentary on some people’s sensitivity about it. Fast-forward to 2008 - I finally got my hands on Flash (and learned to use it) and I figured The Adventures Of Mr. Broose would be a great way to cut my teeth as an animator.

CH: Favorite swear?

SG: F*cker-sucker. I just made that one up. How do you like it?

CH: It rhymes! Favorite alcohol beverage?

SG: Southern Comfort.

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

SG: I am working on a second Mr. Broose cartoon. It’s got a bit more plot and 7 deaths (or jokes, if you will).

Thanks for the interview, SG!

Check out “The Adventures of Mr. Broose” right here on Cartoon Hangover!

-Bailee DesRocher

…..
More Frederator Postcards: Series 1-8, 1998-2010

There’s some sort of technical problem with embedding those entire scripts and full storyboards in the blog. So, if you want to scroll through all of Elizabeth Ito and Adam Muto’s storyboard for “What Have You Done?” (and you do), click here to take you to the Scribd page.

– Eric

Kyle Turntable
Fanboy Turntable
Berry Turntable

– Eric

Eric and I went over to the Dreamworks Animation campus to catch up with director  Mike Mitchell (who’s Shrek Forever After  is being released in May) whom we’d worked with on developing Mike Bell’s Super Santa into a live action feature over at Paramount. And who should we run into but Mike Bell himself, who working on Dreamworks projects too. It was great catching up with both of them, two of the nicest (and yes, stunningly talented) guys in our business. And now that we’ve got the Super Santa script back, one never knows what can happen.

“Take and Fake”, episode #335, premieres this Saturday, February 6, at 11:30 a.m. on Nickelodeon.

– Eric

Eric, writers’ assistant Kristine Songco (welcome aboard, Kristine), writer Michael Caine, and story editor/executive producer Steve Tompkins took a time out from story chores today to pose for a paparazzo. All part of the glamour that is Fanboy and Chum Chum. Writing for the new season officially began February 1, just about the same time season one writing began two years ago. Get a good look at these four now; they won’t be allowed to leave this room again for another eighteen months.

– Eric

Episode #147. Color by Chad Woods.

– Eric

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.

Kevin McCullough: What gave you the idea for “Electropolis”?

KM: The basic idea was created by Dan Seddon, who also did the bulk of the character designs in the film. Originally the idea was a little different, with more of the film taking place in the fictional electronic world, and the repercussions of the walking man’s actions in that society.

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

KM: All of the animation was done completely by hand, pencil on paper. The colouring and compositing was the only stage that computers were used. We chose this medium as we were all most familiar with it, and did not have enough experience to attempt CG or stop motion. Though even if that were an option, I still believe we would have gone the traditional route, as the main character really lends itself to a more graphic design style.

CF: Are the ‘walk sign’ guy’s moves inspired by any particular dancer?

KM: Some of the moves were inspired by Michael Jackson (ex. the moonwalk), but we also had some dance lessons from a fellow Sheridan Animator Alain Huynh, who taught us more of the break dancing moves.

CF: About how long did it take to make the film?

KM: The pre-production phase which included storyboarding and designing the characters and locations took roughly 4 months, and the production was about 3 months.

CF: Your favorite part?

KM: My personal favourite part, especially when watching with an audience is the moment when the business man looks up at the sign, hoping for the walking man to be there again, only to see the replacement “WALK” sign instead. It always strikes me as a very powerful moment, that audiences can genuinely sympathize with characters in a cartoon who are clearly not real, and in such a short format. The turn from sadness to hope in those moments is definitely my favourite.

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

KM: All 13 of us are back at Sheridan for our final year, and are currently in production on our own personal animated short films.

CF: Excellent! Thanks for the interview, Kevin! Kudos to you and the entire “Electropolis” team.

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

-Bailee DesRocher

More “What is Life?” backgrounds here.

– Eric

“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

Watch Bill sketch from fredseibert on Vimeo.