Channel Frederator Blog

If there’s one thing I like about Niki Yang’s work, it’s the consistently quirky and unique style she brings to everything she does. Just check out her Random Cartoon, “The Two Witch Sisters”, and you’ll see even more great artwork.

“Power to the Power” is no exception. Niki is friends with the band “The Mae-shi” and agreed to animate this video for them. The band animated 20 of the songs on their album, employing 15 different animators to work on it. They should be releasing a DVD of the material soon, so stay tuned! I asked Niki howw she animated this video. “I did it hand drawn, and also shot DV footage of the band in front of a crappy bluescreen.”

Nice. Thanks Niki.

Melissa

Yet another classic example of what happens when a great song teams up with equally great animation, “At A Glance” tells the haunting story of a man who falls in love with the wrong girl, and is caught between the highs and the lows of his dream world.

Composed by the Belgian band, Sioen, Production Studio Eugene and Louise succeed in creating a terrific vibe for the song using cut-out style animation and jarring imagery. The animation looks deceptively simple, but Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, After Effects, and Final Cut Pro were all used to give it its final look. The production was co-directed by BirG, and animation was also done by Wouter Sel, who just happened to have one of his films featured in Channel Frederator Episode 6.

Thanks to the team behind this music video! Stunning.

Melissa

In Stash DVD’s newest submission, artists Albert and Saiman Chow turn Hello Kitty into a robotic killing machine. All with the magic of clay. The sound design is terrific as well, done by an artist named Mr. Christmas. I checked out Saiman’s website, where he describes how “Hello Kitty Katch” came into existence.

“I was invited to participate in Hide and Seek, the 30th anniversary Hello Kitty Exhibtion held in Hong Kong. After many debates, I decided to do a piece with claymation. Or so I thought Wallace and Gromit was just a piece of cake in my own fantasyland. After 2 agonizing months, Albert and I literally finish the piece the day before the expo. Whew!!! Lesson #1: don;t ever f*#k with clay.”

Based on a six panel comic that filmmaker Randy Saba drew during a tedious college lecture, “Wishy Wormy” has the great look and feel of an old 1930s cartoon, with a modern twisted twist. Randy Saba got his start as a Production Assistant on Oh Yeah! Cartoons in 1998, and is currently Production Manager on The Fairly OddParents produced at Nickelodeon Studios.

I asked Randy his inspiration behind his film, and here’s what he had to say: “I never enjoyed taking notes, or paying attention while in school. Drawing was a nice diversion. Five years later I animated and filmed (Wishy Wormy) at home. I was between jobs then so I had lots of time on my hands. Boredom has always brought out my creativity.”

Thanks so much for your film Randy. Your lack of enthusiasm for boring college lectures certainly paid off!

Melissa

Episode 23 got your keypad clicking, particularly Tim Biskup’s Freddy Seymore’s Amazing Life:

AMAZING! Just bee-you-tee-ful. I totally love the limited palette characters. Knuckle Nose’s tongue is the same color as the rest of him, like he’s made out of plastic or somesuch! Howlarious tall tales and gorgeous backgrounds. If I could, I’d swallow this short and let the light of it shine out my greazy pores. Thumbs wayyyyyy up. - coreybarba

This could be very good. I gave it is 3 because I thought that the editing could have been better. I am of a radio mindset right now and the dead time throughout the ‘toon was hard to work with. It is a very good idea and the followthrough was good. Like I said, the editing could have been a tad more ruthless. - chuymatt

On the other hand, there was Episode 22. Hunter writes:

I loved the first ten episodes because [Read more…]

G4’s great Attack of the Show is interviewing me about Channel Frederator on Monday. I’ll let you all know when it going to run.

–Fred

…:::PS: OK, so it was live and I didn’t know it until I got there. I’ll try and get the video and post it.

…:::PPS: I killed. Really. My wife and kids told me.