Channel Frederator Blog

Epsiode 74

A young superhero gets the “bad guys” to back down by throwing an ungodly, painful tantrum…works every time! This short was part of the “Oh Yeah! Cartoons” series.

Blogger/Interviewer extrordinaire, Jeaux Janovsky did a terrific feature on John Fountain a while back, and in addition to that, I asked John some specific questions on the making of The Tantrum in hopes of harnessing more of his creative brilliance into this blog.

MELISSA: What inspired “The Tantrum”?

JOHN: I desperately wanted to do a story with a comedic superhero… I used to love shows like ‘Underdog’ and ‘The Greatest American Hero.’ I always thought it was cool that THE HULK’s powers were triggered by his frustrations, and there’s nothing more frustrating than being a kid, so it just seemed like a natural formula for a comedic-kid-superhero.

MELISSA: Do you usually write a script out for your film, or do you work mostly from storyboards?

JOHN: Both. Like all art, you start with broad strokes and then work on details as you go along. I know a lot of artists prefer to work straight onto storyboards, but I find those little boxes to be very inhibiting. When I’m writing, I’m picturing the shots in my head, so there are no limitations… consequently, it requires me to tailor the storyboards to the action instead of the other way around.

MELISSA: When you look at the film now, in retrospect, is there anything you would do differently?

JOHN: Practically everything. Thankfully, Larry Huber - Fred’s right-hand-man for ‘Oh Yeah!’ - had ‘done it all’ in his career and, between cranky tirades, he would give me priceless guidance that made up for my utter lack of experience. I consider ‘The Tantrum’ to be my “student film” since I never went to an animation school. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with the cartoon and for all of its flaws I can honestly say it came out exactly the way I envisioned it at the time, but this was my first time directing and first time producing…

MELISSA: What were your specific jobs on this film–besides directing and producing?

JOHN: I wrote it, storyboarded it, designed it and I’m the voice of the main character… in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have tried to do it all myself, but I really wanted to gain the experience of covering as many bases as possible. Even though I learned a lot by it, I also learned that animation, at its core, is collaborative and it’s best to surround yourself with talented people and trust them to do what they do best.

MELISSA: What was the most challenging part of making your film at the time?

JOHN: No question… EDITING! When I did the voice-recording for the show, it came out to be TWICE AS LONG as the entire cartoon was supposed to be. Two major sequences had to be cut and a TON of excess dialogue had to go. I’m lucky the story fit together as well as it did with as much cutting as I had to do.
Editing your own work is absolutely the most painful thing ever, but it’s an absolutely VITAL part of storytelling.

MELISSA: What do you usually do when you get stuck creatively?

JOHN: That doesn’t happen a lot because I generally have more ideas than I know what to do with, but when it does happen I submerge myself in the work of those that inspire me and bask in their brilliance. If that doesn’t work, I play really violent video games.

MELISSA: Who are some artists who have influenced you or inspired you?

My influences are all over the map… George Lucas, Peter Gabriel, Charles Schulz, Kyle Baker, Evan Dorkin, Robert Crumb, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Salvador Dali, Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, Miyazaki, Gainax, George Herriman, Walt Disney, Jan Van Eyck, Wayne Barlowe, Peter Bagge, Dan DeCarlo, Bill Watterson, JRR Tolkien, Moliere and an endless list of others artists from many different mediums.

MELISSA: Thanks again for the wonderful film. It’s terrific!

JOHN: Thank Fred… it wouldn’t have happened without him. Besides, ‘The Tantrum’ was just the tip of the iceberg…