Channel Frederator Blog

Reposted from Indy Mogul!

Not to sound too much like a shameless plug, but our friend Rob Schrab (who recently put together an episode of the 4-minute Film School) is encouraging fans to recreate the energy of his popular comic book series “SCUD: The Disposable Assassin” by means of a fan film contest. Rob co-created Channel 101, so he knows how valuable deadlines and obstructions can be to creating something.

If you’re a fan of Scud, or just like making stuff, check out all the information on his site. You can make whatever you want about SCUD, make it three minutes or less in length, and send him a link by July 31st.

This past Wednesday I attended a panel discussion entitled, Cross Cultural Traffic: Toying with Brands, Borders and Bootlegs.

It was hosted by The Korea Society and was a lively talk on and about Korean Toys, their origins, how they interrelate with Japanese, American, and their own Korean Pop Cultures.

The panel consisted of Eric Nakamura (publisher of Giant Robot Magazine), Joshua Bernard (editor of CollectionDX.com), and The Korea Society’s Seho Kim (creative director).

I think Eric summed it up best on his GR blog:

“The robots and such brought out a generation of creatives. Imagine a filmmaker like Joon Ho Bong, who made the Host. Did he watch monster films as a kid? Did he play with toys? Of course he must have. The geeks who collected toys are now in power at creative places, and look at what they’ve brought forward? A new world of creative minds.”

Of course, I eagerly took down notes and snapped a few pics. Enjoy!

[Read more…]

The cult hit (and WAY ahead of it’s time) television series “ReBoot” is poised to make a come back. For those that don’t know the show, it was the first 100% CG series on television. It ran from 1994 to 2001. It celebrated all things computers, and is thus a great geek show.

From the site for the new film:

The last television episode of ReBoot aired in November of 2001 with a cliffhanger episode that left viewers wanting more. Through websites and online forums, die-hard fans continued to speculate, predict and in some cases fictionalize the next chapter in the ReBoot story.

Fast forward to 2007. Rainmaker Entertainment teamed with Zeros 2 Heroes Media to give ReBoot fans the power to decide which of five new concepts have the most merit. Over four weeks, thousands of comments, ratings, blog posts and votes poured in.

If you were a fan of the series, head on over to the site and give [Read more…]

Okay. Inspired by this blog post, I figured I’d ask which four cartoon characters you’d choose for a Mt Rushmore of animation. If you’ve been by the Warner Bros studio here in Burbank, you’ve seen their giant mural/billboard of Bugs, Fred Flintstone, Scooby, and Batman. But which four get your vote? Remember, they can be stars from any time period, TV or feature, as long as they’re animation characters and as long as there are but four.

Go!

– Eric

One of the most exciting categories in the Channel Frederator Awards is our “Cartoon of the Year” category. Normally, Cartoon of the Year is the highest rated cartoon on Channel Frederator. The only problem we ran into this year, however, is that we spent a good chunk of the year revising our star-rating system. Hmmm… What’s a producer to do?
Well, based on viewer feedback, we at Channel Frederator can usually get a handle on what our most popular cartoons are. So what we’re doing is offering up this list of 12 of our hottest cartoons. Your job is to e-mail us at vj@channelfrederator.com and tell us which cartoon you think deserves the distinguished award of Cartoon of the Year. You only have until Wednesday June, 4th, so make your voice heard! - Carrie

Here are the contenders. We’re counting on you folks!

Fumi & the Bad Luck Foot

Hot Cross Bunnies

Yeah, You Can [Read more…]

Check out the LATEST Episode of Refrederator, RIGHT HERE!

Last week we asked you to come up with your own theories on Casper’s demise.
They ranged from weird to surreal, wacky to morbid, psychotic to gore filled grossness!!!
We picked a few theories and gleefully combined them with Jeaux Janovsky’s illustrations of Casper’s many deaths for you.
[Read more…]

I know you’ve been waiting for it.

[Read more…]

Watch the New Episode Here! 

We bet some of you are still partying while the rest of us are at work suffering through post BBQ hangovers.

Us? Way too much root beer and a HUGE hot dog/hamburger/ketchup/mustard food-fight.

Luckily, we (and you) have this episode of Channel Fred to get you over the post-Memorial Day blues.

And lots of aspirin.

—Boxhead and Roundhead - Safari, submitted by Elliot Cowan
Our favorite Black and White Duo go on a safari! Watch them stare Nature and Death right in the face! Another death defying adventure from Friend of Frederator, Elliot Cowan.

—Str33t, submitted by leBeat
Skateboarding is NOT a crime, but killing cute cartoon creatures while doing so is. In some states at least.

—Hold On, Hold On - Thief, submitted by Catherine Richardson
Animated music video for the band Thief by Catherine Richardson, featuring a cast of furry animal people who discover a magical diamond in the rough.

—The Idiotic Adventures of [Read more…]

“Der Fuehrer’s Face”

During World War II, animation was a popular way to rally support for the troops, educate the country about how they could help out with the war effort, and serve as propaganda for the world.

“Daffy-The Commando” 

In addition to traditional length shorts, there were also several interstitial pieces created, such as “Any Bonds Today?”

As you can see, many of these cartoons featured charactures that played upon racial stereotypes… many of which are not politically correct in the eyes of today’s audiences. The big studios have gone to great lengths to keep many such cartoons as hard to find as possible for fear of a backlash. Maybe this is why we don’t see many war cartoons like we used to? There are still a few cartoons that handle such material, but do so in a much different way. For instance, have a look at this fight between Cartman and [Read more…]

Watch Stephen Silver as he draws a couple he saw standing in line at a theater. It’s a great insight into how he goes about creating characters, what he keeps from real life, and what he embellishes. It’s also nice to watch how he uses Autodesk’s Sketchbook Pro software.

-Floyd Bishop