Channel Frederator Blog

Michael Stevenson is a super talented award winning animator and pigeon expert. Half of that is a lie. Read his interview and figure out which half.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Michael Stevenson: I did a couple years of animation at San Francisco State University. When I was shopping for colleges I discovered that SF State contained this hidden gem, a two-year animation emphasis that could piggyback on a Cinema degree. Although it was a small and woefully neglected program, our teachers were phenomenal and we were given boatloads of freedom to experiment and learn. I spent one year taking 2D and computer animation classes, and another year teaching myself stop motion and making my film.

CF: What are your sources of inspiration?

MS: Real life events are by far the best source of inspiration. Most of my work reflects the structure of a fish story - it starts off as experientially genuine, and then takes a ridiculous turn. Pigeon Pilfer is based on one of my first trips to San Francisco when I was young - I was shocked by the tameness of the city’s wildlife - and the experience stuck with me to my senior year of college.

I think growing up on British humor helped me tremendously. Mr. Bean was a staple in my comedy diet. I find it incredibly funny when a character abjectly misunderstands the situation he or she is in and flounders around trying to make the best of it.

CF: What was your favorite part of making “Pigeon Pilfer”?

MS: I love learning, and Pigeon Pilfer absolutely pushed me to my limits. I got to do a little bit of everything - carpentry, sculpture, electrical engineering, programming - most of which was in some way new to me.

Although I love to animate, the problem solving involved in the project’s more technical bits was really fulfilling. For example, because of digital camera limitations at the time, I had to build a second lower resolution camera to shoot through the main camera’s viewfinder, allowing me check my work as I animated. It was a tremendous amount of fun to engineer and build, and there were countless similar micro-projects that made up the overarching production.

Stop motion is rather unique in that there tend not to be many well-defined production conventions. In hand-drawn animation your big decision is top pegs or bottom pegs. Stop motion is very much a by the seat of your pants, duct tape and chewing gum kind of medium.

Least favorite?

MS: Working with oil clay is not for the timid. 100% of what appears on screen is made of clay, and to use such massive quantities I had to melt it down in a slow cooker and spread it onto the set like cake frosting. Or, more accurately, oily molten skin-adhering frosting that suddenly shifts into a runny fluid if heated by only five more degrees. Quick tip: if a small amount of steam comes into contact with liquid oil clay, once it solidifies it will be crumbly and chalky and will never melt again. The chemistry behind this absolutely confounds me.

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

MS: I don’t have any professional work going at the moment, so I’m focusing on a few personal projects. I’m in this sort of amorphous zone where I have too many concurrent projects in planning, and only one or two are likely to survive to production. I’m starting to drift into the world of indie games, so my next project may be interactive.

CF: Weirdest thing you’ve ever done for money?

MS: In hindsight, selling bottles of weak homemade Kool-Aid on the sidewalk was a pretty bizarre thing to do. It seemed like a brilliant business venture at the time, but it’s only now, with a grownup’s perspective, that I realize it was doomed to failure. Sorry kids, didn’t mean to crush your dreams.

CF: Weirdest thing you’ve ever seen an animal eat?

MS: My dog once ate an entire bag of water balloons. They must have been quite a delicacy. The aftermath was hilarious.

CF: Ha, I bet! And also, ew.

Thanks for the interview, Michael. You can check out “Pigeon Pilfer” right here on Channel Frederator!

-Bailee DesRocher