Channel Frederator Blog

Justin Weber’s swingin’ flick “Juiced and Jazzed” is a hit on the festival circuit and the web. Grab a flask of your favorite hooch and read on!

Channel Frederator: Why did you choose a female protagonist? Gentlemen can be led astray too - am I right fellas?

Justin Weber: I think I always had a female character in mind for the cartoon. I was using the Charleston music and going with the 1920s prohibition theme, and that naturally led me towards the iconic flapper girl character. Lulu is very much inspired by Betty Boop. Also, I had been wanting to do a short that featured a female character.

CF: What was your favorite part about making the film?

JW: Coming up with all of the different story ideas and actions to fit with the music. It all started with the music, and I let the ideas flow from there. Once I got into animation, I was having a lot of fun coming up with different actions and dance moves. I’d test the animation with clips of the music, and it felt great to see them work together. Whenever I listen to a song I like, I often have some sort of visual playing in my head. This was a chance to actually make one of those visuals come to life.

My other favorite thing while making “Juiced and Jazzed” is when it became a group effort. Once I went to MAKE, the animation studio I currently work at, I finished the cartoon with the help of Andrew Chesoworth, Aaron Quist, and Joe Kim. Their help was invaluable to the cartoon in how it turned out in the end.

CF: The ending is very “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” - do you think drinkin’ and goofin’ off is really that bad?

JW: I think Lulu’s punishment was a tad bit extreme. Still, she’s pretty content with herself at the end!

The ending is indeed a little bit Mr. Toad, but its also inspired by old Betty Boop cartoons that had strange endings where characters, for no real reason, would just end up dancing with mermaids at the bottom of the ocean or something. I love that.

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

JW: At the moment, I am kept busy working at MAKE, an animation studio in Minneapolis that specializes in motion graphics, animation, and design. On the off hours I’m spending time working in Maya and learning more about 3D computer animation.

CF: Favorite jazz musician/singer/combo?

JW: So many to list! I love so much from that 1920s to 1950s era. Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, the Boswell Sisters, the Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Ella Logan, Sidney Bechet, the Mills Brothers, just to name a few. Joe Venuti, the violinist who lead the group that did the first piece in my cartoon, did some recordings with Annette Hanshaw that are just wonderful to listen to.

CF: What’s that in your flask?

JW: Jack Daniels.

CF: I dig it.

Thanks for the interview, Justin! You too can get “Juiced and Jazzed”, right here on Channel Frederator!

-Bailee DesRocher