Channel Frederator Blog

Matt Whitlock, an artist for The Fairly OddParents, created this Flash-animated statement on Proposition 8 (the infamous attempt at banning same-sex marriage in California). He makes his point with a lefty/righty metaphor that isn’t heavy-handed (ba-dump-bump!) It’s nice to see cartoon satire with heart.

Learn more about Matt at his Little Hero website.

For another entertaining take on the controversy (okay, from the same side) there is the non-animated, star-studded Prop 8: The Musical!

—Anne D. Bernstein

This excerpt from Mars and Beyond is one of the oddest cartoon sequences ever produced by Disney. A bizarre bevy of fantastic and imaginative Martians cavort in a speculative exploration of what might lurk on Mars. Too bad it didn’t turn out that way; I’d be first in line to visit if these silly creatures were actually in residence. The animation was aired in 1957 and directed by Ward Kimball.

The entire program is available on the DVD set Walt Disney Treasures - Tomorrowland: Disney in Space and Beyond.

And for a timely connection: check out this great piece of Ward Kimball Martian art which is up for auction in February at Heritage Auction.

—Anne D. Bernstein

Calling all animators!

Channel Frederator is hosting a 2-second animation contest for Saint Patrick’s Day. We want your stop-motion, flash, cartoons, flip books, or any other kind of animation to help us celebrate the day of Irish green cheer. We’ll be featuring the best submissions in our Saint Patrick’s Day episode on March 17th.
One lucky winner will receive a Nintendo DS!

[Read more…]

Joel Trussell has been a long-time contributor to Channel Frederator. In fact, Joel’s film War Photographer was in the second episode to ever air! Every time we show one of his shorts we get a great response. This month, you guys really did your duty!

Joel’s animated music video for Morcheeba’s “Enjoy the Ride” is the winner of our January Cartoon of the Month prize, which means that out of all of the cartoons to run in December, you guys voted his the very best. Because of you, Joel will receive a totally awesome $100 prize pack of extra special Cartoon of the Month Channel Frederator merchandise.

I asked Joel a few questions about the making of the video. Check it out after the jump, and don’t forget to get voting on next month’s Cartoon of the Month! [Read more…]

British animator Simon Tofield specializes in simple, amusing, and observant shorts about pets. The floor-level chomper above appears in “Fed Up”, a recent holiday spot for the RSPCA. It’s a warning about overfeeding pets that makes its point without preaching. If you’re more of a cat person, the classic below stars an impatient fuzzball who acts just like my cat, Blinky! Well, with a bit of exaggeration.

Simon is repped by Tandem. His personal site is Simon’s Cat. (It is temporarily closed for maintenance. but this is where you buy T-shirt and sign up for his newsletter.)

Here’s a short interview with the creator, from Your Cat Magazine—not to be confused with Cat Fancy!

—Anne D. Bernstein

Oh wait… it’s not a turkey! It’s Turducken… What is a Turducken you ask? It’s the infamous yet delectable bird within a bird within a bird - duck stuffed inside a chicken which is then stuffed inside a turkey. Only in America folks!
Steve Stark celebrates the invincibility of the Turducken in his film, Turducken. Turducken takes home the prize for the December Cartoon of the Month - the highest rated cartoon to run in all of November. This includes episodes 152, 153, 154 and 155.  Hailing from episode 155, our Thanksgiving celebration episode, Steve created Turduken because…. well… maybe I should just let Steve tell you. Read his interview below!

What inspired you to create Turducken?

While I was going to school for animation, I was working at Cactus Club here in Vancouver.  My buddy Matty told me a story about how his friend ate a Turducken over the weekend.  It blew my mind.  So I [Read more…]

“Donald and his Dawg” is a new series of shorts by David Fremont of Glue infamy. This down-home, non-flashy Flash series has launched at 4mations. Episode One and Episode Two are up. When Donald and his Dawg step out to retrieve the newspaper, amazing things seem to happen every single day. What are the chances of that? Oh yeah, it’s a CARTOON!

—Anne D. Bernstein

I mentioned this cartoon-in-the-making the other day on my personal blog, but I thought I’d share with all of you. Released as a Channel Frederator bonus this morning, HOWL TO THE CHIEF is by author Alan Katz and filmmaker Ben Ross. It’s already creating ripples across the internet.

–Fred

Moose A. Moose (Noggin mascot) sings about his vehement hatred of an innocent tri-colored treat. You can also watch an official Noggin version here.

His voice is by Paul Christie, who also provided the voice for Louie the Lizard in the Budweiser “frog” commercials. Lyrics by Matt Perreault.

Moose A. Moose was designed by illustrator Melinda Beck.

Candy corn also makes a cameo appearance in Western Spaghetti by PES:

—Anne D. Bernstein

We’re all familiar with the classic “Got Milk?” campaign, which was sponsored by the California Milk Processor Board. Now another scrappy milk-promoting trade group, the British Columbia Dairy Foundation, is promoting a video contest on YouTube.

To enter, make a video with the message “Must Drink More Milk” and upload it to YouTube. Each month, two winners will be named. At the end of the year, one Grand Prize winner will win a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air (with Final Cut Pro). Oh yeah, you MUST BE A RESIDENT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA to enter.

I really like the video above, a stop motion fight scene where our underdog champion is a claymation version of one of those wobblies monsters you stick on the end of a pencil. I wish the BCDF would credit the animators and make it clear that eight YouTube videos most prominently posted were done by pros and had “real budgets” and the supervision of an advertising agency. The fight scene is by at Bent Image Lab. (Chel White, Ray Di Carlo, and David Daniels formed this Portland, Oregon studio in 2003.)

For more information about the contest, go to the milkvids YouTube page or the mustdrinkmoremilk website.

PS: For an online gallery of the classic milk mustache ads, check out this link.

PPS: Here are some earlier spots for the BCDF with animation direction by Curious Pictures.

After the jump, another Bent Image Labs video, starring Russian nesting dolls with very annoying voices. And a few videos by an actual contest entrants. [Read more…]