Lately at Perennial Pictures we’ve been digitizing the CRAWFORD THE CAT shorts we produced a few years ago on film. All the new CRAWFORD THE CAT projects are produced in Flash, which makes getting them to the internet a little easier.

At this point, 13 “Crawford’s Corner” five-minute videos are now available to watch online. The shorts are educational in nature and are aimed at young audiences, so….. if you have a preschooler or know someone who does, check ‘em out here!

Enjoy.

Russ Harris

HANDYCAT Clips

Click to see larger image.

Last night I had the fun experience of catching up with former Perennial Pictures staffer and author Mary Anne Barothy at the signing of her new book “Day at a Time.” Before becoming Director of Publicity for Perennial Pictures (1986-1990), Mary Anne was personal secretary to movie star Doris Day. “Day at a Time” is Mary Anne’s recounting of her time with one of the biggest stars in motion picture history.

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Click to see larger image.

Last night I had the fun experience of catching up with former Perennial Pictures staffer and author Mary Anne Barothy at the signing of her new book “Day at a Time.” Before becoming Director of Publicity for Perennial Pictures (1986-1990), Mary Anne was personal secretary to movie star Doris Day. “Day at a Time” is Mary Anne’s recounting of her time with one of the biggest stars in motion picture history.

It was great seeing Mary Anne and a fun surprise to see our studio mentioned in her book and on the jacket. It’s a fun read! Check it out.

One of the shows Ms. Barothy worked with us on was ”A Mirthworm Masquerade.” It was the second TV Special we ever made. After its initial US broadcasts, it played pretty well overseas for quite a few years.

To see a couple of minutes from it, Click here. .

Enjoy

Russ Harris

HANDYCAT Clips

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We’ve been pretty busy at Perennial Pictures over the last month working on our own “Crawford the Cat “ property as well as picking up some animation for “The Mr. Men Show” from our friends at Renegade Animation. Mr. Men looks like it’s going to be a really fun show, and we’re happy to be working on it. Look for the show on Cartoon Network in the US and on Channel 5 in the UK beginning in January!

For “Crawford the Cat,” we’ve been putting together model packs for the characters, and this week, Crawford’s walk cycles were being honed.

To see some on the walk cycle animation, Click Here.

Enjoy!

Russ Harris

HANDYCAT Clips
CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS Clips

To see larger image, Click here.

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To see larger image, Click here.

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Here’s a couple of backgrounds from yet another CRAWFORD THE CAT –related product we’re developing. The product is a proposed series of one-minute interstitials for the Internet and/or TV. These would fall into the EI (Educational and Informative) category of programming and content. Our challenge with these is to make them rich with personality, fun and still be EI.

The pilot is called “Rainy Day.” We’ll post it as soon as it’s finished.

These backgrounds were rendered by G. Brian Reynolds. Nice job!

Russ Harris

HANDYCAT Clips
CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS Clips

Click here to see larger image.

Another screenshot from “Crawford the Cat Classics: Cinderella.”

For this background, G. Brian Reynolds chose dark magentas and browns for the walls and floors to help underscore the feeling of this scene. It’s interesting how color can affect one’s emotional response, and color styling is one of the few tools we have to help indicate the starker plot points in our version of Cinderella. Since the show is geared toward younger audiences, the antagonists can’t be too harsh or too mean. I think the color styling works great to accent what is NOT being said or done by some of the characters.

Nice styling G. Brian Reynolds!

To see some MOS frames of the scene, Click Here!

Russ Harris

HANDYCAT Clips
CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS Clips

Crawford the Cat’s been brushing up on his Spanish and Portuguese ever since he found out he was going to be part of The National Geographic Channel’s new kid block called “Nat Geo & Me.”

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Crawford the Cat’s been brushing up on his Spanish and Portuguese ever since he found out he was going to be part of The National Geographic Channel’s new kid block called “Nat Geo & Me.”

It’s always fun to see one of our shows on the TV schedule – even if we can’t see the actual telecasts from here in the USA.

Thanks National Geographic Channel for making the “Crawford’s Corner” shorts part of your new Latin American kid block!

Russ Harris

HANDYCAT Clips
CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS Clips

Here’s another fun background from G. Brian Reynolds. It’s the theatre from “Crawford the Cat Classics - Cinderella” where Crawford the Cat and his friends perform the “classics” – Fairy Tales Classics, that is.

We’re hoping that these gentler retellings of the stories will mesh well with the pre-school audience. From a creative standpoint, it’s not easy to write a softer adaptation of this oft’ times harsh material, and still remain close in flavor to the original, plus keep the show upbeat and energetic. We also have to make sure the characters of Harriet and Crawford remain true to their own personalities while “playing roles” in these other shows. No lines can be written for them that they couldn’t have said in the 13 “How To” shorts that are already made and are telecasting in international markets.
While hard, I must say the challenges have also made the process very exciting. There’s [Read more…]]]>

Here’s another fun background from G. Brian Reynolds. It’s the theatre from “Crawford the Cat Classics - Cinderella” where Crawford the Cat and his friends perform the “classics” – Fairy Tales Classics, that is.

We’re hoping that these gentler retellings of the stories will mesh well with the pre-school audience. From a creative standpoint, it’s not easy to write a softer adaptation of this oft’ times harsh material, and still remain close in flavor to the original, plus keep the show upbeat and energetic. We also have to make sure the characters of Harriet and Crawford remain true to their own personalities while “playing roles” in these other shows. No lines can be written for them that they couldn’t have said in the 13 “How To” shorts that are already made and are telecasting in international markets.
While hard, I must say the challenges have also made the process very exciting. There’s no relying on what’s been seen before – most of it won’t work anyway – it has to be all brand new!

Hopefully, our adaptations for these shows will be a nice as the art is!

To see a few seconds of animation on G. Brian’s awesome background, Click Here.

Russ Harris

HANDYCAT Clips
CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS Clips

Voice Over Actress, Lisa Buetow was in last month to record some additional Harriet the Hare /Cinderella lines for “Crawford’s Classics – Cinderella.” Lisa has worked with the Perennial Pictures on several productions over the years, including her role as the Mother Swan in ”The Ugly Duckling’s Christmas Wish” - a TV movie Perennial Pictures made in 1996. Lisa also performed multiple voices in a couple of half-hour TV specials we produced earlier called ”Jolly Old St. Nicholas”
and ”Jingle Bell Rap.”
When we developed the character of Harriet The Hare for the ”Crawford’s Corner” shorts, we knew Lisa would be perfect for the part due to that special brand of gentleness she can bring to a performance. Thanks Lisa!

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Voice Over Actress, Lisa Buetow was in last month to record some additional Harriet the Hare /Cinderella lines for “Crawford’s Classics – Cinderella.” Lisa has worked with the Perennial Pictures on several productions over the years, including her role as the Mother Swan in ”The Ugly Duckling’s Christmas Wish” - a TV movie Perennial Pictures made in 1996. Lisa also performed multiple voices in a couple of half-hour TV specials we produced earlier called ”Jolly Old St. Nicholas”
and ”Jingle Bell Rap.”
When we developed the character of Harriet The Hare for the ”Crawford’s Corner” shorts, we knew Lisa would be perfect for the part due to that special brand of gentleness she can bring to a performance. Thanks Lisa!

To hear a few seconds of Lisa as “Harriet The Hare,” Click Here.

Russ Harris

HANDYCAT Clips
CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS Clips

This is a pencil test of HANDYCAT’s faithful dog DRILLBIT jumping in circles and barking excitedly. Actor Rob Paulsen provides the voice for both HANDYCAT and DRILLBIT.

During production on “Handycat: Bees-Ness As Usual,” a fair amount of the animation was pencil tested by the animators.

When the tests are first screened, it’s all about whether the action is working and if the timing is okay. It’s not until later, when the hubbub of production is over, that one can begin to appreciate the pencil test in an entirely different light – as an art-form in and of itself. The drawings in the tests seem to have a unique “life” to them, that in my estimation, seldom translates entirely to the final product. Compare for yourself.

To see the Pencil Test, Click here.
(Note: Be patient - the pencil test may take longer to load.)

[Read more…]]]>

This is a pencil test of HANDYCAT’s faithful dog DRILLBIT jumping in circles and barking excitedly. Actor Rob Paulsen provides the voice for both HANDYCAT and DRILLBIT.

During production on “Handycat: Bees-Ness As Usual,” a fair amount of the animation was pencil tested by the animators.

When the tests are first screened, it’s all about whether the action is working and if the timing is okay. It’s not until later, when the hubbub of production is over, that one can begin to appreciate the pencil test in an entirely different light – as an art-form in and of itself. The drawings in the tests seem to have a unique “life” to them, that in my estimation, seldom translates entirely to the final product. Compare for yourself.

To see the Pencil Test, Click here.
(Note: Be patient - the pencil test may take longer to load.)

To see the color animation, Click here.

This scene was animated by artist Daryl D. Pyle. Nice work, Daryl!

Russ Harris

Other HANDYCAT Clips
CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS Clips

Scenes completed at Perennial Pictures last week on the CRAWFORD THE CAT special included “bunches of buoyant, bouncy balloons” complete with individual strings that track to each one. The animation on the balloon cycle was a little time-consuming when originally done, but because the cycle was going to be used in many scenes, the time was worth it. The balloon cycle has become an “Asset” in our “Library,” and is very easy to add - and scale to size - in the scenes where it’s needed. FLASH is very handy for this kind of reuse.

To see a sequence of scenes with the balloon cycle, Click here.

Enjoy.

Russ Harris

HANDYCAT Clips
CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS Clips