Hero Heights

Hero Heights Studio Screening

billho — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 21:22:42 +0000

It was a full house at the screening!

A few brief words from the Creators of Hero Heights just before the show.

Greetings True believers!

On Wednesday night August 16th Hero Heights was screened for the very first time at Nickelodeon studios in Burbank. Everyone was invited to a studio screening of 4 brand new Random Cartoon shorts, Moobeard the Cow Pirate by Kyle Carrozza, Yaki and Yumi by Aliki Theofilopoulos, Boneheads by Polygon Pictures and Hero Heights by us Raul and Bill.

Before each short its creator got to say a few words. I stepped up and dazzled the crowd with my rapier like wit and charm. Actually, I told a corny joke and thanked Frederator and Nickelodeon for giving us the opportunity to make Hero Heights.

I must admit I was a little nervous. We would be screening Hero Heights to our colleagues, fellow artists and industry professionals. Maybe I had overlooked something. Maybe there was some glitch or a continuity error left by mistake. Will the story flow correctly? Will they like the characters? A cold sense of doom chilled my spine.

As the lights dimmed I could feel my heart pounding faster and faster. Then, right on cue, the butterflies in my stomach kicked in. But just as the Hero Heights title card appeared accompanied by Geoff Levin’s powerful opening theme, I was calm and cool as can be. For the next seven minutes the audience was mine and Bill’s. There were plenty of laughs and cheers. Everyone really seemed to enjoy it.

At the end of the screening we got a great response from everyone and we were delighted. It feels really good to know that something you created made someone feel good and laugh, even if it was only for 7 minutes. We did what we set out to accomplish, we made a cool cartoon.

We’d like to thank everyone for showing up to the screening! We were afraid it would be only us two, when in fact, there was standing room only.

Raul and Bill

ITS MISSION ACCOMPLISHED FOR HERO HEIGHTS! WE ARE FINISHED!

billho — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 21:58:51 +0000

Greetings True Believers!
Hero Heights is finished! That’s right! Last Thursday August 3rd we performed the final mix at Oracle Post in Burbank. It came out super!

Here I seized an opportunity when nobody was around and had Bill snap a pic of me with Hero Heights on the big screen.

Not to be out nerded, Bill snuck over to get his picture taken too.

Bill and I hamming it up with our final mix engineer DJ, who did an excellent job of manning the controls over at Oracle Post.

We also hammed it up with Random Cartoons Executive Producer Larry Huber and Post Production Supervisor Molly Maldonado. Eric Homan and Claudia Spinelli were also at the session, but we didn’t get a chance for a pic. Larry, Claudia, Eric and Molly made some great suggestions and really helped the session go smoothly. Thanks guys!

Well, it’s been a long journey but Hero Heights is officially wrapped. Bill and I have been best friends since Junior High and ever since then have always dreamed of collaborating on a project of our own. After high school we both went off to art school and then landed jobs in the animation business. I did my time at Walt Disney Feature Animation and Bill at The Simpsons. For almost 10 years we worked our butts off learning everything we could and growing as artists. We had time to mature and really understand the process of animation. So one day we got together and decided it was time for us to call the shots, and be the ones in control instead of following the direction of others.

The idea of doing something with super heroes had always been on our minds. Bill and I love the genre and are extremely well read on the subject. But we wanted to do something different. Explore an area of super hero stories that hadn’t been done before. Turn on the TV and you’ll see tons of animated shows about kids with super powers, but they are all the same. UltraBoy and MegaGirl have to stop the evil giant mutant from destroying city hall and at the same time turn in their book reports while maintaining their secret identities. Yawn! It’s been done to death. So with Hero Heights we did away with the whole secret identity monster of the week clichés and created a town where everyone is super powered. Now we could have kids use their powers openly and more creatively without any of the cliché baggage. As Bill likes to put it, “The Little Rascals with super powers.” This opened up a whole new cascade of ideas. So we came up with some characters and placed them in an interesting story that was full of emotion, conflict and resolution and started knocking on doors.

Enter Frederator and Nickelodeon. We went in and pitched our stuff and eventually got the green light to make Hero Heights. With our combined experiences Bill and I were able to handle anything that came our way during the course of the production. No matter what the crisis, we were responsible and competent enough to solve it. If we came across some aspect we didn’t quite understand we asked. I know it sounds simple, but you’d be surprised at how many creators get in over their heads and have absolutely no idea of what they want or what they are doing. Bill and I refused to end up like that. We came prepared with the knowledge, talent, and technical know how required to produce a cartoon.

We set out to make a cartoon that would stand out, and with the help of some incredibly talented executives, artists, technicians, and production people, I think we succeeded. The entire experience was fantastic for Bill and me. We ended up with a pretty good cartoon and would like to thank the following people for helping us do it.

Fred Seibert
Eric Homan
Larry Huber
Mark Taylor
Rico Hill
Claudia Spinelli
Kevin Kolde
Melissa Wolfe
Therese Trujillo
Molly Maldonado
Jack Kinman
Macgregor Middleton
Eric Cookmeyer
Aliki Theofilopoulos
Meredith Layne
Justin Brinsfield
Scott Mouro
Scott Uehara
Serge Michaels
Geoff Levin
Mike Petak
Taek Lee
Dave Eppen
Eric Brown
Wendy Jacobsmeyer
Robert Alvarez
Larry Leichliter
Ted MacHold
Jessica DiCicco
Annie Mumolo
Karen Malina White
Hynden Walch
Becky Thyre
Bill Devine
DJ
Oracle Post
Kevin Kirwan
Encore Hollywood
Wang Films
Matthew Saver
John Goldsmith
Matthew Ellis
Stanley Ho
Mee Ho

I would also especially like to thank my lovely wife Hortencia. Without her patience, understanding and undying support this production would never have been possible. Trust me when I say that.

We will continue to post any new developments for Hero Heights right here, but in the meantime you can see some of our other work and find our contact info here.

Illegal Aliens Productions

That’s all for now readers! So until next time this is Raul Aguirre Jr. and Bill Ho saying, “EXCELSIOR!”

Boom! Pow! Zoom! Dude look at the colors!

billho — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 20:52:40 +0000

Here’s Bill and I with Kevin Kirwan the engineer from Encore Hollywood

That’s the back of my jughead checking out Hero Heights on Encore’s cool set up while Kevin plugs away.

Here we are with Oracle Post engineer Bill Devine. Check out the big grins on Bill Ho and I. Can you tell we were happy with the sound effects?

Greetings True Believers!

Last week Bill and I ventured over to Encore Hollywood to review our color corrections. We got to sit in a studio that looked like the cockpit of The Millennium Falcon and had engineer Kevin Kirwan at the helm. This session was scheduled in order for us to go through the cartoon and make sure we were happy with the colors. If something seemed too bright or dark, Kevin could use his technical expertise and fix it the way we wanted. Overall there were only a few minor adjustments needed so we were in and out of there in less than an hour. Thanks for your help Kevin!

Today we got a preview of the Hero Heights sound effects over at Oracle Post in Burbank! (Which, by the way is a really nice place!) Bill Devine the engineer did a fantastic job of putting it all together. Every whoosh, boom, smack and thud was expertly placed throughout the short. He really blew us away with the way he handled Smart Alec’s power hum. Since he uses his power though the whole cartoon, Bill made sure the sound effects he chose weren’t too distracting. He also gave us a variety of sounds depending on how Smart Alec was using his power at the time. Whoa! Talk about professional! We’d like to thank everyone at Oracle Post for contributing so much to our cartoon. But we’d especially like to thank Bill Devine for the sweet sound effects he arranged for Hero Heights! This cartoon required a lot of different sound effects so we knew it was a tall order.

That’s all for now! So until next time this is Raul Aguirre Jr. and Bill Ho saying, “Excelsior!”

Maestro! Maestro! Maestro!

billho — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 01:09:29 +0000

Greetings True Believers!

The British writer Aldous Huxley once said, “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” After hearing the works of composer Geoff Levin, I couldn’t agree more.

I’d like to welcome Hero Heights’ newest resident, Academy Award Nominated composer of the feature film “The Janitor” and the Nickelodeon series “Chalk Zone” Geoff Levin. He is currently composing the score for our cartoon and believe me when I tell you, it sounds fantastic! In the six minutes and forty seconds Bill and I have been given to make our cartoon, we’ve managed to cram it full of conflict, emotion, character, exposition and resolution. It wasn’t an easy task but so far so good. Scoring this cartoon would be quite a challenge to the average composer, but Geoff Levin is not your average composer. This gentle soft spoken fellow is a true master of his craft.

We spent a few days with Geoff in his studio and were amazed at his incredible virtuosity. We explained to him what kind of music we wanted and within minutes, he roughed out the Hero Heights theme! Geoff was on the same page as us and what resulted was pure magic. Now Hero Heights as we all know is a suburban community where everyone has superpowers, so naturally we wanted powerful superheroey type music. But Hero Heights is also about children who use their powers for everyday mundane kid stuff. So now the mundane has become the fantastic. Geoff gave us something that is a cross between Superman, Back to the Future, Napoleon Dynamite and Boccerini. I know it sounds weird but trust me when I tell you, the music Geoff has created for Hero Heights is awesome. Geoff to kept the score unified and it works better than Bill and I could have ever dreamed. We can’t wait to hear the final score which Geoff will finish in the next week or so.

Check out Geoff’s cool website where you can hear a sample of his work and scope out his credits.

Geoff’s website

That’s all for now kiddos, so until next time, this is Raul Aguirre Jr. and Bill Ho saying “Excelsior!”

Hero Heights Returns……..From the Comic-Con that is.

billho — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 01:37:19 +0000

Greetings True Believers!

Well we’re back from the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con and let me tell you it was bananas! My lovely wife Hortencia, Bill and I had a great time. Sure it was hot, crowded, and even a bit stinky, but it was good times nonetheless.

The Random Cartoons Panel was so much fun. Jerry Beck did an awesome job as the moderator and our fellow Random creators, Anne Walker, Pen Ward, Kyle Carrozza, and Eric Robles were super panelists. We got to see some clips from some of the shows and we also ran into Adam Henry, Greg Eagles, Dahveed, Claudia Spinelli, Eric Homan, Therese Trujillo, and Melissa Wolfe! Everyone was so excited; you could feel the buzz in the room! Bill and I felt proud to be part of such a dynamic group of creative goofballs!

As you can see the Comic-Con was insane! I heard that on Saturday there were close to 150,000 people in attendance! Mama Mia! That’s a lot of nerds!

Here we are with the lovely and vivacious Therese Trujillo. She is the glue that holds the gears of Random Cartoons together! We love you Therese!

Bill and I were lucky enough to get a snapshot with the legendary creator of MooBeard: The Cow Pirate, Kyle Carrozza AKA TV’s Kyle before the throng of groupies and paparazzi got to him.

We finally got to meet The Great Stephen Levinson! For months I’ve been impressed with this kid’s talent and enthusiasm and it was a real treat to finally see him in person. All weekend Bill and I kept running into him at panels or at the Random Cartoons booth. It seems that everywhere we looked there he was! On Monday we had a pitch at Cartoon Network and believe it or not we ran into him in the lobby! If Stephen keeps up the hard work I see a big future for him in the animation biz! Kudos Stephen!

We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw Batman! Not just any Batman, it was the 1960’s Adam West Batman! Wow! This guy nailed the replica costume! Big props to homeboy!

Here we are with our agent Matthew Ellis of the Metropolis Talent Agency. We bumped into him on Thursday and had a delightful lunch in downtown San Diego. Boy talk about schmoozers! Matt’s a great guy and we hope to make him very rich very soon.

Bill, my lovely wife Hortencia and I paused for a minute to take this photo. Not bad considering I was holding the camera myself.

Attention K-mart shoppers! Hero Heights baseball caps were all the rage at this year’s Comic-Con. Pretty soon you too will be able to purchase your very own Hero Heights baseball cap! As soon as we figure how to get them out we’ll let you know!

That’s all for now folks! So until next time this is Raul Aguirre Jr. and Bill Ho saying Excelsior!!

Stormtroopers, Klingons and X-men oh my!

billho — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 14:54:47 +0000

Greetings True Believers!

Well, it’s that time of year again. A time when thousands of artists, writers, collectors, fanboys and other assorted human oddities from around the world gather in beautiful San Diego for the annual San Diego Comic-Con! For four days it’s nothing but comics, animation, Sci-Fi, anime, video games, and collectibles. Just about anything that is pop culture related is represented in one way or another. My partner in crime Bill and I are packing up and heading out there from Thursday the 20th to Sunday the 23rd.

It’s going to be madhouse for sure. We never know what to expect, but it is always a good time. There’s something really nice about being around people that appreciate the same things you do. Take comics and animation. These are two of the only true American art forms. That’s something that Comic-Con folks understand and respect. They are a fickle bunch that only expects the best which is the way it should be. We as Creators get to mix it up with the people that support our art and see first hand their reactions to our stuff. As artists that is very valuable to Bill and I.

We are looking forward to the long weekend break, because we’ve been real busy the last few months wrapping Hero Heights along with a bunch of other projects. But once we get back we’ll be fully charged, inspired, and ready to go for another round in the animation ring. So in the immortal words of Ron Burgundy the Anchorman “You stay classy San Diego.”

Raul and Bill

Hero Heights Is Back In Town!

billho — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 19:27:53 +0000

Greetings True Believers!

This is Raul and Bill here at Hero Heights central and we’re happy to announce that we’ve entered the post production phase of the show! Earlier in the week we got a chance to preview the color reel of Hero Heights. The overseas studio Wang Films did a crackerjack job in putting it together. The animation is snappy and fluid just the way we like it and the BGs are sensational. We couldn’t be happier. Now all we have left to do is get together with our composer to create a really smokin’ score and then we get to add some explosive sound effects. After all that we then just need to edit everything together and mix it up!

We’re hoping to figure out how to post a clip for all of you to enjoy, but until then we thought you might like to check out the newest installment of the Random Cartoons Guide to the Hero Heights Universe!

Enjoy!

Hero Heights Goes To Taiwan Where American Animation Is Made!

billho — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 18:53:56 +0000

Raul Aguirre Jr., Robert Alvarez, Wendy Jacobsmeyer, and Bill Ho

Raul Aguirre Jr. and Dave Eppen

Greetings True Believers!

Hero Heights has shipped! Bill and I did everything we could and now it’s in the hands of the overseas studio Wang Films. We are happy to announce that the great and wise Robert Alvarez came in and helped time out our exposure sheets! This guy knows his stuff! It was a real pleasure working with him and we hope our paths will cross again some day!

Dave Eppen kicked some major butt as our Background Painter! He did some beautiful stuff that totally blew our minds! He laid in textures and came up with fantastic color schemes that really make Hero Heights stand out! A real talent and all around nice guy!

Wendy Jacobsmeyer did a bang up job as our final checker! It was her job to catch all of our mistakes before we shipped! Her attention to detail was amazing!

The whole experience of making an Oh Yeah! Cartoon was intense and fun! We can hardly wait to get the short back from Wang and share it with the world!

So until next time! This Raul Aguirre Jr. and Bill Ho saying Excelsior!

Hero Heights Quadruple Tag!

billho — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 01:11:42 +0000

Aliki, Anne, Nikki, and Kyle……YOU’RE IT! HA HA HA!

Raul and Bill

Chorizoman Collector’s Item!

billho — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 22:00:28 +0000

Greetings True Believers!

Sorry we haven’t posted in a while, things have been pretty busy for Bill and I the last few weeks. We thought we would take this opportunity to share something special from the “Hero Heights Files”. The image you see above is of Smart Alec and Strikeout’s favorite comic book, Astounding Hogwash #15 which marks the first appearance of Chorizoman! This image will appear in the short for a split second and really has nothing to do with the story, but it just came out so cool we had to post it. Some of you may have probably already guessed what it’s a parody of! So until next time…..

Excelsior

Raul and Bill