Fred loves the chicken! (not literally, you pervs...)

Just a quick post with Episode #176 (!) of Channel Frederator, now featuring more chicken! Yep, the powers that be at the big red Fred were nice enough to program the ChickenJam trailer into this week's episode...look for it at around the five minute mark. And stick around for the rest of the show, o' course! From the site:

"First up, we have a sweet music video for Broken Social Scene's "Pitter Patter Goes by Heart" called "Note To Self." Second is the Manila Folder Classifieds and the adventures therein. Certainly, there are no adventures quite like the ones in the Manila Folder Classifieds, as you will see. and finally, we have something cool with "I've Got Nothing," a look at the creative process and the response to the blank page."

Sounds cool. Check it. And start makin' your chicken-a-mations, right after you mark May 29th and June 25th on your calendars. Get it to us by the first date, so we can throw it up on the big screen at the NFB Cinema come the second. I'm out...more later!

TAIS nooze! April edition

Hookay, bunch o' stuff to cover here. Latest TAIS newsletter done be out (thank you Tara and Madi), but there's just too much goodness to post it all here. Honestly, it's huge. So, if ya wanna reads it, become a member! Come on, ya know ya wanna.

I finally managed to get the DEFINITIVE version of the ChickenJam trailer up...for a while there, we was going through sponsors like nobodies bidness. I originally wanted to get Toon Boom onboard, but them's busy folks...hopefully I'll get ahold of somebody there before the big date. And MyToons? Ah, alas, MyToons. Amid has posted about it, read it here. So, officially, our event sponsors are:

Channel Frederator: Eric Homan's given the green light to run the trailer in the April 21st episode of the big red cartoon show. Noice!

Line Boil: Aaron Simpson's sister site for all things animated. Aaron already gave us some of that there pimpage, and he's also shippin' us some shoits. My man!

NFB: Michael Fukushima over at the National Film Board got us 9 dvd's of chicken-flava'd short animated goodness, as well as a venue (The most awesome NFB Cinematheque here in Toronto) to host the event. Good on ya!

Finally, I've got a line on some prizing from afar...specifically, Honalulu. More on that later. Meanwhile, relax, sit back, watch a decidely green ep. of the Fred, and I'll be back with more nooze. Be sure to drop by the TAIS website and click on the links on the left...Tara's been updating like mad!

Get yer bran

Video from nutty nutbars The Bran Flakes. Animated in the Flash by Susan DeLint, link courtesy of our homey Fred. Enjoy.

3x Super Robot Heartbreak

3x Super Robot Heartbreak from Black brow. on Vimeo.

Anyone 'member this great bot toon when it appeared on the Fred? Really like this one, great use of typography, timing and music. Enjoy! Oh, and more on them chickens later.

Fred Loves Kirsten!

Been a loooong damn time since I've tossed the Fred some love, so here's a shout out to Big Red as he launches a new profiles series, basically dedicating a single ep. to one outstanding animator-type person. That person? Kirsten LePore! Not familiar with her work, so I'm gonna check out this ep, then hop by her site. Here's to Fred for spreadin' that animation luv all over them interwebnets.

Frederator does OIAF signal films!

In the runup to this year's Ottawa fest, at which Frederator Studios plans on being a big presence, they've gotten a whole mess of Ottawa signal films together and programmed 'em into an episode of Channel Frederator! Phark me, why din't I think of this? I won't be up this year, so somebody buy Dan Meth the cocktail for me. Enjoy!

In Order of Appearance:
1976 - André Théroux (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation & National Research Council of Canada)

1998 - Justin Stephenson (Cuppa Coffee Animation)

2004 - "Instant Animator's Dinner, Hand-o-Matic & Animator's in a Pouch" Theodore Ushev, Eric Barbeau (National Film Board of Canada)
1996 - Marv Newland (International Rocketship Limited)

2006 - Bruce Alcock (Global Mechanic)

2002 - "Scratch Track" Richard Reeves
2005 - Will Krause

1980 - George Iro & Gerard Bueche (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

2003 - Nick Cross

2007 - Filmtecknarna

Llamas and Nooze

Sorry for the quietude of late...a combination of the business-ness and the sickness-ness. At any rate, lemme get you up ta speed.

Them fine folks over at Channel Frederator put the 1st half of the MONSTERJAM in this week's episode! I've uploaded the second half to their servers, and I'll be giving a shout to all the jammers via email to see if we can get a few words from the individual film-makers for the Fred Raw blogs.

We'll also be submitting the jam to a few festivals and screening 'round the country and beyond, so as to spread the monster madness far and wide. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I've been whipping up some art goodies meself. In addition to the previously mentioned Fishboy, there's this piece, done for a podcaster homie in Ohio. Can't say what it's fer, exactly...



Beyond that, Madi has sent me a quick update of events planned for the coming months, and we may have a lil' sumthin' else planned for the end of the year...along with screenings and special events. I'll get you the skinny just as soon as I have the details. Next TAIS board meet will be next week. See ya!

2nd Channel Frederator Awards

The doods over at Channel Frederator have announced the nominees for the 2nd Fred awards, and I'm desperately trying to not be a pissy bitch over not being nominated for the 'Badass Bunny Award' category. Fred, c'mon...I love Choom Lam, Elizabeth Ito, and Ben Meinhardt's films, but did they give their bunnies huge cybernetic battle machines and killer plant monsters to fight? Hmmm?

O.k., I'm over it. The nominees this year are a freakin' stellar lineup, from 'Make Mine Shoebox' to 'Cocotte Minute'. Go. Vote. And demand more bunnies in battlesuits. I'm just sayin' is all. Phoink me.

p.s.: seriously, I'm messin'. Congrats to all the nominees, and to the fine folks at Frederator for continuing to showcase some damn fine animatin'.


NOTE: Just had someone leave their full contact info as a comment, tryin' to get ahold of Madi. I erased your comment to keep the spammers at bay, but I've passed your info on to Madi. You can also send an email to tais@bellnet.ca. Cheers!

MONSTERJAM announced in Fred #125

The guys from Channel Frederator have been kind enuff to supply us with some pimpage for the MONSTERJAM event being hosted by TAIS. You can see the trailer here in Ep. 125...that makes two toons I've gotten published by the Fred! Woot! Special thanks to Eric Homan for programming this, and for promoting the jam. Intrigued? Pop on over to the TAIS site for more info, then make us some monster-mation and send it on in!

And don't ferget, you can also submit any animated film you've made in the past 2 years to the TAIS animation showcase! All the juicy details are available on the TAIS site. Meanwhile, this ep. of Fred promises Playmobil girls gone inappropriate and more French flavored pop-topped fun from the guys at Pileated Pictures. Enjoy!

Well, I've been alluding to this for a few weeks, so before I heads off to grab a copy of Condemned 2 (scary as hell) I'll make the big announcement. The Toronto Animated Image Society is proud to announce...MONSTERJAM!

Yep, we've organized a new anijam this year, and this time around the theme is monsters. Animated 10 seconds however your want of whatever story you want, but it's gotta be about monsters. Send us a 720x480 Quicktime (give me a shout if you've got conversion or upload issues) along with a couple of stills and your contact info by May 30th. We'll edit all your creepy goodness into a big-ass anijam film that'll be first screened at the National Film Board in June as part of TAIS' Animation Celebration. Afterwards, we'll post it up on MyToons and submit it to Channel Frederator, and it'll be featured on the TAIS main site.

Did I mention prizes? The guys at Monster Factory and The Beguiling were kind enough to throw some goodies our way to use as prizes for the coolest, creepiest entries. We've got hand-made monster stuffies and author-signed copies of Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi and Kean Soo's Jellaby! I'll post some pictures of them goodies next week, as well as keepin' you posted on all our entries here on the blog, as well as supplying you with the occasional sneak peak.

Special thanks go out to the folks at Channel Frederator and MyToons for the promise of pimpage for this event. Don't just sit there, there's monsters to animate...go, go, go!

Tim Farrell

Find more videos like this on Channel Frederator RAW


Tim Farrell, he of 'E-mail cartoon' fame, has joined the band of merry mental patients at the Frederator RAW site. Joy! Here, his character Mister Mistor has some advice for expecting mothers. Who probably shouldn't watch this. More later.

Elizabeth Ito: Welcome to My Life

Just got caught up with my Frederator eps, and lo and behold, another batch of pencil-animated tastiness from our good friend Elizabeth Ito, she of 'Hot Cross Bunnies' fame. This time 'round it's a 'real audio' piece about a wonderfully unusual family. Pay close attention to all the great lil' affectations she gives her characters and the lovely facial mugging...'specially like the mom. Audio is courtesy of the Ito clan itself...no doubt some proud parents there.

There's a bit of a production blog and other goodness on her blog...go and pay her the visit. Interesting...more monstrously good monster animation. Coincidentally, I may have a monstrous announcement to make very soon. Stay frosty.

UberStreet Studios

Just got an e-mail from the fellas over at UberStreet Studios, a small New York shop specializin' in commercials and music vids. UberStreet is the stompin' grounds of one Dan Pinto...you'll remember him from his film 'Hedgehug', featured in the Nicktoons festival and Channel Frederator's ep. 96.

They've just updated their website, so you can go over and check out Dan's work, as well as that of co-founders Bryan Brinkman and Matt Gaston. Dan's currently helpin' ol' Bill Plympton out on his new film 'Idiots and Angels.' Go take a gander, throw some more work their way!

Yo Jeaux! Q and A with Fred

Jeaux Janovsky over at Channel Frederator (remember them? Toon podcast, cool-ass red robot? Yeah, that's the guys, swell fellas.) tossed a few questions my way about 'First Time Out', featured in Fred 108. Here's me chewin' his ear off:

1) How long have you been animating Neil?

I got out of school summer of '95, been workin' since then, so...sweet joosy jebus, 12 years?!? Man, I'm old.

2) Mech-rabbits battling makes for awesome. What was the inspiration of this short Neil?

Too many episodes of Gundam Wing. After seeing yet another mechstravaganza where big awesome robots were being piloted by blank-eyed teens with all the emotive properties of a squashed banana slug, I thought to myself "Man, why don't they create a toon with giant mecha suits piloted by sumthin' that could actually USE a giant mecha suit?" Then an episode of Hamtaro came on, and something clicked. Or snapped, depending on yer point o' view. Originally, the main characters were actually gonna be hamsters, and I may still do that. If I do, it'll be one big valentine to Go Nagai.

3) The short could very well be a cut scene from the GunBunnies video game, do you have any video game aspirations for these cute and cuddly hardcore mech battling robots?

You hit the video game aspirations right on the nose, man! 'First Time Out' was meant to be a great lil' short film, but I also wrote and designed it to introduce the characters and story as a game environment. I'll be posting a 'proof of concept' of sorts, including a demo of how the game would play on the Wii (my platform o' choice) to the GUNBunnies website in early 2008. (www.gunbunnies.ca)

All of the vehicles and characters are game-ready art assets...I could drop 'em into an online game tomorrow if'n I wanted! I originally meant the film to be a realtime machinima piece, running online in Shockwave 3d...couldn't figure out how to code the cameras and lighting, so I decided to render it, but I kept all the art assets 'low poly' to evoke the look of an early/mid era GameCube or PS2 game. The realtime demos still exist, and I'll be putting 'em up online as well when I do the update. I'll update everyone on the RAW site when that happens.

4) What's your favorite videogame?

Tim Schaeffer's Psychonauts. Best combo of animation, design, story, music, voiceover work and gameplay ever, hands down. All that plus Richard Horvitz. Woot.

5) What are you currently working on?

A short lil' Christmas thang in Flash, featuring Emilio the Whooping Llama, a gaming podcast mascot character I designed about a year ago. There's a sample walk cycle and animatic snippet on my RAW page. (http://raw.channelfrederator.com/profile/TempleDog) Hoping to have it ready to submit for the Fred Xmas Xtravaganza, but if not, I'll post it on RAW.

I also included this pic...Zav in her battle armor with shield and OmniRifle. Originally, Zav was going to be the main character, but I decided I wanted the fact that all the characters are bunnies (or bunny-like aliens) to be a suprise reveal at the end of the film. So now she's relegated to a small role standing next to Deg (the green 'tech bunny') in the simpod hangar at the end of the film.

Thus ends self-promotion Fridays here on the TAIS blog. More later!

Fred 108: Masturbation and GUNBunnies! (no, not all at once...)

Oh, damn. This week's Frederator is the shiz-nizzle. We've got a music video about goths. A surreal black n' white bumper. A filthy scot tellin' you how to be a man. And GUNBunnies. Yep, 'First Time Out' is the third featured short in this weeks installment. Which means a whole SCHPITload of peoples are gonna be watchin' it. Ever been happy as a clam and nervous as a bridegroom at a mafia wedding? Good thing I had a light lunch. Kudos to the Frederator crew...hell, I only done submitted it two weeks ago! Now, watch and enjoy!