Online debut of “Q&A”
Just in time for Mother’s Day, “Q&A” is now available to watch online! After screening in more than 30 film festivals over the past year, it is a thrill to be able to share it on the web. “Q&A” is being released online by StoryCorps, for whom we are currently producing several new shorts that will air on the PBS documentary program POV in August and September.
Enjoy!
Relationships and story guide character design
Character design can be a real challenge at times, but it’s also really exciting when you can see the personalities developing in front of you.
I find that we get our best results when the designs reference a specific story point, or a particular relationship dynamic between characters. It forces you to make the designs function in a more practical way, instead of just being pretty pictures.
We’ll try and show this character design approach at work with more detail in a future post. Out of this group, the design that does it most closely is probably the two guys at the top. I like all the other design here, but the more direct link between these characters and their story gives me the most confidence in their design.
Q&A at BAMKids Film Festival
| Feb ’10 |
| 27 |
| 1:45 pm |
| Feb ’10 |
| 28 |
| 1:45 pm |
Q&A
BAMKids Film Festival – Brooklyn, NY USA
BAM Rose Cinemas
In February 2006, 12-year-old Joshua Littman, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, interviewed his mother Sarah at StoryCorps. Their one-of-a-kind conversation covered everything from cockroaches to Sarah’s feeling about Joshua as a son.
Plays in Shorts Program: Give It Your All. Buy tickets
Q&A at Galapagos Art Space
| Jan ’10 |
| 27 |
| 7:00 pm |
Q&A
Podpourri: Podcasts Come To Life – DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY
at Galapagos Art Space
Podpourri is a live variety show for the digital age: a night of readings, live comedy, and video from podcast and online personalities. Podpourri will be recorded live and released as a free podcast after the event. LIVE SHOW 8pm featuring: Comedian Kevin Allison (MTV’s The State, RISK! podcast), StoryCorps (NPR StoryCorps podcast), Writer Cindy Chupack (Sex and the City, Cedar City Falls, The Moth podcast), The Onion News Network, Nathan Manske (ImFromDriftwood.com), Flash Rosenberg (Artist-in-Residence for LIVE from the NY Public Library), Radio host Ben Harvey and comedian Dave Rubin (The Six Pack podcast) NETWORKING HOUR 7-8pm
Doors: 7:00pm | Networking Hour: 7:00-8pm | Show: 8:00pm
Admission $5
Hey you guuuys!
Season two of The Electric Company begins airing today. Below is the spot we directed and animated for the new season.
Writer Adam Peltzman, voice actor Sean Crespo, and producers Karen Fowler, Claire Curley, and Eliza Hart.
Tim and I are both big fans of Conan O’Brien, and with all the hoopla about him lately, I thought it might be fun to show how he influenced this spot.
Color!
We’re working on color and background design for our latest project. Our goal is to suggest a lot with only a little.
The stage will consist of abstract backgrounds that have a feeling of depth and light like the one above, and others that incorporate elements that are more specific to a particular environment.
Q&A at Slamdance Film Festival
| Jan ’10 |
| 22 |
| 7:00 pm |
| Jan ’10 |
| 25 |
| 12:30 pm |
Q&A
Slamdance Film Festival – Park City, UT USA
Jan 22 – Technicolor Gallery
Jan 25 – Treasure Mountain Inn – Screening Room
In February 2006, 12-year-old Joshua Littman, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, interviewed his mother Sarah at StoryCorps. Their one-of-a-kind conversation covered everything from cockroaches to Sarah’s feeling about Joshua as a son.
Plays with Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae.
Buy tickets
6 Audience Principles
I’m working to map out some core beliefs about entertainment and animation. Starting by thinking about the audience seemed most logical because without them our work has no purpose. The six principles below are just a start. They’re not the only principles, or the best principles. What principles would you add, delete, or change? Would you make edits to my notes under any of these six principles? Let me know in the comments.
1. Delight, inspire, and enlighten.
Audiences want to see amazingly great stuff that is fundamentally new. Homogeneity, canned ideas, and old ideas painted up to look new are out. Creativity has to be front and center, not marketing. Stories should inspire audiences, make them think, and give them new understandings about the outside world and themselves.
2. Prosumers. Not consumers.
The audience is a partner. The goal is not to extract value from them in the form of ticket sales, useless merchandise, or a barrage of ads. The goal is to create work that brings real value into their lives. Focus on connections, not transactions. Build authentic, honest, open, and collaborative relationships with the audience.
People want to support and spread the word about content they believe in. Enable them to promote, share, and actively engage with work.
3. Trust is hard won, easily lost.
Trust is essential. Audiences should be able rely on ethical production standards, a predictable level of quality, and honest representation. Advertisements should be clearly identified.
4. Be inclusive.
Quality content should be available to all people regardless of age, race, sex, or class. Focus on underserved and ignored audiences. Content should be available at the lowest possible cost to the audience, making it available to as wide an audience as possible.
5. Content must be mobile.
People want to be entertained at a time and place of their choosing. Media in a single form is less valuable. Produce work that can be enjoyed in a theater, on TV, online, or on mobile devices. Give people access to quality content no matter where they are, or how they’re watching.
6. Audience determines value.
The audience is intelligent and connected. By sharing content with their networks, remixing it, and adding information such as ratings, the audience contributes and determines the value of work. Media giants, marketers, and critics are not the arbiters of quality entertainment.
