After Thoughts: An Evening with John R. Dilworth

Here's a surprise, I went to an event without informing you nice readers before hand ... whoops! As with last year, ASIFA-East (Association Internationale du Film d'Animation's New York division) holds a few events, usually Q&A sessions (see NY Independent Animation and Superjail!), nearby and with the proper qualification (cough, tuition) I can attend such events.

But unlike the previous ASIFA-East run events, this wasn't a Q&A with John R. Dilworth, known by most people as the creator of Cartoon Network's once hit series, Courage the Cowardly Dog. Instead Mr. Dilworth, or Dilly as he likes to be called, presented those in attendance with a bunch of clips of his work (both new and old), and had a few guest speakers say some words regarding him and his various projects.

Guest speakers included Howard Beckerman (animator, now professor at the School of Visual Arts), Michael Sporn, Fred Seibert, Marty Grabstein (voice of Courage), and two of Dilworth's long-time sound designers. Bill Plympton was in the crowd, but apparently had nothing to say. Otherwise, all was interesting, especially Dilworth himself, who's much stranger in person than you could guess from watching his animation.

As for films shown, we got to see a clip of Dilly's thesis film from SVA, The Dirdy Birdy, The Mousochist, Noodles and Nedd, Life In Transition, and his new film Rinky Dink, which he made while in Spain (yes, if you're wondering where John Dilworth has been all this time, it was Spain). Unlike his previous work, Rinky Dink was animation in both stop-motion with clay/puppets, and Flash, so it offered a different, but still familiar style for his film repertoire. Also shown was a film Dilworth made under a pseudonym, Pierre Delarue, titled The Return of Sergeant Pecker, warning, NSFW. But, for those that didn't come, you can watch tiny versions of most of John's films (no Rinky Dink or Sergeant Pecker) at his site , StretchFilms.com

To end the night, John played the Oscar nominated, original Courage the Cowardly Dog short, The Chicken from Outer Space. After which, Marty Grabstein and a person in a giant Courage fur-suit came out, and Mr. Grabstein spoke about creating Courage's unique voice. So, lucky for you I got a some photographs and a video of Courage's classic scream, LIVE!


Overall, a very fun and enjoyable evening, but I really want to start playing Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks!!!

After Thoughts: Superjail! Q&A

Tonight was yet another Q&A panel, and I'll tell you right now, it was far better than the James Franco one the other night. This was about one of Adult Swim's more recent program's, Superjail!, a series animated right next door in Brooklyn, NY, which has already aired its first season of 10 eleven minute episodes. The panel included, from left to right: Dan Meth (Moderator of the panel), Christy Karacas (Creative Director, voice of Alice and Jackknife), Stephen Warbrick (Creator, After Effects Editor, voice of "Fat Cellmate"), Britt Myers (Sound Designer/Mixer), and Richard Mather (voice of the Twins).


The only shot I managed to take, but that's because I was actually interested in what they had to say.

Around 7:10 (yes, I take note of this everytime) the event officially started, with Dan Meth asking the four members of the Superjail! staff a series of questions. These questions ranged from how the show came to be, and other standard (if you will) questions. Although I found it a bit annoying that Christy Karacas was basically answering all these questions by himself, it was still pretty insightful to hear what he had to say. During this time he also mentioned that a second season of Superjail! was 90% green lit, however they are unsure if Augenblick will still be the studio behind it. A part that, for me as an animator, was interesting to hear was that despite the series being made in Flash, they wanted to give it a very handdrawn feel, and pointed the finger at awful shows like Total Drama Island for basically missusing the program; just good to hear that someone in the field agrees.

At 7:48, the two part season finale of Superjail!, titled "Time Police" (Parts 1 and 2). Interesting note, the Part 2 that was screened was actually an uncensored version, and considering it's the episode with the most amount of swearing, it was kind of odd hearing it at first. Afterwards, the Q&A with Dan Meth continued, bringing up questions like how the staff gets away with the excesive violence and hidden messages.

At 8:00, it was now time for an open Q&A with the audience, which included a number of questions. Luckily, I was able to get a word in about something that left me curious since the season premired (after the pilot): The pilot episode had the song, "Rubber Bullets" by 10cc, a track I enjoyed so much I bought it, as it's opening theme. However, when the series premiered, the song was removed for another, but similar track. Finally got my answer; turns out they couldn't get the rights to the song, despite the actual band being for it, the publishers of the song demanded too muh money and Christy's own band, Cheeseburger, did the opening tack instead.

And lucky me, because of my question we also got to see a music video for Cheeseburger's opening track, in it's full unedited form, which was pretty amusing. After a few more questions, it was already 9:00, and it was over. I have to say, this, at least for myself, was the best panel yet because it delt with a part of animation that I'm really interesrted in, and was of a show I happened to enjoy as well. No word on any more panels though, I'm Q&A'd out for the week.

ASIFA-East Q&A with Superjail! creators

Yes, that's two Q&A sessions in one week. Sorry for the late notice, but I was under the impression that this was on Friday, not tomorrow. Ok, here goes:

Tomorrow night, ASIFA-East will be holding a screening and Q&A session with the creators of Adult Swim's Superjail!, a series from Augenblick Studios located in Brooklyn, New York. The panel will be moderated by Channel Frederator animator, Dan Meth, who we previously featured back in October. This is the same group that held the 'Panel on the State of New York Independant Animation' back in September.

If this panel is anything like the indie animation one, then I shouldn't be expecting the issues I had with James Franco's session the other night. None the less, I'll make sure to be overly prepared this time. If you have any question requests, please don't hesitate to comment, I'll try my best to get my voice heard this time.

If you want to know my thoughts on Superjail!, feel free to browse older installments of This Week In Adult Swim, in which every episode of Superjail! has been reviewed.

I await your questions!

After Thoughts: ASIFA-East NY Independent Animation Panel

Just returned back from the ASIFA-East 'Panel on the State of New York Independent Animation', as reported before. The panel started off with an introduction of the 5 animators, and the host, Amid Amidi. From there the audience was shown a 10 minute reel, consisting of 2 minutes for each artist, each showcasing a finished piece or work in progress. I wish we got to see more, but this wasn't a film screening, it was a discussion.

Anways, the whole even lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, so a great deal of info was covered. A lot of the beginning was Amid asking each of the artists about their films, about the funding, the inspiration, the hardness and length of the work; it was all really informative for any amateur to hear what these professionals had to say. Then we went into Q&A . A lot of questions were asked and answered, and was interesting to hear not only what people had to say, but also how these different professional, independent animators have different takes on how to go about the business.

Lucky me, I got to have the second to last question of the night. As someone who has been creating characters and stories my whole life, and almost only showing it to myself, the thought always comes across of how others will react to my work, especially with censorship. So I asked the panel, "When trying to release an independent film, do you still have to deal with censorship and the ratings boards?". To my surprise, no, not really. As Bill Plympton said to me, (paraphrasing here) 'to release your work it doesn't need the ratings board, in fact that just raises the cost'. He also mentioned that his only instance of censorship was that Blockbuster cut a sex scene from one of his films. For me, hearing that from Plympton of all people, was a sigh of relief, because it gave me a better insight of where I can take my work.

All in all, I can say the panel was a really great experience for any up and coming animator, not looking to go into the Disney norm. If I can get a video version of the event (it was all filmed), I'll be sure to post it here.

ASIFA-East Panel

In just under a couple of hours, I will be attending ASIFA-East's 'Panel on State of New York Animated Features'. The event is being hosted by Cartoon Brew's Amid Amidi and will include panelists such as:

Emily Hubley, Daniel Kanemoto, Bill Plympton, Michael Sporn, and Tatia Rosenthal.

The panel with consist of a screening, as well as a Q&A session. Personally, I am only familiar with Bill Plympton's work, but if anything interesting comes out of this I'll be sure to report it here.

For more on ASIFA-East and the panel, please visit their homepage.