Category: Animation

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Yes, Dracula, There WILL be a SpongeBob Halloween Stop-Motion Special!

I’m trying really hard not to hyperventilate while typing this because I’m just SO EXCITED to learn that The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom is coming to your television (via Nickolodeon) this October AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! While I was a wee bachelor’s student, running around CalArts and learning the joys and rigors of Experimental Animation, there was this GUY.

His name was Steve Hillenburg, and every time I was running in and out of the lab, he was working on his stuff. 

He was eleven years older than me, which felt super OLD, and super SMART. People even FIVE years older than you when you’re 18 seem like demigods. Where I felt pulled in all directions and trying to hush my overwhelmed mind, Steve’s presence in the Experimental Animation department was quiet, strong and steady. He did not mess around, he put pencil and pen to paper everyday to build his film, frame by frame. I watched it happen, wondering what he was up to, and then one day, it was ready! Here’s one of the films I saw him hand-drawing all those days at his desk, it’s called The Green Beret. 

So anyway, that GUY I went to school with invented SpongeBob Squarepants, and you can just SEE in the style, the humor, every last pitch perfect observation of a hilarious cartoon underwater weirdo world just couldn’t come from any brain but Steve’s. If you haven’t seen the Spongebob Squarepants Holiday Special, it’s well done, and such a love letter to the Rankin Bass stop-motion animation specials of old. I can’t wait to see this Halloween Treat from an ol’ school chum!  

(From L-R) Mr. Krabs, Flying Dutchman, Plankton, Squidward, Sandy, SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick in Nickelodeon’s stop-motion special, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom. Credit: Screen Novelties/Nickelodeon© 2017 Viacom International, Inc. All Rights
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An Old Film/Music Treat for You!

Well well well, whaddya know, it’s 2017, and the Gothtober worm turns! Time to gather some wood and start a fire for the cauldron. While we’re doing that, we’ve got something for you to watch.

From 1937, here’s a little something to share, a somewhat pastoral and stressful animated evaluation of an abandoned windmill’s structural integrity during a passing storm. Will the windmill’s delicate eco system of residents survive the weather’s blustering braggadocio? Well we honestly just don’t know!!! It’s a stressful movie, because there’s a whole situation involving a mother bird and a water wheel that is not for the faint of heart. This film, a favorite of  Hayao Miyazaki’s, is beautiful because of it’s lush colors and painterly style, along with an appreciation for creatures of the night and their engrossing nocturnal antics.

Johann Strauss II (1825 — 1899)

The Silly Symphonies cartoons were intended to accompany larger features, all of them set to compelling musical soundtracks. This film uses “One Day When We Were Young” from Johann Strauss II’s operetta The Gypsy Baron. The Gypsy Baron is quite a fun operetta featuring mistaken identity, young lovers, old lovers, comic rustics, and buried treasure! It still gets played quite a bit today. Strauss the younger is possibly the most popular composter of all time, his nickname being “The Waltz King.” If you’d like to see this piece conducted by one of the 20th century’s greatest conductors (Carlos Kleiber) lead the Vienna Phil in performing it, by all means, check this out! At 6:13 you can hear the clarinet performing one of the most difficult excerpts in the history of the instrument, a sassy A-G#-F#-G#-A-F#-B-F#!!!

But THIS Silly Symphony is different than all the others because it is the FIRST to use the multiplane camera! It was a huge game changer in the industry that opened doors to special effects as we know it. Multiplane is basically shooting downward on a “layer cake” of backgrounds and elements on transparent glass platens. Pieces are tracked and animated at different speeds and distances, giving the impression of 3-D, although not stereoscopic (to be clear). It was invented by the largely overlooked and terribly under-appreciated animation titan, Ub Iwerks, then of Disney studios. The technology was further refined throughout the late thirties, officially tested on The Old Mill (seen above) which won an Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1937. Multiplane was then used to make Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinnochio, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and many other films. Now we have digital multiplane cameras, the last animated film to use multiplane the old-fashioned way was Disney’s Little Mermaid.

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Day 17 with Christine Panushka

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Visit www.gothtober.com and click on DAY 17 to see animation by world famous animator, Christine Panushka! This piece is called “Greed” it involves some pumpkin-type character/creatures, and a certain dynamic that is all too familiar in today’s society. Perhaps this dynamic has always prevailed, but it does seem that lately it’s more pervasive. However, not to worry, as you can see, greed can only go so far, it has an end, just like everything else. But what happens next? Hmmmm!

This author (Head Candy Corn of Gothtober.com) would like to point out that Christine Panushka has been my mentor for 30 years. The guidance, patience, and teachings from Christine as my instructor and mentor over the years has helped me to be the artist I am today. With Christine’s support, I have grown up to lead and take part in projects that not only push my own quest to learn, but to delight in collaborations that help my fellow artists push themselves to make art.

I am not the only one who feels this way, there are hundreds of us. She has built armies of animators, instructors, artists, and film makers, so here’s a 21 Pumpkin salute from Gothtober to Panushka Power!

Find out more about Christine Panushka by visiting her Wikipedia Page! Wow! 

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A Glorious Stop Motion Explosion with Gothtober Day 7’s Harold!

screen-shot-2016-10-10-at-6-29-29-pm Visit www.gothtober.com and visit DAY 7 for a remarkably tremendous stop motion love letter to the 1995 film “Sense and Sensibility” from Sony Studios.

Harold has admittedly seen this movie more than 100 times, and decided that it was high time a bit of art should be dedicated to a certain celebrated cinematic moment. If you have seen this movie, you know exactly what we’re talking about, and if you don’t… well, perhaps it’s time you rented it on Netflix!

Upon watching this elegantly gorgeous and grotesque build-up of paper parts animation, enjoy the satisfaction and release accompanied by some finely drawn gore that just makes me give an unfiltered, unfettered hat’s OFF to our animator! Undoubtedly, the young and capable and entirely talented Harold spent way beyond any acceptable amount of hours to build this work, and it’s just breathtaking. As you may or may not know, the theme of this year’s Gothtober Calendar is “Metamorphosis” and I dare say, this theme is quite gallantly on display for day 7, we kid you not.

The spirit of this short film is a perfect visual response to both the literary and filmic concept of repression, the classic real kind from 1795 and perhaps the modern, current repression we’re watching while an orange-faced candidate for the presidency makes brains explode merely by saying things out of his face hole. screen-shot-2016-10-10-at-6-35-07-pm

The age of original, soul-crushing good-old-fasbioned Jane Austen-era repression was so strong, mind you, that Ms. Austen remained the anonymous author of Sense and Sensibility until after her death! This woman wrote in a room that had a squeaking board outside the door so that if anyone approached while she wrote, she could quickly hide her manuscript and disguise what she was doing by twiddling her thumbs or knitting lace or whatever people were doing to get themselves through the Napoleonic war. This was not a time to be getting your social vision on, it would be decades before the ethics, passion and exploratory notions in Sense and Sensibility would be truly appreciated.

In Lettres Philosophiques, Voltaire writes

What we find in books is like the fire in our hearts. We fetch it from our neighbor’s, we kindle it at home, we communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.

And so we’re seeing some of that deep appreciation here in a multi-level artistic accolade from a dedicated fan to a moment, a moment that encapsulates the synthesis of sense and sensibility, in an outrageous transformation followed by a quiet and faithful heartbeat, a bloody, happy heartbeat.

Thank you, Harold Harold, for the blood, sweat, and tears!

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Bobbugs for Gothtober Day 3

Visit www.gothtober.com and visit DAY 3 to see the Amazing BOBBUGS!!!

Bobbugs is none other than Michael Gump, the Master of Disguise! He and talented colleague, Brandon Minton, collaborated to make a stop-motion disguise especially for Gothtober. Watch how he transforms from mild-mannered mortal man to the shadow of his former self!

Bobbugs conceals  himself with a different every single day. EVERY SINGLE DAY! And he’s on his second year of doing it! years ago he tried on lots of different disguises to make a Gothtober piece, but he decided to try the 365 day challenge, which was so satisfying, that he hasn’t stopped yet! Check out this great story about him that tells you more about the daily challenges Michael faces in creating a new look every 24 hours!

Find his daily disguises on Instagram@Bobbugs! 

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Don’t Mess With the CAT! Day 29

From two young film maker brothers arrives a cautionary tale about how NOT to treat your feline friend!

When Max and Jay decide to mess with the cat, Children of the Corn, they learn the hard way that cats do NOT take kindly to human shenanigans! KP Pepe produced and directed this collaborative film, it’s got some sweet stop motion and some expert animal wrangling! I asked KP the inspiration for the work, and here’s the scoop:

We pretty much let Jay come up with the story with some assistance from Max and me and Candi. The boys/Candi made the bulk of the sets and we took turns animating it. They had a big role in the story and dialogue.

This is a fine family project, big props to everyone who worked so hard on it, especially Mama Candi, who was production designer! And very big thanks to Children of the Corn, who is a BIG Gothtober Star, we hope you get all of the fish you like!

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The Rocks of Chris Feldman Debut on Gothtober DAY 14


Visit Gothtober DAY 14 (The Hourglass) and see a funky little film involving the Rocks of the Gothtober MOM!

Chris Mom Feldman is a rock painter. She’s also a bicycle rider, Rotarian, business owner and tireless volunteer for various charities and events in her community. Mom’s all about community. I didn’t end up being a Head Candy Corn of Gothtober out of nowhere. Mom shows me all the time how reaching out to people and involving them in all kinds of cockamamie schemes is FUN and also extremely good for the well-being of people, and society in general.

Awhile ago I told Mom that maybe some rocks might look good on Gothtober, and she said she could make some pumpkin ones. Boy did she ever! I have never been so happy to receive a box of rocks via post! Mom says about the rocks:

“Some of them
have a personality, some scary and mean,
but all of them are silly at heart.”
Every one of Mom’s rocks was handpicked by her in places like Patrick’s Point up north, Goat Rock in Sonoma county and some river rocks.  She noted that they are so smooth from being tossed around by the sea and river flow.

Mom and I decided to pick the Gothtober date of October 14th for her rocks to go public, for a very special occasion, for a great guy.

This little Gothtober film was made by family for my FrankenBrother, James Parr, as today is his birthday.

Happy Birthday, Jimmy!
          Enjoy the “Rock Show!”

Love from Mom, Julianna and Coral

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Henry’s Kittens are Meowing! • DAY 13

amiga_catGlorious weirdness greets you for Gothtober DAY 13 (the book titled Witchful Thinking) from Canadian superstar animator, Amy Lockhart!  She lives in Guelph. where its very fall – like canada style – crisp/cold and rainy. This piece was made on Amiga Emulator with Dpaint software that was used in old animations – atari style (80s) giving it that good ol’ 8-bit tiny squares of goodness feeling from the days of Rubiks Cubes and magnetic cassette tapes. About this awesome animation, Amy says:

I was visiting LA, at Paul and Lecie and Francis’s place. The Wallers came over – Henry seemed a little shy, they mentioned the idea – maybe Trixy was there too – she told Henry he should ask me to animate it, ha. Anyways – I wanted to pretend it was a Hollywood meeting (ok maybe just a joke in my head) so I showed Henry some of my boobmilk, peeing and pooing animations to see if he wanted to work with me, he was into it then I storyboarded it.

Amy is considering providing a new service to the world, working with kids and making  animations of their perverse visions. Gothtober couldn’t agree more. The voices of children are often ignored or homogenized into commercial versions of the originals that feel more comfortable or marketable to grownups, who don’t want to think that kids can have wild and crazy ideas. We’re so thrilled that this one is out in the world, we hope it inspires more collaborations with kids, art, artists, parents, and artists-to-be.