I brushed off this spooky story from the 2008 e-zine version of FLiP.   Enjoy!   -Steve

Always after me. Always after me. Always. After me. Always after me, Lucky Charms. I am a leprechaun. A well famous leprechaun in the flake trade. On the run because, as I said, they’re after me. Always after me. After me.

They’re watching me. Always watching. Watching. Were they not watching, I’d surely vanish. Leprechauns can do that. We can vanish. But nae with a-body watching. Like a dog having a shite, nae with a-body watching. Once they fixed an eye on me, I was bloody well fooked.

So I run. I run. Always after me. I run. Always in the light. Always where they can’t make their move. Who are they? Who the fook are they?

I am the pitchman for a breakfast cereal that bears me name. For nigh sixty years, me job has been to entice children to eat rubbish that tastes like the box it came in. I’ve sold billions of boxes of this shite, making me richer than Bill Gates and the Pope sewn together and dipped in gold. I may be an animated blaggard, but I’ve nae reason to lie when I tell you that they’re after me. Always after me.

T’was nigh a week ago. Shooting commercial number two-thousand or so. Pointing to a gigantic bowl of cereal, saying me tag line, “Always after me Lucky Charms, they’re magically delicious!” as I had done two-thousand or so times before. But this young, wanker director wants get all method with it. Meisner shite. So I dick around with the line, twisting every read until me bloody head hurt.

“Always after me Lucky Charms, they’re magically delicious!”

“Always, after me Lucky Charms they’re; magically delicious.”

“Always after? Me: Lucky. Charms? They’re magically, delicious.”

I even gave the Shatner method a go. “Always! After! Me Lucky! Charms! They’re magicallydelicious.”

After two hours of this, I was losing me will to live. After five hours, I was losing me will for the director to live. Alas, I sais, “Always after ME - Lucky Charms! THEY’RE Magically Delicious.”

Mr. DeMille shouts, “PERFECT! CUT! PRINT! WRAP!”

“Well!” I thought to meself aloud, “What a fine piece of shite that’s going to be! Always after me, they are - like there’s a fookin’ price on me head! You turned it all arseways, you stupid git.”

I nae more than spit those words when a flood light crashed at me lucky feet. Massive beast of metal and glass, big as yours truly, lay in a steaming heap before me. Words “Magically Delicious” scrawled on its crinkled side. From the distant soundstage door, I hears the director chuckle, “Careful, little fella. Kelloggs would sue me if you got hurt.”

I chucked me shillelagh at the smug shite. “I dunna work for Kelloggs, ya stupid twat!”

No Kings!

As mad men hell bent on destroying the country charge on relentlessly, what's an animator to do?  Animate!

I created this in a week.  A very busy week, but a week.  I used simple designs and many years of animation experience to bring this to life in Adobe Animate.  I don't use rigs, I just animate old school, limited style.  Paring down a message to fit a one minute format while retaining humor was the tricky part, though the goal was not to preach, but to reach; to show the absurdity of the situation.  

I hope this inspires my friends and colleagues in the industry to use your talents to such ends as well.  We don't have to sit silently, or turn a blind eye.  Use your cartoon voice!  

Animatic Theater presents "The Dutch Green"

 Wow, it's been a year since I posted something here.   So what have I been up to? 

Something I call "Animatic Theater".  

 

About 15 years ago, I had an idea for a series based on my life in South Jersey - an odd place full of quirky, blue collar Americans.  I put together a pitch, tweaking it in subsequent years when I had time.  A few years ago, I decided to make an animatic as a proof of concept piece.  It's a  simple set up: the main character, "Old Dude", goes into his favorite deli to order the usual, but now the place has become automated.  It's one more piece of his comfortable world leaving him behind and at the mercy of an apathetic young "Deli Gal", who would rather text her boyfriend than help some geezer.  

This was based on real events.

I wrote a script, redesigned the characters, then reached out to voice actress Sirena Irwin, whom I had met while working at Nickelodeon.  I didn't know her personally, and thought it was a long shot getting her to do it, as she is THE REAL DEAL.   But after a Zoom call, she agreed to play the part of the Deli Gal.  I would play the Old Dude (typecasting).

I booked time at Outloud Audio in Burbank, having the room set up so we could record our lines together.  I can't fully articulate how much fun it was working with Sirena.  After a couple of takes, she wandered off-script, improvising.  I followed her lead the best I could without cracking up (we both failed terribly at this, giggling like an SNL cast).   Her quick wit and whimsicality worked perfectly for this piece.   We would go down some crazy rabbit holes and somehow wind our way back to the script.  It was a wild ride and I had an absolute blast.  A lot of our banter made it into the final cut - the lines where we're talking over each other is the giveaway.  I love how natural it feels.  I credit Sirena for making that happen.  She's also a voice director, and guided me through some of my lines.

Now came the big task - story boarding it.  This happened in fits and starts, between gigs, over a period of about 18 months using Storyboard Pro software.   When I finished and cut it all together, I wanted a few music cues.  I was originally going with needle drops from the 1970 rock classic "Mississippi Queen" by the band Mountain.  But getting the rights was much more involved and much less gratifying than getting something original from my favorite composer Ian Rees.  I sent him the animatic on a Sunday.  On Tuesday, he returned it with something perfectly "Mountain-esque".   Seriously, he is a genius.  

I really wanted to animate the short, but after a computer disaster deleted the original SB Pro file, I was left with just an animatic.  Not wanting to start over, I leaned into the limitation and created "Animatic Theater", a place where I can present short ideas without spending five years or more making them.  And at age 62, time has become a factor.  There will be more animatic shorts to come!

I hope you enjoy "The Dutch Green".  There's some salty language in it, so not something to watch around the wee little ones.  HR might not approve either - you've been warned! 

-Steve