Seasoned animators giving young’uns a hand is nothing new. Back in the
Depression, Walt Disney and, to a lesser extent, Max Fleischer had to
set up schools for animators, if only to meet their personal production
demands. These days you have the likes of Craig McCracken and Cartoon
Network setting up the Toonstitute. Mike Judge (King of the Hill, Beavis & Butt-Head)
and multiple award-winning independent Don Hertzfeldt collect some of
the brightest up-and-comers and takes their shorts on the road with The Animation Show.
But a rock band? And it’s Radiohead no less.
Since 1992, Radiohead has been redefining pop music; never sitting
still, each CD very different from the last, but always consistently
excellent. Earlier this year, they released their seventh studio
effort, In Rainbows.
How they initially released it (a download-to-own/pay what you want)
alone displayed they were out to rewrite the rules of the music
industry. Shortly thereafter, they then made their boldest move.
Radiohead teamed up with the site aniBoom (www.aniboom.com) and sponsored a contest wherein fans of the band could produce one-minute clips based on In Rainbows.
Site fans would select the finalists, with the band being the judges
for the ultimate winner. The prize was $10,000 and the opportunity to
finish off the piece.
“aniBoom once again gave the independent creator community across the
globe the chance to have their work seen by millions and the access to
an opportunity that typically goes to animators from the major
studios,” said Uri Shinar, founder and president of aniBoom. “while
generating the highest of quality content at unprecedented cost
efficiencies for both ourselves and our partners.”
If that wasn’t enough, Adult Swim decided to get in the mix by
providing plugs on their nightly broadcasts. To top it, [AS] did it
basically gratis.
“We’re big fans of Radiohead and think they’re one of the coolest, most
genius bands in the world,” said Keith Crofford, [AS]’s VP of
Production. “Our relationship with the band goes back many years to
when Thom Yorke agreed to be interviewed by Space Ghost. We’ve stayed
in touch with the band since then and jumped at the chance to be
involved with their unique animation festival.”
Then came the extraordinary news. Due to the quality of the
submissions, Radiohead decided to choose four winning videos, rather
than one. They also decided to pony up the additional prize money so
each of the four creators receives $10,000 to produce their full-length
video.
“The aniBoom video competition, totally blown me away it has,” said Thom Yorke, lead vocalist of Radiohead. "We are proud that In Rainbows songs were the source of inspiration for so many amazing creations.”
“We are so proud to have provided Radiohead with such a tremendous
selection of talent that they were moved to choose a total of four
winners,” added Shinar.
The winning video clip submissions and their creative teams are:
• “15 Step V2.0” by Kota Totori, Japan, for the song “15 Step” http://www.aniboom.com/video/236519/15-step-v2.0/)
• “16 Tracks Vs. Videotape 2.0” by Wolfgang Jaiser and Claus Winter, Germany, for the song “Videotape” ( http://www.aniboom.com/video/236713/...videotape-2.0/ )
• “Reckoner V2” by Clement Picon, France, for the song “Reckoner” (http://www.aniboom.com/video/235299/Reckoner-v2/)
• “Transmutation” by Tobias Stretch, U.S.A., for the song “Weird Fishes / Arpeggi” (http://www.aniboom.com/video/233397/Transmutation/)
“It feels like a dream I've not yet awakened from,” says Stretch, a
carpenter by trade and a fan of stop motion
animators/puppeteers/pioneers like Jan Svankmajer, Jim Henson, Brothers
Quay, Terry Gilliam, Winsor McCay and Wladyslaw Starevicz. “When the
film is done I will hopefully awake and have a beer, a shot and a
laugh. I had just finished my previous film ‘Illuminant’ when I saw the
aniBoom add for the Radiohead contest, I knew immediately that it was
the kind of challenge I needed for my next project.”
As for liking Radiohead? “What isn't there to like?” Stretch asks
rhetorically. “I really connect to their ability to create worlds you
can go to in your mind while listening to the music. I also connect too
much of what it's about, the times we're living in etc.”
As for the money? “I'm planning on paying off the part of the credit
card debt I accumulated from this project,” Stretch laughed.
“Everything in the film is stop motion 12 frames per second. The song
is 5 minutes and 17 seconds so that amounts to 3,800 pictures.”
Up and coming animators should be made aware. Just because Radiohead
sponsored this contest, that doesn’t mean it’s the only one aniBoom
does. Throughout the year aniBoom also engages its community with a
variety of creative contests offering prizes of up to $50,000 each.
So while this contest is over, the tradition of animators helping other animators continues.
NICK GOES OFF THE AIR
No. It’s not what you think.
Nickelodeon will go off the air for an afternoon in celebration of
Nickelodeon’s signature Worldwide Day of Play. This year marks the
fifth annual event for Nickelodeon and its sister networks which will
go dark, along with Nick.com, to inspire kids to participate in the
fight against childhood obesity.
Don’t laugh…or have you looked at a mirror lately?
Nick will be shutting down on Saturday, September 27 from Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Next Column: It’s #500. I’ll have something old (Peter Cullen),
something new (Tony Millionaire) and some reflection on doing this
beast for over a dozen years. See you Thursday.
