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Mel Gibson stepped up just when I was looking for a subject for my CFC cartoon series that airs specifically on cellphones. CFC stands for "Celebrity Fart Challenge". Gross yes, but it pays the bills.
Growing up, I had aspirations to be Charles Schulz. I had a dry wit and could draw pretty well at a young age. I thought to myself, "Someday I would make it to the funny pages". I did, but only small time syndication. I never was able to create a hit like Peanuts or Calvin & Hobbs, but my work has appeared in some prominent places over the years.
The newspaper sounded good, but in the back of my head I really wanted to animate. As a kid I used to draw pictures in the corner of my math book and flip them to make short films. My GPA suffered as well as my knuckles, but I was on the road to the future.
Today is a different day. Instead of drawing four small squares in black and white I can create in color, make it move and talk some serious trash if I feel like it.
Speaking of talking trash, let's go back a number years. I used to be a bad check collector in my early work days. Just for the heck of it I started using fake voices to collect money. As an example, I would dial up a debtor, call them every word in the book and slam down the phone. I'd call back using a different voice explaining that I fired the mean guy that just hung up on him. "Could you kindly send the money to Ling Chow?". . . you get the picture. I was also Grover Washington, Antonio Sanchez and Sven Svenson. Sven never worked, my Swedish is weak.
I use those same voices today in a number of my productions. My "Hee Fot Poo" character is a more mature Ling Chow. The scribbles I did on my desk calendar are now storyboards for future shows. I took a seminar about job changing where you learned how to use your transferable skills. In my case, that was a whacked sense of humor, a Catholic upbringing and the ability to draw people. I expect many bad check collectors will become mobile animators in the near future.
Coming from a cartoonist background, storytelling for an audience in small scale is very familiar. But today there is a new medium. . . the telephone. A typical phone screen is about the size of a square in a daily cartoon. I think I am a first, being that I am a syndicated mobile animator. I personally animate about two minutes of fresh animation a week created specifically for the mobile device. I write, storyboard, character design, animate, do backgrounds, voices and sound effects. It sounds like a lot but I have a pretty good working method. Drawing and writing six dailies and painting a Sunday comic takes about the same amount of energy in my opinion.
Prior to animations, my cellphone wallpapers have been popular for a number of years. I have one design that had over 100,000 downloads alone. I try and pay attention to my audience. When you create for the phone there are a number of factors to consider.
1) the screen is small.
2) you can't hear the audio
3) bad light/glare
There are lots of people trying to make existing shows shot for television small enough to work on the phone. That works sometimes, but many details are lost. My productions are branded "Created 4 Mobile". But what does that mean? Number one, push the action forward. I use characters that I lip-sync, kind of like a puppet show. To back it up, subtitles are added. Colors are bright, but not to the point of distraction. I mix hand drawn characters with digital photography to create a unique look at times.
I have an exclusive deal with Cinema Electric to distribute DinkyTV. In a way, I am syndicated on the cellphone. Cinema Electric swings the deals with carriers like Verizon and Sprint as well as other aggregators of content around the world to create a powerful line- up. They also film specific live action shows including an award winning production called "Portable Hollywood" where beautiful hosts discusses all the glitz and glamour on the big screen.
DinkyTV has 4 shows in production.
"Mmmad Cow". This is the easiest show to produce, mainly involving lip-sync and background pictures. Bessy rants and raves for a minute and a half on subjects ranging from gas guzzling SUV's to Angelina Jolie's baby.
"Edio Stupied" is created specially for an international audience. Everyone in every language knows an idiot. Edio wears his shoe on his head, his pants for his shirt, his shirt for his pants and has his foot in a bucket. His IQ is 3. Episodes include Rollerblades, Edio's Drift. Edio's Abduction and more. The next episode will be Edio Harmony, Edio's attempt at computer dating.
"Ugmo" is a dog that does bad things that people do. Each episode is : 30 seconds or less. He drives too fast, lies to Congress, cheats on his taxes and sells booze to minors just for starts. This is no dumb dog.
The "CFC" is the Celebrity Farting Challenge. Each episode pits bitter celebrity rivals in a cut throat gaseous dual with malicious intent. David Hasselhoff vs. Mike Tyson and Mel Gibson vs. Adam Sandler are the first two episodes. After finishing Hasselhoff vs. Tyson I was looking for some inspiration. I turned on the TV and Mel Gibson stepped up. One of the reasons I wrote this article is to prove a point. Mel messed up less than a month ago. We are publishing a three part, 6 minute animated parody today. Speed, animation and humor are possible at a level unavailable just a short time ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZRyyw43ObM
Taking on the Gibson controversy is interesting. It's tough for Hollywood to jump on him because his career may recover. He wouldn't work with enemies in the future. Cartoonists make social commentary and don't worry about that type of pressure. We're supposed to make fun of reality.
Gibson vs. Sandler is rated "R" for religion. I feel that I am qualified to make fun of his situation, I went to Catholic School in a Jewish neighborhood. Yes, it is irreverent. Intentionally so. But who wouldn't enjoy a drunken Mel Gibson complaining about rich Jewish kid's getting big cash at their Barmitzva. Nothing is said that should effect the current cease-fire.
My first cartoon got me suspended from Catholic school. I was much tougher on Sister Eileen than I was on Mel Gibson. Well. . . there goes my cameo role in Braveheart II.
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Mike Browne's art is unique both
in style and approach. He is a traditional airbrush artist that
went digital over 10 years ago. His characters and
animations have appeared in movies, television, infomercials,
DVD's and the internet using Flash like a flip-book. Today he
sees the mobile phone as the new frontier for animated content.Click here to email him.
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