Toon-In-Talk Episode 03: Interview with Britni Brault

Episode 3

Hello and welcome to third episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvouz for animation interviews.  Whitney decides to interview a special part of the animation industry with her special guest Britni Brault, a talented and prominent paper artist.  Britni has created paper sculptures for the Walt Disney Company and it’s possible you have seen some of her work at the parks.  She also makes pieces for other studios and clients.  Britni and Whitney discuss everything from what a paper sculpture is to copyright laws.

Show Notes

  • Britni details her background as a wife, mom, and a professional, freelance paper artist.
  • Britni explains there are different kinds of paper artists and what type she is.
  • While in art school, Britni discovered that paper was the only medium that made her feel satisfied as an artist.
  • People contract her to make a piece. Sometimes clients know exactly what they want and other times they ask Britni to use her imagination to create a piece.
  • She discusses her creative process when designing a client’s project.
  • A maquette is a simplified version of the larger piece Britni will sculpt.
  • Whitney and Britni talk about different paper artists, their careers, and how they work with clients.
  • Disney is one of Britni’s biggest clients, but she can’t discuss any of the projects she currently has them.
  • She got her job with Disney by entering a D23 contest and winning with a Mary Poppins sculpture. People started contacting her and since then she has been networking and working.
  • All of her Disney projects have been very inspiring and she has to work a bit harder to please her other clients.
  • Britni uses many copyrighted characters in her pieces. According to copyright law she is allowed to use the characters in “one-off” pieces. Translated that means she can’t make more than one copy.
  • They both share their views and experiences with copyright law and fans respecting intellectual rights.
  • Artists usually incorporate their influences in their own unique style.
  • Whitney can’t help but mention her favorite paper artist Lotte Reiniger.
  • Britni has considered making her own stop-motion short, however, she considers storytelling to be her weak point.  She is a work horse, however.
  • Both agree that paper is a versatile medium and would love to see a movie using entirely paper.
  • Britni shares some views on the Disney Renaissance and how a lot of creative ideas come out times of desperation.
  • She’s not a very big fan of 3D movies and she has a neat idea for something that can replace.
  • They discuss how creepy Coraline is and how much they love Jim Henson.
  • In November she worked on a Disney villains project for Van Eaton Galleries.
  • Britni is an inspiration for not only paper artists, but other artists as well.

Links

Twitter

Toon-In-Talk Episode 02: Interview with Scott Christian Sava

Epiosode 2

Hello and welcome to the second episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvouz for animation interviews. This episode features the animation jack-of-all-trades Scott Christian Sava, who is currently writing and directing the brand new animated feature film Animal Crackers. Scott is known for his animated work for such studios as Cartoon Network, Disney, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Universal, Lucas Film, and more. He’s also written the excellent webcomic The Dreamland Chronicles. In episode two, Whitney and Scott talk about his career.

Listen to Episode 02 brought to you by Fanboy Nation: Interview with Scott Christian Sava.

Show Notes

  • Whitney gets some housekeeping out of the way: check out the new Toon-In Talk Website and feel free to contact her about suggesting or being a guest on the show.
  • Naybeth Díaz designed the extra cool Toon-In Talk logo and cover art.
  • Whitney shares some details on her new book about Lotte Reiniger and the first animated movie ever created.
  • Scott is storyteller. He writes the thrilling webcomic The Dreamland Chronicles and recently he started production on a full length animated movie called Animal Crackers.
  • Another of his books The Luckiest Boy was put into production buy another studio.
  • In 1990, became an intern at Sega and tried his hand at being an animator. He worked animation jobs during the day and worked on comic books at night.
  • He never had any groundbreaking training in animation, just tried his hand at many things.
  • Scott was doing A LOT work for Haim Saban Entertainment’s Power Rangers. Because he received so much work, Scott decided to form Blue Dream Studio to keep up with the input.
    Blue Dream kept growing and it has done work for Spider-Man, X-Files, Alien vs. Predator, and more.
  • Blue Dream speciality is character animation. They’ve fleshed out TV pilots for Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon as well as animation for videogames.
  • The Dreamland Chronicles is inspired by Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland.
  • Scott draws his inspiration from other people’s work and says his own creations are amalgamation of them.
  • Before he started Animal Crackers, Scott didn’t think he could write a script. Through encouragement, he wrote a script and some animation contacts helped him get production started.
  • During the process, he learned that he had to become to producer to get the movie made.
  • Tony Bancroft will be co-directing the movie with Scott. Tony was a Disney animator who worked at the Mouse House during the Disney Renaissance.
  • Dean Lorey will be the writer and he’s worked on Arrested Development, My Wife and Kids, and Major Pain.
  • To find a character designer, Scott did an IMDB search of movies he like. He signed Carter Goodrich for the character designer and he’s worked on Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., and The Croods.
  • To create the Animal Crackers short, Scott put on his producer hat and persuaded his animation friends to make it.
  • The movie is about a guy named Owen who inherits a circus and a box of animal crackers from his uncle. He learns that the animal crackers are magical and transform the eater into whatever animal the shape of the cookie is.
  • Whitney and Scott talk about magical animal cookie logistics.
  • Scott is also the art director for his film and might even do a voice. It’s a small budget film, so he’ll be doing a lot of jobs on the movie.
  • Scott explains what a bondsman is and Whitney wonders if he’s taking lessons from The Thief and the Cobbler.
  • Whitney is curious about who will be providing music for the movie and Scott wants to see if he can do a rock n’ roll cover of Shirley Temple’s “Animal Crackers.”
  • Scott’s sons and his extended family want parts in the film.
  • The movie is projected to come out in fall 2016.
  • Whitney tries to guess who the film’s distributor is.

Links

Twitter

Toon-In-Talk Episode 01: Interviews with Jim Cummings and Carlos Alazraqui

Episode 1

Welcome to the 2nd episode of the new FanboyNation podcast: Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. Toon-In-Talk is hosted by Whitney Grace and is dedicated to bringing you great stories straight from the animation industry. In the premiere episode, Whitney interviews famous voice actors Jim Cummings and Carlos Alazraqui. Jim has a resume as long as it is fantastic. He has voiced Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, Raymond from The Princesss and the Frog, and more. Carlos Alazraqui is known for voicing Rocko on Rocko’s Modern Life, Mr. Crocker from Fairly Oddparents, and many live action roles.

Listen to Episode 01 brought to you by Fanboy Nation: Interview with Jim Cummings and Carlos Alazraqui.

Show Notes

  • Carlos got started in voice acting from his stand up comedy career, where he did a lot of character voices.
  • Nickelodeon loved his Australian character voice so much they cast him as Rocko in Rocko’s Modern Life.
  • Carlos is extremely proud to have worked at Nickelodeon during its Golden Age.
  • He also confirms that the Nicktoon was written for a more mature audience and is very happy that there is still a very big fan following.
  • A fan comes up and compliments Carlos on his performance in Reno 911, which is quite the opposite of of the innocent Rocko.
  • Daniel Tosh doesn’t have a vendetta against Carlos for taking his job away as the Taco Bell mascot. Carlos was the voice for the “Yo quiero Taco Bell” chihuahua.
  • The Fairly Oddparents character Denzel Crocker combines Gene Wilder, Montgomery Burns, and Richard Dreyfus in one kooky voice.
  • He says he’s recycle voices for different roles but altered the voices a little bit for each one. He’s a genius at playing different accents.
  • Having worked at many of the major studios, Carlos says Disney is more familial, Nickelodeon is more subversive, and Cartoon Network is the most “out there.”
  • When he’s working, Carlos prefers group recording sessions because they’re fun.
  • Carlos came up with the Al Pacino voice for Ernesto the penguin in Happy Feet and he also did his own singing.
  • Carlos explains Lazlo’s character from Camp Lazlo and what happened to Rocko when the series ended.
  • John DiMaggio and Carlos were riffing in a session one day and created an entire improv cartoon series on Mondo Media from it.
  • He loops voice for Billy Crystal.
  • Compared to the 1990s, Carlos thinks cartoons aren’t as subtle and are made weird for weirdness’ sake.
  • He plays El Chupacabra in Planes and General Posada in The Book of Life.
  • To hear about how Jim Cummings started in voice acting, check out Rob Paulsen’s Talkin’ Toons Podcast.
  • Jim is most well known for voicing Darkwing Duck on the Disney Afternoon.
  • He doesn’t collect voices, but he does a lot of impressions of people.
  • Jim became a Disney go-to voice actor, because he started out around the same time the Disney Channel and the Disney Afternoon started.
  • He never got the chance to meet Sterling Holloway, but he did encounter him in a restaurant from a distance. He now follows in Holloway’s footsteps by playing Winnie the Pooh.
  • Jim discusses his take on villains and sometimes they’re a bit more fun for him to play.
  • Whitney asks what would happen if some of his characters faced off.
  • He discusses voice Scar’s singing voice on The Lion King and his character Ray on The Princess and the Frog.
  • He loves working with Rob Paulsen and considers him to be one of the voice acting greats.
  • If he was stuck on a desert island, he’d want Darkwing Duck to be with him.

Links

Twitter

 

Episode 0: Whitney Introduces The Show

Episode 1jpWelcome to the brand new FanboyNation podcast: Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. Toon-In Talk is hosted by Whitney Grace and is dedicated to bringing you great stories straight from the animation industry. In Toon-In-Talk episode zero, Whitney explains a little bit about herself and what you can expect from the show.

Click on the link below to download the episode from FanboyNation.com:

http://fanboynation.com/toon-in-talk-episode-0-whitney-introduces-herself/

Show Notes

  • Whitney explains the show’s purpose, her background, and a few details about her life.

Twitter

Welcome to Toon-In Talk

Welcome to the Toon-In Talk Podcast.  I hope you enjoy listening to the episodes as much as I do recording them.