Mike Scott Animation

Awesomeness. Thanks to the Cape Film Commission and the DTI I’m part of a South African delegation heading to the Annecy International Animation Festival in France. It’s a week-long affair (10 – 15 June) with a focus on animation. Looking forward to this. CFC have sponsored me plane tickets, accommodation and the festival fee so I’m super pleased. Have been curious for a while about going to Annecy to see what happens there. Keen to watch some new animation, meet some keef peeps and just generally curious to see what happens there. Friends that have been say it’s amazing. Planning to take my work there too. If you’re heading to Annecy and would like to meet up please drop me an email.

Schweet.

Hi, my name is Mike Scott. Some of you might be familiar with my previous work for Goldfish. I am proud to bring you the 6th in my Goldfish video series, this time for a fresh funky tune called ‘One Million Views’. It took me around 7 months from start to finish to make this video. Because I gave the project the time it was asking for it’s a deeply satisfying end result for me. Making an animated music video is an opportunity for me to give you an enjoyable 3 and a half minutes experience and possibly get your brain to continue chewing on it after the video has finished playing. What follows is a fairly comprehensive and sometimes technical breakdown of the making of this video. Although it’s presented in a linear fashion the process is sometimes a little more convoluted than this.

CONCEPT:

Goldfish had the idea for a concept of Live Bands vs. DJs. The idea revolves around the idea that many current successful DJs don’t possess a lot of musical skill and instead their success stems from marketing hype. This isn’t to be confused with ‘turntablism’ which is a separate and impressive skill. We’re concerned with juiced-up DJs that play premixed sets or let the computer do most of the auto-sync work and spend the rest of their time pretending to mix, knob-twiddling and fist-pumping. They’re sometimes in it for the women (or men), ego and fame. This is in stark contrast to skilled yet struggling musos who study music as well as an actual musical instrument for years and far-too-often don’t achieve anywhere near the level of success and fame that their (sometimes) far-less-skilled DJ counterparts achieve.

We could get into a discussion about what defines success and whether a laptop is an instrument but let’s stick with the idea that there are some serious musicians with incredible chops that play to a room of 10 people and some DJs with little or no musical skill that play in massive stadiums to thousands of people and get huge attention for playing other people’s music.

[UPDATE] A fair amount of feedback from the video is along the lines of ‘But you can’t diss Daft Punk, they’re super L33T!’ I’m not dissing Daft Punk. I like their music and I’ve bought most of their albums. As I write this I’m listening to ‘Random Access Memories’. Daft Punk are at DJ School and they film Goldfish playing live music and dig it. Goldfish has a lot of respect for Daft Punk. Fret not my friendlies, your world may still remain intact.

A lot more info after the fold…

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Ahoy! The latest and final teaser before the imminent release of my latest animated Goldfish music video ‘One Million Views’. Launching fairly soon with a comprehensive ‘making of’ for the inquisitive viewer.

Made some songs:

Some recent sketches. This is sometimes what happens when I’m talking on the phone and doodling at the same time.

Hi guys. If you’re on Facebook please consider joining my Facebook page ‘Mike Scott Animation‘. I’ve been posting behind-the-scenes pics and details of my upcoming Goldfish music video. It’s a fairly easy way to stay updated. I plan on continuing to post here but for minor updates perhaps more so on Facebook.

Some behind-the-scenes skullduggery:

A work in progress snapshot of a scene being drawn in Photoshop.

A rough drawing for a scene that was never used in the video.

Some (mostly) unused storyboard ideas.

Here’s how the story was looking after much shuffling of storyboards.

Unused storyboard cards – enough for another video or two.

As some of you may know, my buddy James Wolfaardt draws comics. His ‘Happy Chicken Suicide Cult‘ link has been sitting at the right -hand side column of my website for some time now. Anyways, he’s started coming into his own with his awesome comics, and I’ve decided that my audience would dig what he’s doing. So, enjoy the selection of work I’m featuring off his site, and gain a glimmer of insight into the workings of this kiff dude. Also, check his site for more awesomeness. I knew James’ comics before I arrived in Plettenberg Bay, so I was pleased to have connected with another comics-minded fellow. We’ve also collaborated on a near-infinite number of comics jams, many of which turn up in my ‘comics randomizer‘.

1. You were once a successful copywriter at a big ad agency in Johannesburg. What prompted you to pursue cartooning?

I bombed out of advertising in ’99 and moved into the middle of nowhere. During the day i had nothing to do, so I just started drawing again. I used to doodle when I was younger but never put any serious effort.

2. Some of your biggest artistic influences.

Matt Groening, Herge, Bittercomix, Miyazaki, Robert Crumb, Mike Scott and recently Pendleton Ward.

3. If you could spend the day with one of your artistic heroes, who would it be and what would be the one question you would ask them?

Apart from Mike Scott? I would say Miyazaki because he is expressing broad truth more than any artist I know. I would have no idea what to ask him but I would just like to bask in the awesomeness of his brain.

4. What does cartooning mean to you personally?

For me its all about being in the ‘zone’, the part of your brain that sleeps when you do everything else, and lights up when you draw. If I don’t go there I start to go bananas. I used to worship concepts but now I’m swinging more towards doodling.

5. What are your views on the digital aspect of cartooning?

I think it could be a bit of a red herring but I still colour all my work digitally. When I started on digital it took me on a whole detour that Im not sure really meant anything. My jury is still out. i guess it doesnt really matter how you did something. If its awesome its awesome. At the end of the day its still hard to be original, digital or other.

6. What advice would you give to a young person considering becoming a cartoonist?

Pound this rice for eight months then come back in the Spring.

7. Photoshop or Illustrator?

Before, lIlustrator, now , Photoshop, but it depends what you’re trying to do.

8. What do you think constitutes a successful cartoon?

Cartoon? Thats quite broad. If you mean like a gag cartoon, funny is king. For me, funny is mostly king.

9. What is Life?

Your question is death. DEATTTTTHHHHHH.

10. In a first prize situation, where would you like to see your cartoons exhibited / published / adapted?

Tattooed as a tramp stamp on Liv Tyler.

For the last 7 months (ridiculous I know) I’ve been working on a new animated Goldfish video. Lo and behold, it is finished. Likely launching at the end of this month. Here’s a short teaser for the video:

Here’s the anatomy of the video:

Hi. I went to AfrikaBurn. Here are some pics.

Couldn’t sleep. Drew this.