If you have the QuickTime plug-in, you
can view a clip from Jaime Levy's Cyberslacker. [1] Once
known as the techie-inhabited corridors extending from TriBeCa through
SoHo to the Flat Iron grid, Silicon Alley is today more mind-set than
geographical. Forging new paths in this "virtual" Manhattan
are digital media workplaces totally distinctive and different from
what has gone before. Synonym: hot.
It's no surprise New York's vibrant edginess offers the fertile ground
necessary for cultivating new media's ideas and techniques. Four prominent
"Alley" companies are illuminating this evolution on the
animation front and are now jazzing up the Internet with cartoon fare.
Funny Garbage
SoHo based Funny Garbage is an across-the-board graphic, motion, interactive,
information and `identity' design company -- with a burgeoning animation
studio division. Co-founded in 1996 by creative directors Peter Girardi,
Chris Capuozzo and president John Carlin, the company designs and
conceptualizes Web sites for clients including The Cartoon Network,
Children's Television Workshop and Oxygen Media. They also produce
CD-ROMs, traditional graphic and print campaigns, music and film for
clients such as Nickelodeon, Compaq and Barnes & Noble. And as
of this year, they've jumped into the production of interactive animated
shows for delivery on the Web. As Girardi sums it up, Funny Garbage's
work entails "a collision of all these different media"
which is producing increasingly mixed-media demands.
Native New Yorkers Girardi and Capuozzo began their artistic lives
as graffiti writers on subway cars and abandoned lots. They continued
their experiments with textural elements at the city's School of Visual
Arts. While students, they made the leap to creating visuals for computers
at a time when the applications were still being written. Later, as
creative director of the Voyager Company, Girardi launched the award
winning Voyager Web site when "the only other thing up there
was, like, Yahoo," he recalls. Together with Carlin, founder
and director of the Red Hot Organization, he produced the Beat Experience
CD-ROM, thereby building a strong background in motion and time-based
design. "All that work with Voyager," he says, "was
a really big experience for all of us."
An invigorating relationship with
Sam Register, vice president/creative director of The Cartoon Network's
online division, matured during Funny Garbage's creation of the network's
Web site (www.cartoonnetwork.com [3]). That led to the company's production
of Cartoon Network's first two Web Premiere Toons: Pink Donkey
And The Fly, from Gary Panter, illustrator, comic-book artist,
set designer extraordinaire, and B. Happy, from Mark Newgarden,
renowned cartoonist, writer and conceptual artist. Both of these made-for-the-net
series contain high levels of interactivity, necessitating what Girardi
calls "a kind of weird hybrid team of traditional animators working
alongside information architects and programmers." As always,
the goal is entertaining storytelling, but Girardi adds: "One
of the things we keep in our minds at all times is to never let the
user feel they should take their hands off the mouse." Translation:
Create wacky, fun, new 'toons while pressing the existing technologies
to better fold interactivity into the narrative path of the cartoon.
Girardi is excited by what the
improvements in Flash 4 will mean for their third Web production entitled
Coot Country, a Pink Donkey spin-off to premiere online
this fall. Having worked closely with Macromedia's key developers,
they know Flash 4's higher quality audio stream, with MP3 compression,
will allow them to incorporate more music and effects. The tech-advancements
will also allow them to create more "conditional events,"
i.e. offering the audience choices to affect completely different
outcomes to each story. "Really knowing the idiosyncrasies of
the medium and using it for what it's good for," Girardi says,
is their mandate in creating fresh entertainment for the 'net.
The future for Funny Garbage's animation division, run by veteran
producer Denise Rottina, will continue to require a unique blend of
traditional animators with their tools (light boxes and Oxberry stands
- Girardi says, "We have them all!") and the digital medium's
tech-expert illustrators and designers. Currently in project development
on such futuristic possibilities as multi-player 'toons and 2D `live'
characters on the Web, Funny Garbage is primed to take advantage of
what the Internet's new audiences will want to see.
Visionary Media
Visionary Media's founder, Chairman and CEO David B. Williams
sits atop an expanding next-generation entertainment studio. The young
company's driving force is to develop properties with the cross-media
appeal so desirable in today's "convergence" landscape.
Beginning in 1992, Williams was instrumental in creating the SHOPPING2000
Web site and CD-ROM series for ContentWare, Inc., as well as producing
award winning sites for Smithsonian Magazine. He then followed
a passion to create entertainment for the burgeoning youth market.
He recalls, "I had a sense that was where all the excitement
was in terms of who was embracing the technology and consuming it
most voraciously." So Williams broke away to found Visionary
Media and soon began marshaling together a group of talented people.
This ultimately led to his creation of the company's signature animated
net property WhirlGirl.
A comedy/action/sci-fi adventure (marrying what Williams calls "the
fantastical with the down-to-earth"), WhirlGirl proved
itself to be a critical and commercial success on its own Web site
before being picked-up in January by Showtime Online. Setting an industry
precedent, they aired the initial episode on Showtime's TV channel
simultaneous with its new webcast premiere. The company is now in
production on 28 additional episodes for the cable's online division.
Visionary President and COO Glenn Ginsburg feels the Showtime deal
allows them to do a lot of innovative experimentation in developing
a show's Web and cable relationship. Anticipating the day when the
TV and Internet will converge into one "appliance," Ginsburg
says they are now working on what he calls "pre-convergence ideas."
An early example of this type of synergy was when Showtime used WhirlGirl
heroine, Kia Cross, to host a "Lethal Ladies" film week
marathon. During a broadcast promotion, the animated WhirlGirl
offered the audience a chance to choose what film they'd like to see
the next weekend, inviting them to log on to her Web site to cast
their vote.
Williams' believes in creating
shows that are, in his mind, "media agnostic." He explains:
"That is, the shows can go on the Internet and have a vibrant
life there but can also go to television, film, video games, and print
because why consider a great character and great stories as only being
able to live in one `box'?" First and foremost, though, Visionary
keeps its focus on the medium of the Internet by concentrating on
building compelling storylines with high-end graphics specifically
produced to stream well within today's available technology. WhirlGirl's
eclectic crew includes the series head writer Betsy Hooper, whose
background is stage and authoring children's books, art director/animator
Joel Rodgers, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and
comic book artist, and sound designer/composer/production director
Ephraim Kehlman, who came from traditional broadcast media and live
sound direction. "We all wear a lot of hats," Williams said,
"so it's a tight little team." Also on board working site
production and series development is Christine S. Jones, who brings
to the mix her previous experience with some of NY's top digital media
firms.
WhirlGirl is not an interactive program, per se, but `outside'
the show, the company is developing Web concepts to offer interaction
and community-play. One of these is tentatively entitled "Make-A-Scene."
WhirlGirl's audience will be able to choose scenes from specialized
categories, pick from selected music cues, and add in dialogue (delivered
as captions) to direct and create their own shows. Williams sees this
as an example of extreme interactivity, saying, "It exploits
the opportunities the medium provides tremendously without detracting
from your storytelling at all." With these many emerging formats
for entertainment content, he sees the possibility of "a kind
of `new' renaissance in animation." With five more projects already
in the pipeline, Visionary Media is positioning themselves firmly
at the hub of making it happen.
togglethis
togglethis, a three-year-old new media entertainment and technology
group, is fashioning a new course in Web programming by producing
animated shows distributed via their proprietary software platform.
Co-founders Paul Maya and Marc Singer first met up in the multimedia
division of the Times-Mirror where they teamed on software development
and production of interactive CD-Roms. Turning their attention to
the Internet, they set out to develop new forms of Web entertainment
and advertising that could work more effectively than the ubiquitous
promotional banners and buttons. The result was their invention of
the toggled software, a system which delivers fun, engaging characters
right into the `net audience's mailbox.
Their 1997 flagship project was an in-house series called Bozlo
Beaver which Warner Bros. featured on its site and continues to
distribute. The success of the popular, irreverent character won them
their first toggled advertisers and soon other marketers and entertainment
companies came to call. In just a few short years, togglethis has
signed on some of the hottest clients in the business, creating toggled
shows for Cartoon Network Online (Space Ghost), Disney (Mulan),
Universal New Media (Xippy Malone, Cub Reporter) and New Line
Cinema (Lost in Space). This summer the company worked again
with New Line to create an animated series for Austin Powers,
to coincide with the sequel's theatrical release (www.austinpowers.com/togglethis [7]).
The added spice in these episodes is the cross-promotion antics of
an animated Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airlines.
This series is also, Singer feels, "a good example of how we
integrate traditional, serialized storytelling, however non-linear
that may be."
toggled shows work like this:
once a viewer signs up (and downloads the IC engine), they are emailed
weekly episodes which they can screen on their desktops at any time.
Having the key art and music already on their hard drives, viewers
can almost instantaneously play each new episode's content. On or
offline, viewers can push, pull and drag the comedic characters around,
interacting with and affecting the outcome of the show. Singer says
they concentrate on using animated programming because, "It's
all about communication and building a relationship with the character
-- and everyone loves animation." Although they occasionally
scan in original artwork, the majority of their projects are complete
digital productions. Their unique email-based distribution system
means low bandwidth restrictions haven't been a real problem for them.
They do, however, continue to improve on and release new versions
of the software (the next coming in late September), and Singer points
out that this on-going internal development will enable more dynamic
sound and richer content as time goes by.
togglethis also licenses their patent-pending software to outside
companies, providing them the choice of handling their own creative
process with franchise characters and brands. Although they encourage
this side of the business, Singer acknowledges that: "It's cool
technology but then the question is really, in the software world,
what's the application? What are you going to do with it?" He
admits his company's strong creative track-record as a production
studio is why the majority of clients still rely on them to develop
the fun mix of entertainment and interactivity that will stand the
test of time.
Audiences can get togglethis productions from a variety of sites including
HotWired's Animation Express (www.hotwired.com/animation [9]) and the
group's own Web site (www.togglethis.com [10]). Additionally, an exciting
new deal with Lycos (www.lycos.com [11]) not only covers the distribution
of certain toggled shows, but will also launch the company's new series
Superheroes and Sidekicks, an interactive, prize-giving game
show featuring the portal's mascot, Lycos the Dog.
Electronic Hollywood
Electronic Hollywood is best described as "a full service
production studio for the Internet." With over 10 years experience
in new media creation, CEO and founder Jaime Levy runs a broad-based
company with a wide array of clients including SonicNet, IBM, MSNBC
and Samsung. The studio produces content and animated projects for
interactive advertising, `net cartoons, on-line games and communities,
as well as providing cutting-edge interface design. As Levy states
with a laugh, "I'm not about one `opp.' It's about being prolific."
Included among the studio's varied campaigns, they have produced two
Shockwave action games running on World Opponent Network (Die Roach
Die and Dog Run), conceptually designed and built the Silicon
Alley Reporter Top 100 site, and created "MalicePalace,"
a graphical chat environment set in a virtual post-apocalyptic city.
A current priority for the company
is Cyberslacker, an animated series that chronicles the life
of a 22-year-old hacker chick who moves to New York's East Village
with "not much money, a fat cat, and plenty of attitude."
The 10-minute pilot is up at www.cyberslacker.com [13] while Levy negotiates
for a net distribution deal. Developed in Flash, the pilot broke ground
as the first full-screen, long-format toon on the Web. Levy was determined
to produce the project with a dense, high quality audio track (featuring
music from Bad Religion), so the company pushed hard at the limits
of RealPlayer technology to enable a smooth, synced streaming in both
Flash (for the animation) and Real (for the audio file). "We
have a total commitment to enhancing the viewer's online experience,"
she says, "whether doing paid work for clients or our own cool
stuff."
There have been a lot of industry firsts in Levy's career. After graduating
from San Francisco State University in video and film studies, she
came east to attend NYU's ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program),
where she still teaches today. "They had tons of amusing MACs
and I had them at my disposal to play around with," she remembers,
"so I used Macromedia's Director and HyperCard to create my master
thesis Cyber Rag, which was the first disc-based e-magazine
around." Publishing two more issues and distributing them out
of her East Village loft and through independent bookstores, she caught
the attention of Billy Idol. In 1993, he commissioned her to create
what became the world's first interactive electronic press kit for
his "Cyberpunk" album. Levy went on to produce the first-ever
high-density `disc-novel' entitled Ambulance (using art from
Jaime Hernandez's noirish comics Love and Rockets). She then
took on interface design in corporate gigs with IBM and Viacom, as
well as working independently with clients including Warner Bros.,
HBO and Sony Music. The advent of the Internet suited Levy's talents
beautifully and, in 1996, she co-created WORD.com, a pop-culture Web
`zine full of quirky essays and digitized art.
The first incarnation of the `Electronic
Hollywood' name was as Levy's second e-`zine disc series published
in the mid-'90s; but the moniker morphed into titling her present-day
animation studio when she received investment backing in April 1998.
Running a full facility in digital production is great, however Levy
maintains, "Basically, I'm a storyteller." And that's why
Cyberslacker is taking a lot of her attention. Basing the series
on her own experiences of daily New York life, Levy is now working
with co-writers to flush out the series' progression. The company
has similar projects in development and plans more Web pilot productions
in order to get the exposure necessary in attracting co-production
and/or distribution alliances. Her advice to beginning net animators
is simply, "Make it!" Although she doesn't believe in limiting
oneself to any single venue, she sees the Internet as "a really
great medium of delivery" and encourages all artists to "find
your own voice and exploit it. Have fun. If you're not doing something
that's fun and you're spending all your time doing it, then what's
the point?"
In each new phase of Internet expansion, we have visionariesbright
minds working out on the edge of emerging technologies with the age-old
dreams of entertaining new audiences by unconventional means. As profiled
in the companies above, Silicon Alley is, indeed, nurturing its share
of fanciful "right brain/left brain" talent. It's the Manhattan
`mind-set' of curious and energetic artists expressing new-fashioned
animation across the Web and beyond.
Lee Dannacher is an animation producer/sound track director of
over 300 half hours of television films, as well as numerous network
and video holiday specials. Currently based in New York, she is freelancing
in audio, project development and new media productions.
Links:
[1] http://www.awn.com/../4.05clips/cyberslacker.mov
[2] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4118
[3] http://www.cartoonnetwork.com
[4] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4119
[5] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4120
[6] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4121
[7] http://www.austinpowers.com/togglethis
[8] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4122
[9] http://www.hotwired.com/animation
[10] http://www.togglethis.com
[11] http://www.lycos.com
[12] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4123
[13] http://www.cyberslacker.com
[14] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4124
