Press Release from FlickerLab
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - October 15, 2009 - For a fifth time, FlickerLab has teamed with Academy Award-winning Director Michael Moore, and created a minute-long animated segment, Chicken Little, for his latest feature CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY. Opening in New York and Los Angeles Sept. 23 and in theaters nationwide October 2nd, the film explores the root causes of the global economic meltdown and takes a sardonic look at the corporate and political shenanigans that plunged the world into the current financial crisis.
FlickerLab, the New York-based design and animation studio, worked with Moore in the past to create a cartoon for Bowling for Columbine and graphics and design for both Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko, three of the top five highest-grossing documentaries of all time. In addition, the company collaborated with Moore on a music video for the Armenian-American rock band System of a Down.
For CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY (from Paramount Vantage), FlickerLab designed, animated and created effects for a one-minute piece using rotoscoped footage of George Bush's state of the union speech in which he scared the nation into giving the banking industry $700 million dollars, and turned the footage into CHICKEN LITTLE, a cartoon horror show. Bush is at the podium, on a red carpet, addressing the nation as thunder, lightening, flames, and great gusts of wind, envelop and destroy the White House, ending the world as we have known it. Chandeliers fall, columns crash to the ground, walls crumble and citizens run shrieking through the hall behind the President. In addition to this cartoon, the animation studio created other graphics and motion design pieces for the film.
Of their most recent collaboration with Moore, FlickerLab Director/Creative Director Harold Moss stated, "It is always a real thrill to be working with Michael, particularly on a film that goes right to the roots of the economic crisis we have all been trying to swim through."
Front Street Productions (Traverse City, MI) Producer Anne Moore added, "We love working with FlickerLab. They are dedicated professionals, efficient, highly creative, and very funny."
The FlickerLab creative team, led by Moss and Executive Producer Tammy Walters, included Senior Producer Franklin Zitter; Designers Zartosht Soltani and Matt Naboshek; Lead After Effects Animators/Compositors Bryan Cox and Eric Merola; and After Effects Animators/Compositors Nicole Navitsky, Craig Hubbard, Jessie Mireau and Jodie Rae Plaut.
FlickerLab utilized Adobe Production Premium CS3; Apple Final Cut Studio; Binary Nights Forklift FTP; PowerMac G5 Computers; iMac Intel Core Duo Computers; Dell Ultrasharp 24" widescreen displays; Apple Displays; Wacom Cintiq/Intuos 3 tablets; Blackmagic Decklink HD cards; and Sony HD Broadcast Monitors in the execution of this project.
Representing Front Street Productions (Traverse City, MI) were Director/Writer/Producer Michael Moore, Producer Anne Moore and Line Producer Jennifer Latham.
Sound Design/Mix was supplied by David Wilson Audio (New York, NY) and Sound Designer David Wilson.
About FlickerLab, LLC
The international FlickerLab, LLC is a triple bottom line content and technology company that has produced thousands of hours of animated, live-action and mixed media content worldwide for film, broadcast and cross platform distribution. FlickerLab is committed to using that experience, and its proprietary animation and content creation toolsets, towards producing socially and environmentally conscious media and building sustainable media brands, with a special focus on educational material.
Recent FlickerLab projects include The Wild Life, an animated series teaching middle school students about climate change; animation and graphics for Michael Moore's last four films; thirteen hours of animated and live-action content for the newly relaunched Hooked on Phonics; Nelly Nut, the live animated talk and game show for the BBC; two animated pilots for Playhouse Disney, a highly successful viral short for Planned Parenthood; an animated campaign for Al Gore's Repower America; award-winning animated PSA campaigns for the American Heart Association and Comedy Central; a weekly online animated show for Sports Illustrated; created and produced the animated web series This Modern World, among many others. In addition to the company's devotion to creating animated series, it has also produced live animated game shows and a wide range of animation and gaming platforms. GO Real Time Animation is one of many unique animation and gaming tools developed by FlickerLab. Shows and games have aired on many European TV-stations including BBC, KIKA, WDR, ZDF, DR, SVT, NRK, YLE, TVI, S4C and many more.
The company's portfolio also includes high profile work for media and entertainment companies including A&E Networks, Bravo, Discovery Home, Disney Channel, Lifetime, Lions Gate Productions, MTV, Nickelodeon, Planned Parenthood, The Cartoon Network and The WB, and product/service companies including Bassat Ogilvy, Continental Airlines, Grey Worldwide, Johnson & Johnson, McCann Erickson, Microsoft, and Procter & Gamble, among many others.