90-minute showcase of studio’s famed in-house animated shorts program will stream online for first time following postponement of planned Vancouver screening.
If you’ve never watched one of Titmouse’s annual 5 Second Day shorts screenings, you are in for a treat! The Emmy Award-winning animation production company has announced it will broadcast this year’s 90-minute-long 5 Second Day shorts compilation for the first time on its new Twitch channel, https://www.twitch.tv/titmouseinc. The Twitch 5 Second Day livestream is set for March 27 at 7 PM Pacific | 10 PM Eastern.
The 5 Second Day screening features more than 145 original shorts created by Titmouse artists from its LA, New York and Vancouver studios. Each year, one day is set aside where everyone at the company can produce a 5 second animated short. The studio closes so staff can make whatever project is swimming around in their heads. No holds barred. The shorts are not rated by the MPAA; the screening is intended for an adult audience.
The tradition has evolved since it started in 2008. Since then, the complexity, length, and creative collaboration across departments has skyrocketed. Some artists will work on ambitious ideas for months. In the end, the artists retain control of the short. To date more than 1,000 5 Second Day cartoons have been created.
Following packed screenings in Hollywood and New York, this year’s sold out screening in Vancouver was postponed due the COVID-19 group restrictions. Titmouse is working closely with the Rio Theatre to identify a new screening date once local and federal officials allow large gatherings to take place.
“We always want to make sure the artists’ films are seen by an audience!” Titmouse president and founder, Chris Prynoski, explained. “When the challenges of this pandemic made it clear that our Vancouver screening was not going to be an option, I decided to beam it directly into the viewers' brains! I was told that technology does not yet exist, so we are streaming it on Twitch!”
The Emmy Award-winning animation studio produces a number of hit shows including Big Mouth, Superjail! and Metalocalypse. Operating in Los Angeles, New York City, and Vancouver, Titmouse currently employs around 700 artists, working on TV shows, films, commercials, branded and digital content projects.
This past January, Netflix announced a new, multi-year production deal with the studio, which calls for Titmouse to produce a number of original adult animated series; Netflix will also get first look rights to any adult animated series developed and created at the studio. The deal expands upon the existing relationship between the streaming giant and animation house, which includes Big Mouth, from Brutus Pink, and the upcoming series, The Midnight Gospel, from Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward and Duncan Trussell.
Source: Titmouse
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
