Mucci Fassett

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Mucci Fassett, that is to say, I am Mucci Fassett, and I’m currently Directing ZHU ZHU PETS, a low-budgeCGI ANIMATED dvd movie for Moonscoop Productions.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Well, when i was 16 years old, I was a busboy at The Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown San Diego. I had a secret-affair with the head waitress. The boss found out, he had the hots for her too, so he fired me.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
As far as the one thing that I’mproud of?  I suppose I am proud of a little DVD movie I made for MGA calledDesert Jewel. It was a ”Bratz” movie, and yes everyone vomits when they hear the word Bratz! that’s because they immediately think of those bawdy little dolls in their hoochie-coochie hot-pink skirts, and I really can’t blame them, I feel the same way too, but the films I did for the Bratz Brand aren’t of that content at all, and this little ”Bratz Desert Jewel” film is mighty for what it is: we had 9 months to make it (and that’s from script-premise all the way to the final Mix) so we really had to haul ass, as that’s a tight little hustle for a 3-act 72 minute film. But we did, we pulled it off, me and my superb crew of Joe Scott, Vill Cruz, Javier Secaduras, Clay Christman and my editor at the time Michael Bradley who made some real great contributions. The design-look of the characters was not my thing at all, I couldn’t do anything about elevating that, (as that is the brand of the dolls, etc.) but the Storytelling is very cinematic, the editing, the mood, the score, even the Continue reading

Will Meugniot

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Will Meugniot animation director and comic book artist.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Reporter, census taker, fry cook.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
ExoSquad, X-Men, Jem, Captain Planet, SpyDogs

How did you become interested in animation?
From television when I was a child. One of my science fair projects in junior high school was a flip book demonstration of how animation worked.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
My family lived in Washington State until I was 16 then moved to California. In my 20s I broke into the comic book business, and in 1978 that led to my discovery by Hanna Barbera and a chance to work on the Godzilla cartoon series with the great Continue reading

R.I.P. Gordon Kent

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Yesterday we lost another one of our own in the Animation industry in Gordon Kent who’d been in the business since 1977. I met Gordon many years ago at Warner Bros. on my very first job working as a character layout artist on the series Tazmania where he was the Story editor and have bumped into him off and on at studios and parties throughout the years. He was a kind and thoughtful man who had a dry sense of humor and he had a unique style of drawing which I really liked(and you can see above). Incidentally, we interviewed Gordon last year about how he got into the business.

I’ve been doing this since 1977… I worked on a show called CBS Storybreak for two seasons. I was associate producer – but my job entailed hiring character and background designers, storyboard artists and story editing (and some writing). I also was the voice director for most of them and worked with the composers and sound effects people as well as working with the engineers on the final mix. I got to learn and do a lot. That was for Buzz Potamkin at Southern Star. I also worked for him years later at both Disney TV and Hanna-Barbera. At HB I got to be Supervising Producer on a couple of movies for TV – Titles change in animation all the time – today that would be supervising director. The Flintstones’ Christmas Carol was my favorite project there. I’ve been an animation timing director since then and have been lucky enough to work on Kim Possible, Teamo Supremo, Billy and Mandy and Bob’s Burgers among dozens of other shows.

Rest In Peace Gordon Kent… you will be missed by many.

You can read the full interview here if you like.

 

 

Richard Bazley

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What is your name and your current occupation?
For the past few years I have been Directing. I have Directed many commercials and am represented by Prime Focus in London.   Earlier last year I Directed two Episodes of a new animated series for the UK’s Channel 4 called “Full English” which ironically I Directed in LA at Rough Draft who are most well known for Futurama. I am now Directing a wonderful TV pilot called Lost Treasure Hunt which will be on PBS later this year for Argosy Film.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Nothing too crazy! I did work as an Art Director a couple years before getting into the Film Industry. We had a brief for a spoof “sick” ad to run in Tatler Magazine and I came up with a concept for an ad for Euthanasia in which we photographed a coffin and put a cut out coupon in the coffin where you had to fill in your details, The headline was “FILL THIS SPACE!”.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Without doubt the first project that comes to mind was being a Lead Animator on Brad Bird’s “The iron Giant”. The film has such a heart and despite failing at the box office due to poor promotion has stood the test of time and found it’s audience on DVD. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” was also a great experience as it was my first job in the film industry and stands as a classic.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was raised in the English countryside in the beautiful county of Devon near Exeter, My upbringing actually helped shaped me and what route I wanted to follow. This was before Continue reading

Matthew Tardiff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az7dOh1LfrM&feature=plcp

What is your name and current occupation?
Matthew Tardiff,Freelance Animator/Director/Creator/etc @ Hummingbird and the Lotus,Animation Instructor @ Full Sail University focusing on Game Animation.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Hmm, that’s a tough one. Starting at age 15 I worked for a slew of different jobs; starting with fast food, construction, call center, sales, restaurant, car salesman, fast food again, stock, claims representative, art store wall flower etc. I probably left out some stuff because there were a few years there that will never return to my memory.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Jimmy Neutron ,My first legitimate animation gig where I realized how much I did not know about animation but somehow kept my head above water long enough to learn some valuable life lessons. I’m not being humble; my animation skills as a whole were shit in hindsight. Lunchables (only because I got to work @ Wildbrain in San Francisco)

How did you become interested in animation?
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved to draw, create, make things move and take objects apart. But there were several points in time that directed me to animation. The first one was in 6th grade. A class mate showed me a Continue reading

Mark Salisbury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AbmuKkG03I&list=PL3C1D42F716AED6E9

What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Mark Salisbury. I am currently the series director, animation producer and editor for Nickelodeon’s “Bubble Guppies”.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Well…lets see. In the early to mid 90’s I was the defensive back coach for Yale University, a resume specialist at Kinko’s, a caricature artist in Washington, DC, a bouncer, and a bartender
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
This is a tough question, because most every project I have done, I’ve completely sunk myself into. The TMNT shorts were great because they were the first real products to come out of the company I founded, Peach Nova Productions. There were 4 of us and we cranked those things out fast and still maintained a high quality of animation and design. I love 8 Bit design so the Mocap LLC show open I did was lots of fun.  Having my kids watch and enjoy the shows I make is really one of the best experiences I’ve had. So I need to put, Bubble Guppies, Little Bill, Mighty Bug 5 in there, as well as a couple of Nickelodeon pilots that never made it to air.  The Dr. Tran shorts were a lot of fun to animate as well.
How did you become interested in animation?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been making text books into flip books and once my family got a VCR I took to pausing Bugs Bunny shorts and tracing the TV, frame at a time.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m born and raised in Hallowell, Maine…high school in Cheshire, Conn. and I currently live in the suburbs of New York City. While I was a coach at Yale I decided to Continue reading