Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Coming Oh-So Soon: Purgatory Pizza

The flash version of Purgatory Pizza is coming soon!
Creator Christian Taranto, AKA MC Death Bear, took a twelve-hour bus ride from Virginia up to our studio last Friday, and he’s been working non-stop since he arrived.

Talk about dedication! But what would you expect from a guy who’s almost finished with a concept he started in ninth grade? That’s right, Purgatory Pizza was first conceptualized when Christian was a freshman in high school. Back then, it was a comic strip. It’s gone through many revision since then. At the beginning, it was known as “Outcasts,” and there wasn’t even a pizza place! But over the years, he’s worked at several pizza places, so he eventually decided to put his work experience to good use (or bad, who knows? It’s Purgatory).

Now at 22, Christian’s thrilled to see his teenage doodles come to life in magnificent moving media magic, not to mention that he’s at the helm of it all. But Christian isn’t the only one working. Chris Davidson’s been leading the animation, and he and Jeff Hellman have been hard at work on the sound design.

In fact, it was because of Chris Davidson that Purgatory Pizza got started on the road to cartoon-dom. Back in December 2007, Christian had an art show at Pixel Lounge. During the show, he mentioned how he had an idea for a cartoon and wanted to make it, and he was referred to Moving Box Studios by local DJ Chris Capulet. Christian had always be interested in animation, but he never got the chance until he and Chris teamed up.

Just like The Elephant’s Lullaby, Moving Box will be putting together a “making of” video for Purgatory Pizza. It’ll include commentary from those already mentioned, plus Christian’s cousin Law Tarello, the co-writer of the cartoon. Law will be arriving at the studio this Saturday to share his thoughts.

We're in the final pruduction stage of the final cut, but if you need something to do before Purgatory Pizza is released, head to SickDamage.com where Christian is a staff writer. No kidding, Christian isn’t just an artist and budding animator; he’s a talented writer as well.

Need something else? Get a Purgatory Pizza refresher – watch the teaser for the cartoon on Newgrounds.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Update 3/16


Oh boo it's Monday...
Wrong! I mean, it's still Monday, but there's nothing to "boo" about because there's a new release out from Moving Box, and boy do you wanna watch it!

By now you've seen Tom Knight's "The Elephant's Lullaby," and you know that it's one of the cuter things online, up there with that sneezing baby panda. Now you can get a behind-the-scenes look at how the animation was created, by watching...

The Making of "The Elephant's Lullaby"!

This featurette includes commentary from the team behind the animated video. With interesting and insightful words from Nutmeg Doherty (Executive Producer), Chris Davidson (Producer/Director), Wright Rickman (Production Designer/Lead Animator), Liz McLelland (Art Director), and Tom Knight (the Singer/Songwriter himself!), you'll probably want to go back and watch the original animation with all of your newly-acquired appreciation. 

In other news, Ithaca Tape to Disc is up and running. Check it out if you need your old video tapes converted to high-quality digital video.

Purgatory Pizza is in heavy production this week. Check back here soon for further details!