By now, I hope you've all watched the Flummox &
Friends pilot! If not, then go see it here. Today, we'll go behind the scenes of how my animated
short got made.
I was approached by Executive Producer Christa Dahlstrom around
the end of last year about being involved, and I knew immediately I wanted to be
a part of it. First, I needed to write a script. The idea came from the
theme of the episode, which is a party. I decided to use Fuzzy and Dinky
Doughnuts, and simply show two very different reactions to receiving a party
invitation.
The most challenging part was the ending. I had to answer the question, what
actually works in overcoming a child’s resistance once they’ve put their foot
down? This was where I had to do research. I ended up going to message boards
to hear how actual parents had dealt with such a situation successfully. The strategies I found made it into the script. So when Dinky understands Fuzzy is uncomfortable
about the party, he can first tell him, "That's okay." Then, he can offer him reasons for
going without any pressure, so Fuzzy ultimately agrees to go.
After the script was approved, the next step was the
drawings. Having never done animation before, I didn’t know how many drawings were needed, so I just did as many as I thought were necessary to show the level of detail. This ended up being 50 drawings. You can see some of them here, including a few that didn't make the final cut!
Around the same time, we started to talk about voices. I
told Christa I had a strong interest in doing the voice of Fuzzy, since some of my favorite cartoons are voiced by their creators. It wasn't clear how we might do this, with our being on two different
coasts. However, Christa found a way to make it happen! As with many other
aspects of this project, she understood I had a vision for the final product and
allowed me to follow that, for which I am very grateful.
So what we did was record my part in a studio local to me,
and actor Perry Whittle recorded
Dinky's part in California. I had
also tape-recorded a “scratch track” with a friend reading Dinky’s part
to demonstrate how it should sound. Some amusing discussions arose as we worked
on the final takes. At one point I was giving very specific directions on the pronunciation of
“Wooff.” It was not to be an actual dog bark, but a more
literal, John Elder Robinson-esque utterance. That was a detail we had to get
right.
From there, the drawings and audio went to animator Jed Bell to morph into action using Adobe After
Effects. We went through a couple rounds of reviews to iron out the details
like timing. Then sound effects were added, and we had our finished cartoon. I'm
really pleased with how it turned out.
People have asked what it’s like to see my characters
animated. Keep in mind that Fuzzy and Dinky go back over 25 years to notebook
paper doodles. (Have you read their origins? If not check them out here.) So for
people to see them on the screen is mind-blowing, all the more so in the
context of an important show like "Flummox and Friends."
Is there the possibility of more cartoons? I'd love to see
"Flummox" get picked up and seen widely, and if so, I absolutely hope
to do more animated shorts. The success of Flummox & Friends really
depends on all of you demonstrating a demand. So if you want to see more, take this survey to share your feedback with the producers, and share the pilot with
everyone you know. The first time was certainly a learning process, so given
the opportunity, there's the potential for many more adventures of Fuzzy and
friends!
