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Deborah Zak

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
Deborah Zak-Associate Producer G7Animation

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
 Selling Cable TV.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
We designed, boarded in it’s entirety the film called “Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.”  Beautiful beyond compare and TOTALLY designed by G7 Animation’s crew.  This can be viewed by  going to our website G7animation.com.  We are also uploading three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) a really funny site called LilFartz which can be found on Lilfartz.com orG7animation you tube.  We’re always working on new projects. We’re also working on R rated animation and currently are slated for ten Feature Flms and ten TV Shows.  So to say the least, we’re really busy.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
Actually, I wasn’t that interested but Continue reading

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David Fain

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What is your name and your current occupation? David Fain, I’m currently work for Hasbro Studios as an animatic editor on “Transformers Prime”. I also do freelance stop-motion, Flash animation, and writing and directing for animation when the opportunity arises.   What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? After high school I worked a couple of summers in a fish packing plant in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Also worked the counter in a bowling alley in Rhode Island after undergraduate school. That sucked big time. http://www.animationinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/FainShowreel_1109small.mov What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? My hands down favorite was “Action League Now!” which was a segment of the old Nickelodeon anthology series “Kablam!”. I started as a stop-motion animator on the series and eventually got to write some episodes and direct the final 13. I also was a staff writer on “SpongeBob” way back in the day before it was very well known. I created a couple of original web shorts while at Warner Bros. Online divison called “Slim Chance: Intergalactic Zoologist”. Working on “G.I. Joe Renegades” and “Transformers Prime” has been a ball because they are my first action/adventure shows and let me reference my love of live action continuity cutting a bit more than comedies.   How did you become interested in animation? Like most baby boomers, I grew up watching a lot of TV. In the New England region there was a woman named Yvonne Andersen who ran an animation workshop where she helped kids make animated films. Sometimes Continue reading

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JEFFREY MUELLER

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is JEFFREY MUELLER; I am a 2D/3D animator providing many animation and film production services to animation and film production studios globally. I am owner and operator of Magpie Entertainment Company Ltd & Magpie Film Studio Ltd and we are creating a reputation for creative and technical excellence, and the consistent completion of projects on time and within budget. Space Balls the Animated Series & Zigby the Zebra animated series brought Jeffrey Mueller on board as a Lead Storyboard, Concept & Environment Artist and as of late in 2011-2012 Jeffrey has gone onto shows such as television animated series Pound Puppies & Martha Speaks and after those contracts were up Jeffrey was hired to providing CGI special effects and Grip services to the live action television series Warehouse 13 currently airing on Show Case.  Jeffrey also has a Rigger credit on the movie “2012”. This is one of a number of Live Action Feature Films & TV Series that he worked on as a Grip, Dolly Grip, Key Grip, Lighting Op, Production Designer & other positions, as well as an Audio, Video & Lighting Technician for Ontario & Vancouver rock shows and theatre productions.  At the 2010 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES Jeffrey worked as Video Board Engineer and was responsible for all broadcasting system operations, building of the control room and operating the systems for the Figure Skating and Short Track Speed skate competitions to live broadcast.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
My most favorite projects were Spaceballs the animated series created and produced by Mel Brooks was my most favorite job due to the comedy nature and the creative parodies to each and every episode making it hard to not laugh every time I read the scripts and draw the stroyboards creating the visual was an added bonus making every day enjoyable. The others were films such as
War creating special lighting for the production, Cats & Dogs, and many others. I was interested in animation started at an early age when I created a comic strip that was based on a frog that was born with a disability. This comic was published in newspapers globally and being 14 years of age at the time I wanted to take my comics to the next level so I started developing an idea for an animated television show. I was a big fan of Bugs Bunny & Road Runner and wanted to bring these characters to life. Not realizing I would become an animator I went through the ranks and education to get the understanding of television broadcast and animation so that I could bring my very idea to life and put smiles on people’s faces.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
Growing up in a small town with a population at the time of 2000 there was not much to offer children and wanted to bring something to my town that would make my parents and residences of my town proud. It was always important to make people smile because laughter is the best medicine. A native of Ontario, Jeffrey Mueller worked his way Continue reading

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Chris Ross

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Chris Ross, Overseas Supervisor.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I’ve had some odd jobs splattered between animation gigs. The oddest might be during college, in the summer, working for a company that made heat exchangers for nuclear power plants. We had to go to the power plant to clean the inside of them them with high pressure water (We didn’t actually crawl inside, they had a a more humane way of completing the task). We were able to go on a tour of the plant. Each section of the plant is designated a safety level according to its proximity to actual radiation. We went to the giant pool where the spent fuel rods are stored, and as we left that area, a #3 Zone, back to a #2 Zone, we stepped onto the devices that check for contamination, so none is passed to the other zones. Apparently, my right foot sparked off an alarm, and our guide calmly washed the radioactive dust off the sole of my boot with some Windex and a paper towel hehe.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Ren and Stimpy for sure. The original and the new ones, but the original ones definitely.

How did you become interested in animation?
As a kid, watching Continue reading

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Sam Agro

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Sam Agro, and right now I’m working primarily as a storyboard artist and illustrator for live-action film and TV. I also sometimes write and draw for the comic book industry. My writing partner Jerry Schaefer and I are currently pitching live-action and animation shows to various networks and production companies. No takers yet, but we live in hope.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I grew up in Canada, in southwestern Ontario, where tobacco growing used to be big business. When I was in high school, I worked a few summers as a kiln-hanger during the tobacco harvest.  I also spent some time as a sign-writer’s assistant. This was during the seventies when signs were still painted by hand. You used special brushes, and taped off the letters with this thin green tape. You really needed a steady hand to eyeball the curvy bits of the letters. I treasure that experience, because it’s all done with computers now, and the craft of signwriting is becoming a lost art.
 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
In terms of the animation business, I’m afraid I can’t claim any projects of which I’m truly proud. I mostly worked on a lot of “toy shows” like Strawberry Shortcake, Ninja Turtles, Care Bears, that sort of thing. Nothing wrong with those shows, certainly, but they don’t aim terribly high. Working on Ewoks and Droids was somewhat better, but they ultimately fell short of their true potential. I did have a few ‘close calls’ with quality. I worked for one week on The Land Before Time at Bluth-Sullivan in Ireland. Unfortunately, I left for all the wrong reasons. (Mostly for a girlfriend, that later dumped me.) I ALMOST worked on the original Bruce Timm designed Batman show. I was all set to supervise storyboards for the Toronto unit at Lightbox studios. Sadly, Lightbox and Warner Bros. weren’t able to work out a deal. I might have had a very different career if that had panned out.  On the live action side, I am very proud to have storyboarded on the film Fly Away Home, and five installments of the SAW horror franchise. Even though the SAW movies aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, I got to work with some great producers, directors and crews during that time.  As a writer, I was fortunate enough to work on the Looney Tunes comic at DC for about 5 years. It was amazing working on Bugs and Daffy and all the classic WB characters, and I’m very proud of some of the stories I did for that comic.  As a comedy writer and performer, some of the work I’ve done with various improv and sketch troupes has been great. Terrific groups like Dangerous Poultry, Big City Improv, The Wrecking Crew and The Canadian Space Opera Company. The Canadian Space Opera Company does staged parodies of old science fiction movie serials and 1930’s style horror radio shows. I am extremely proud of those shows.

How did you become interested in animation?
Like most kids I loved all kinds of cartoons. Later, when I was a teenager, I was really into two things: Drawing and acting. One night I took a date to see Continue reading