Tag Archives: Adobe Flash

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Tom Ruegger

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Name:  Tom Ruegger.   Current occupation:  various animation jobs.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I ran the film society at my school.  I worked for Twyman Films, a company that rented movies to colleges.  And I worked for my brother Jim Ruegger at Hillside Construction Company where I painted houses — interiors and exteriors — and did roofing.   After I fell off the roof a couple of times –  my mind was busy with cartoon scenarios –  my constructions career came to an end.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’m proud of most of the shows I’ve worked on, especially “Animaniacs,”  “Tiny Toons,” “Pinky and the Brain,” “Histeria,” “Freakazoid,” “Road Rovers,” “A Pup Named Scooby Doo,” and individual episodes of lots of other shows.

How did you become interested in animation?
I loved cartoons ever since I saw them for the first time.  As a little kid, I drew my versions of the cartoon characters I saw on TV –  Yogi, Fred, Popeye, Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Mickey, Donald — – and my interest in Continue reading

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Eduard Ersek

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Hi, my name is Eduard Ersek and I currently work as an animation supervisor.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I’m not sure if I can call them crazy, but I used to be a tourist guide. My job was to take a smaller group of tourist around the place where I live and show them nature and culture. So one day I took them on a trip to the mountains the next we visited towns, castles or museums. For a short period I also worked as a translator.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
There are very few projects I could say I’m proud to have been a part of. Usually when working under a contract time is very short and there is always a compromise between quality and speed. But Continue reading

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Colter Avara

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Colter Avara. I am currently a freelance illustrator, animator and designer. Most of my clients are mobile game and app developers!

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Oh man, I think I am pretty fortunate on that front. I spent several years working various IT jobs, unfortunately that isn’t crazy. Just boring. The craziest job I ever had was given to me by my dad. When I was a kid, I really wanted a video game. I think it was Sonic The Hedgehog 2 but I’m not 100% sure, I wanted pretty much every game.  In an attempt to teach me about working for things in life, he told me that he would buy the game for me if I plucked every clover flower in our yard. Our yard was over an acre and full of mostly clover, just to give you an idea of what I was dealing with. It was crazy! I spent almost an entire week filling up drywall buckets with flowers. I don’t think either of my parents predicted that I would be so diligent, but the buckets of clover flowers and the swarm of pissed off honey bees told them otherwise. They had me stop at around 4-5 buckets.  I earned the video game and possibly destroyed an ecosystem in the process. Sorry, to any honey bees out there. I’m probably going to get trolled by honey bees now.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I enjoyed working on all of my projects, but I had the most fun on the projects where I had a little more creative freedom, particularly on a social game that I worked on called, Rock Riot. It was a guitar hero style facebook game. The team really let me take the reigns creatively and the player community was really into it! That was the best part, seeing the players enjoy the items I had created. I’ll never forget the first time I saw players using the turkey guitar I made for Thanksgiving. That was hilarious.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am originally from Maryland and I am now living in Pennsylvania. My professional career started in 2008 when I worked with John Kricfalusi on The George Liquor Program. After that, Continue reading

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Tom Sito

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Tom Sito and I am an animator, storyboard artist and animation historian. My screen credits include Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, and Osmosis Jones. I am the author of four books on animation. Currently I am a Professor of Animation at the cinema school of the University of Southern California.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from Brooklyn New York, the son of a fireman. As a child I always liked to draw cartoons and at first I thought I’d want to make comic strips. Then I attended the High School of Art & Design in Manhattan where I was shown how to make my characters move. I fell in love and Continue reading

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9 Story Media Group Acquires Award Winning Animation Studio Brown Bag Films

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9-story logobrown-bag-logo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

9 Story Media Group Acquires Award Winning Animation Studio

Brown Bag Films

Toronto, Canada – August 18th, 2015 – 9 Story Media Group is pleased to announce that it has acquired award winning animation studio Brown Bag Films. With headquarters in Dublin, a studio in Manchester and an office in Los Angeles, Brown Bag Films employ 170 creative and production staff and is known for producing hit animated children’s series including Octonauts, Doc McStuffins, Bing Bunny and Henry Hugglemonster. This is the first acquisition for 9 Story following an equity investment from media entrepreneur Neil Court and ZMC, Zelnick Media Capital last year. Terms of the transaction, which closed on August 17, 2015, were not disclosed.

Brown Bag Films will retain its brand, with Cathal Gaffney, Founder and CEO of Brown Bag Films, Darragh O’Connell, Founder & Creative Director, and the senior management team, continuing to lead the company.  Brown Bag Films plans to hire an additional 50 staff in the near future as the company looks to reach new markets with its content.

Founded in 1994 by Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O’Connell, Brown Bag Films is renowned for its rich heritage in 3D animation and content, which includes producing four of the top ten pre-school TV shows in the U.S. and entertaining 100 million kids across the globe.  9 Story Media Group is best known as an industry-leading 2D animator, with one of the largest studios in North America, and a highly successful global distribution division.

Vince Commisso, President & CEO of 9 Story Media Group, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be joining forces with Brown Bag Films. Cathal, Darragh and their team in Ireland have a well established track record and an outstanding reputation for producing high quality animation.  This transformative transaction extends our footprint into Europe, broadens our content offering to distribution partners and audiences worldwide, combines best in class CGI and 2D, and optimally positions the company for tremendous growth. We look forward to having Cathal, Darragh and the Brown Bag team, join the 9 Story family.”

Cathal Gaffney, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Brown Bag Films, said: “Both 9 Story and Brown Bag Films share a love of animation and storytelling that really resonates with kids.  I am truly excited with this opportunity that we have worked so hard on and look forward to producing the best animated content for children across the globe long into the future. This is great news for everyone in Brown Bag Films and our clients.  It’s even better news for everyone who watches our shows, as together with 9 Story we’ll be able to bring more great animation to screens across the world.”

Darragh O’Connell, co-founder and Creative Director, added: “We are exceptionally proud of what we have built as an Irish company and for the next part of our journey, it makes total sense for us to join forces with 9 Story.  The combined entity will give us a larger bandwidth and bigger global reach for getting our shows into production and watched by as many children as possible. This deal allows us to concentrate on what we have always done very well – making great shows for kids. We LOVE animation and now we will be able to make even more of it!”

 

About Brown Bag Films

Brown Bag Films are one of Europe’s most exciting, original and successful creative-led animation studios. After 21 years in business, their Dublin-based headquarters continue to produce cutting-edge animation for the international market, bagging numerous awards along the way. These include Oscar® nominations for Give Up Yer Aul Sins (2002), Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (2010), three Emmy® awards for Peter Rabbit (2014), A Peabody award for Doc McStuffins (2015) and

a host of BAFTA, Emmy® and Annie nominations for their hit shows Octonauts, Bing Bunny, Doc McStuffins  and Henry Hugglemonster.

Brown Bag Films’ much-loved TV shows are viewed by millions of children worldwide and include Doc McStuffins, Henry Hugglemonster, Bing Bunny, Peter Rabbit, Olivia, Noddy in Toyland, and Octonauts.  With a second studio in Manchester and an office in LA, Brown Bag Films are committed to producing the highest-quality, cross-platform animation with strong stories and engaging characters.

Founded in 1994 by Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O’Connell, Brown Bag Films have worked with some of the world’s biggest entertainment names, including Disney, Nickelodeon, BBC, Amazon Studios, Acamar Films and Silvergate Media. www.brownbagfilms.com

 

9 Story Media Group is a leading content creator, marketer and distributor of kids & family focused intellectual property. Recognized around the world for best-in-class brands such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood, Wild Kratts, Numb Chucks, Arthur and Peg + Cat, 9 Story represents over 1800 half hours of animated and live action programming, seen on some of the most respected international channels and platforms.  With one of North America’s largest animation studios, 9 Story employs over 250 creative and production staff and has produced over 900 half hours of award-winning children’s content. 9 Story is owned by senior management, ZMC, Zelnick Media Capital and media entrepreneur Neil Court. www.9story.com

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Arthur Loftis

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Arthur Loftis, Background Design/Painter and Prop Design at Six Point Harness
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Axe murderer.  Next question.What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
My first job out of college was BG clean-up artist on The Goode Family.  It was a Mike Judge show on ABC that few people seem to remember, but it was genuinely funny and I learned a lot while I was there.  Way more than I did from the murdering.
How did you become interested in animation? 
Like a lot of guys my age, I grew up watching The Simpsons.  I think we all know someone who can seemingly recite any quote from the first nine seasons of that show from memory.  In my group of friends, I’m that guy.  Getting to actually work in.. Continue reading