“The Icing on the Cake” by Rauch Bros.

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“The Icing on the Cake,” a cartoon that is figuratively sweet, debuted last night on PBS’s POV. The audio is recorded by StoryCorps and the animation is produced by the Brooklyn-based Rauch Bros. Animation. Backgrounds are by Bill Wray.

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  • http://www.mikecarlo.blogspot.com Mike Carlo

    Great job guys!

  • http://rauchbrothers.com Mike Rauch

    You can watch all five of our StoryCorps shorts here.

  • Stephen DeStefano

    That’s really charming and pretty.

  • AaronSch

    That was touching. It’s nice that a short piece of animation goodness can evoke so much emotion. Well done.

  • http://Roundtableanimation.com joan

    Funny thing I entered Cartoon Brew to suggest German in the Woods, since I just saw all the shorts thanks to a youtube suggestion
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trmG0mgrkM8

    Good work guys, emotional stories, and magnific animation

  • http://www.dancingmonkeys.com Arna Selznick

    Beautiful, straight to the heart.

  • Randy Koger

    Very sweet, very touching, very heartfelt.
    Loved it!
    Congrats on a piece well done!

  • http://willfinn.blogspot.com/ Will Finn

    That was just brilliant. Wonderful sincere cartooning and blissfully simple,no frills animation with lots of astute attention to the most important details. Simply perfect character designs and wonderful art thruout. Many thanks !

    • http://rauchbrothers.com Mike Rauch

      Wow. Thanks for your comments Will! Your work on Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin (among the many other talented hands on those productions) was some of the earliest work that sparked my interest to work in animation. The artists — my brother Tim and Bill Wray — get the credit for all the qualities you highlighted, but I’m flattered nonetheless.

  • The Gee

    I’ve only seen a couple of them so far but I do want to watch the rest.

    It is a great idea and I’m glad you got to do it.

    So often people claim to want animation which is for adults. And, they usually mean something different than this, or different than even a lot of other independent efforts.

    But, what you guys have done is about as grown up as it gets. And, hopefully as many folks as possible get a chance to watch them all.

    Good stuff.

  • james madison

    Nice!

  • Bob Harper

    This is one of those cases, where if you just pitched this concept theough normal cahnnels, the question will be “Why is this kind of thing being animated?” And after seeing this the question should be, “Why isn’t this kind of thing animated?” Thanks guys for showing that the right kind of animation can really drive home emotion that most likely would’ve been lost otherwise.

    • The Gee

      Bob, I really think that whomever is producing really wants to have it made.

      There’s various outlets who would not consider doing something like this to be risky and there are some which wouldn’t see dollar signs based on backended licensing opportunities. Those are people who just want to have good cartoons made and see having animation which is the right fit for whatever is being produced.

      That written, it seems like those folks are rare but they are there and the stuff like this can be made.

  • http://www.rauchbrothers.com Tim Rauch

    Bob and Gee, you are both right.

    We have been very fortunate to receive funding from the CPB to produce 7 new films this year (of which “Icing” is one). I’m not sure the project would have been given the go-ahead had we not already created “Q&A”, the second of our StoryCorps films, which was very well received.

    My advice to anyone who wants to see a project brought to life – don’t wait for money, get rolling.

    • http://www.bobharper.net Bob Harper

      Right you are Tim. I’ve taken the same advice from the book Bankroll, where the author state that the best time to get financing is during production.

      We’re finishing the script and business plan for our first feature and will begin preproduction as we send out the plan, and continue to produce till it is done whether we ever get financing or not.

      I think Gee echoes what Iwas getting at. We have to show that this kind of work is worth making.

  • The Gee

    Heya,
    What I wrote was kind of sloppily written. Hopefully you both understand what I was getting at. And, from your replies, it sounds like you are.

    But, to try and clean up what I posted:
    As much as I’d love to think that the type and the quality of the animation will help get it produced and financed, I really think certain kinds of companies really need to want to produce quality animation that is different.

    I’m familiar with Bob’s work and know of his ambitions (I don’t think I have your current email, Bob). He’s determined to make his productions work out. And, that will hopefully work out in synch with him finding the right people or them finding his production(s). Any of us who make animation which is considered “indy” should only be so lucky.

    And, for what it is worth it doesn’t surprise me that the CPB, and or a local PBS affiliate, are financing this work. Hopefully, they’ll help out on future endeavors, like follow-ups to this. Best to you guys, Tim.

    Sometimes, it really seems to depend upon what we are making making a hell of lot of sense* to those who can both help us finance it and who’s financing, and faith in the project, can help us potentially make it better.

    I hope trying to squeeze it in a nutshell both makes sense and doesn’t sound crazy or pollyannish.

    *resonating, would be a good word for that