.

The Upstate Four (viewable in two parts above) is an eleven-minute Cartoon Network pilot created by brothers Fran Krause and Will Krause. When I first saw it last year, I was immediately taken by the quality of the production. Funny and fresh, energetic and entertaining, it looks and feels like nothing else currently out there. On top of that, the character animation is handled beautifully with none of the corner-cutting that has become an unfortunate hallmark of contemporary Flash TV animation.

The pilot wasn’t picked up for series production and languished at Cartoon Network, but the brothers Krause received recognition for their efforts in the form of a top prize for Children’s Television Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival as well as an Excellence in Animation prize from the 2008 ASIFA-East Animation Festival.

The Krause’s pilot for The Upstate Four raises the bar for TV animation everywhere, and proves that, with thoughtful planning and execution, top-grade TV animation is within reach. I wanted to learn how such an inspired and quality piece of work made it through the moribund development pipeline at Cartoon Network. The interview below was conducted via email, and in our far-ranging conversation, Fran and Will guide us through the tangled development process, their feelings about pitching, whether the type of quality they achieved in this pilot could be maintained in regular series production, and some of the lessons they learned from creating this pilot.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m moderating a panel at the Ottawa International Animation Festival this weekend. It’s called “Animation Makes Me Laugh: Ha!” and it’s all about what’s funny and what isn’t in animation. There’s no sure-fire formula to funny so I can’t guarantee we’ll unlock any secret keys to humor, but I can guarantee you’ll get to hear from four funny and talented filmmakers: Nick Cross, Will Krause, Fran Krause and Superjail creator Christy Karacas. The panel takes place Sunday, September 21, at 3pm in the National Gallery (Lecture Hall). Drop by and say hello.

Fran Krause created the signal film for this year’s Rooftop Films screening series. It’s animated nicely in Flash.