Monday, August 27, 2007

MTV ID: "Swallow-Face"

This was one of the first things I've ever animated. Interesting story actually. In 1994, I was in college, and one night decided to animate something strange. I didn't know how to draw, let alone animate, so I just did something abstract. A friend of mine told me I should put an MTV logo on it and send it to them. So I mailed a VHS of it to "MTV Networks" the address I got from the phone book. About two weeks later I got a call from a guy named Abbey, who said that they wanted to buy it. I remember the day he called, because it was the same day that I got my rejection letter from Cal Arts. The budget was $8k. I re-animated the same thing, a bit tighter, and I had to re-do the logo and sound. The spot won a BDA award(Broadcast Design Assoc.) and a Jury Prize at the 1995 Holland Animation Festival. After I finished the ID, MTV offered me a job in layout on "Beavis and Butthead", which was my first ever studio job, and which brought me to New York City. Those were the days.