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(This episode contains strong language.)

Over the last fourteen years, Aaron Augenblick has built up Augenblick Studios into one of New York City’s most respected production studios. The studio has produced animation—in Brooklyn!—for series such as Wonder Showzen (MTV2), Ugly Americans (Comedy Central), Superjail! (first season, Adult Swim), as well as the festival circuit hit Golden Age. The studio’s current major project is an animated feature based on the Ben Stiller live-action pic Zoolander.

In the latest episode of Frenzer Foreman Animation Forum, Augenblick talks about creating a studio from the ashes of bad advice, how a young studio finds work, the challenges of being a studio owner and artist at the same time, tips for building an artistic community and fostering studio pride, why he refuses to expand his studio beyond a set number of employees, and the importance of submitting animated shorts to festivals even if you’re producing commercial work.

LINKS RELATED TO THIS EPISODE
Augenblick Studios: WEBSITE and FACEBOOK PAGE
Cain’s Tavern: WEBSITE and FACEBOOK PAGE
Golden Age series
Ramblin’ Man:

We reported last September that comedian and former Saturday Night Live performer Jenny Slate had been hired to script a new CGI/live-action Looney Tunes reboot. She recently updated Splitsider on her progress:

“I don’t know what I’m allowed to say about it, but I will say that I love writing it and I love the research that I did for it, which is basically watch one million cartoons and categorize all the characters. It’s a really, really fun world to be in. It’s just an instant, really fast, punchy fun world, and the people that I work with at Warner Brothers and at [production companies] Heyday and KatzSmith are so nice to me. I’ve never written a movie before, and there are a lot of questions I have to ask that I feel are very stupid. They actually had to give me the new version of Final Draft, and I had to like buy a new computer. They seem to just put faith in my ideas and because they’ve always been supportive of me as a creative person, writing this has been a real pleasure and I’m proud that they let me do it. I love it, and I like the story that I’ve written a lot. You know, we’ll see. I don’t know. There might be somebody else there writing one that’s better, but I like the one that I’m writing. So, that’s all I can say. What else can I do except for like the shit that I’m doing and try to not be an asshole?”

It’ll be interesting to watch what Slate comes up with and whether the producers (which include Jeffrey Katzenberg’s son David) move forward with her treatment. It’s in her favor that the last two Looney Tunes features—Space Jam and Looney Tunes: Back in Action—were comedic duds, and that there hasn’t been a truly funny or memorable version of the Looney Tunes characters since the 1950s. Unlike many other well known properties that are being revived nowadays, there’s no pressure to live up to any contemporary standard for this group of characters because every revival/reboot is seemingly more awful than the last.

Also noteworthy, in the same article Slate says she’s working with her husband, Dean Fleischer-Camp, to develop an independently funded stop motion feature about Marcel the Shell, the character that she co-created with Fleischer-Camp and which became a breakout online hit thanks to the animated short Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed a new Looney Tunes movie is in development at Warner Bros., and it will be written by Jenny Slate, a one-season Saturday Night Live performer who most recently appeared on screen in Alvin and the Chipmunks 3: Chipwrecked (see clip embed below). Slate has voiced characaters on Bob’s Burgers and was Ted’s mom in The Lorax. She also co-wrote and voiced the viral stop-motion short Marcel the Shell With Shoes On.

Like Alvin, the Looney Tunes feature is being planned as a mix of live-action and CGI. Harry Potter producer David Heyman, as well as Jeffery’s son David Katzenberg (MTV’s The Hard Times of RJ Berger) and his creative partner Seth Grahame-Smith (Dark Shadows, Beetlejuice 2) are set to produce.

Image at top from recent CG Looney Tunes shorts – which you can now see online.
(Thanks, Liam Scanlan)

There’s no doubt in my mind that Marcel The Shell With Shoes On is the best stop-motion animation video I’ve ever seen.  If you’re not familiar with this Youtube sensation, I won’t even bother to explain – just do yourself a favor and watch the film (above)!

Now, I’ve been itching to announce for awhile now that Marcel will star in his own picture book, the first from YA imprint Razorbill.  When Marcel made a video guest appearance at work, to talk about how excited he was to be part of the Penguin family, we couldn’t be more excited for him (and his creators, Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp).

How will Marcel The Shell translate to a picture book?  I initially pictured it as a photographic Chronicle-style gift book, but turns out, the images will be traditional oil paintings instead.  Now… who is the artist going to be, I wonder??  And if you’re worried about this style of humor losing its touch without Jenny Slate’s hilarious voice, don’t be.  The press release assures us that there will be an interactive audio version to add the voice of Marcel to the reading experience.

Can’t wait for November 1 to see Marcel pulling his lint “dog” around by a hair!

“Sometimes people say that my head is too big for my body, and then I say, ‘Compared to WHAT?’”

1 Comments on MARCEL THE SHELL Becomes A Book!, last added: 4/6/2011