Nice Shorts
Nice Shorts
Fu Yang and Johnny Knittle
A series of interviews with animators of all mediums about the short films they make as they share tips and peeks into their processes.
022: Dave Joly - creator of Midnight Snack
Dave Joly! Dave is an illustrator and animator working in 2D and 3D and has been at the forefront of animation technology since its earliest days at Atari! For the last 30+ years Dave has been teaching university students how to create their own works of art! Find Dave at: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dave.joly YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/davejoly LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davejoly Behance - https://www.behance.net/DaveJoly?locale=en_US Show Notes Atari - https://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/dave_joly/interview_dave_joly.html ET game - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T.the_Extra-Terrestrial(video_game) Eadweard Muybridge - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge Bryce 3D Show Your Work by Austin Kleon Animation Wild Card - https://animationwildcard.com Blender - https://www.blender.org/ CG Boost blender course - https://www.cgboost.com Chuck Jones - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Jones Annie Joly - https://www.anniejoly.com/about Kevin Parry - https://kevinparry.tv/en/learnfromkevin MoHo - https://moho.lostmarble.com Camera - Nikon d5500 Dave’s Money 101 - https://bit.ly/Money101update_davejoly Nice Shorts is… Fu Yang ⁠https://fuyang.wixsite.com/fuyang/about⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/cuckoostuff/⁠ @cuckoostuff Johnny Knittle ⁠https://johnnyrk.com/ ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/johnnyrk/⁠ @johnnyrk
Jan 14, 2025
1 hr 29 min
021: Stefie Gan - Creator of Joss Lotuses to Grandma
Stefie Gan studied architecture at Barnard College, Columbia University, and drew from her expertise in spatial awareness as she used environmental metaphors in her films. As an MFA graduate at the University of Southern California, Stefie has experience working with researchers and scientists at the USC Wrigley Institute of Environmental Studies where she made an animated video depicting Life at the Rocky Intertidal Zone and the importance of plankton to marine life. Her award-winning film, Plastic Ecosystem, using found plastic objects to address the issue of climate change, received second place at the Oscar-qualifying Odense Film Festival. Her work addressing Asian Hate during COVID was also featured by the Getty Museum. Stefie has made an animated holiday video for Barnard, a reading campaign for Scholastic, colored frames for Oscar nominee Bill Plympton’s latest feature film Revengeance, worked on a Curious George documentary, and drew and animated for the Dow Jones Media Group, home of the Wall Street Journal. Stefie is the first in her family to go to college, and it’s important to her to bring her cultural heritage to her drawings and films.
Dec 27, 2024
1 hr 33 min
020: Lindsay Berkebile (Pt. II) - Adult Swim Stop-Motion Bumper
Today we have more with Lindsay Berkebile!!!! Lindsay is an LA and Portland based Stop-Motion Animator and Director working in tv, ads, and films. You may have seen some of her amazing work in Wendell & Wild, I’m a Virgo, Robot Chicken, Crossing Swords, or many other super awesome projects. Today we talk to Lindsay about how she created an incredible stop-motion vomiting mandible bumper for Adult Swim! Visit the links below to watch her finished Maya and the Three and Centaurworld animations! Watch the Adult Swim bumper Skin of my Teeth Adult Swim bumper Follow Lindsay Instagram: @10secondday TikTok: @10secondday twitter/x: @10secondday IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3126621/ Vimeo: lindsayfatal Shout Outs Sam Shumway: @yungshum Jake Hauswirth: @beercanfan Aarica North: @urrcanarf James Morr: @tinyangrydog.animation Doug Cummings: @3doug Open the Portal: @opentheportal Nice Shorts is... Fu Yang https://fuyang.wixsite.com/fuyang/about https://www.instagram.com/cuckoostuff/ @cuckoostuff Johnny Knittle https://johnnyrk.com/ https://www.instagram.com/johnnyrk/ @johnnyrk
Dec 13, 2023
41 min
019: Lindsay Berkebile (Pt. I) - Making a Stop-Mo Maya and the Three and Centaurworld
NS 019: Lindsay Berkebile Intro Today we have Lindsay Berkebile!!!! Lindsay is an LA and Portland based Stop-Motion Animator and Director working in tv, ads, and films. You may have seen some of her amazing work in Wendell & Wild, I’m a Virgo, Robot Chicken, Crossing Swords, or many other super awesome projects. Today we talk to Lindsay about the cutout animations she did with Netflix for Maya and the Three and Centaurworld as she walks us through how she and her team brought those into existence using a down shooter multi plane and binders filled with paper cutouts for amazing replacement animation shots Visit the links below to watch her finished Maya and the Three and Centaurworld animations! Watch the films Maya and the Three full animation Centaurworld full animation Follow Lindsay Instagram TikTok twitter/x IMDb Shout Outs Sam Shumway: @yungshum Jake Hauswirth: @beercanfan Aarica North): @urrcanarf James Morr: @tinyangrydog.animation Doug Cummings: @3doug Nice Shorts is... Fu Yang https://fuyang.wixsite.com/fuyang/about https://www.instagram.com/cuckoostuff/ @cuckoostuff Johnny Knittle https://johnnyrk.com/ https://www.instagram.com/johnnyrk/ @johnnyrk
Nov 29, 2023
1 hr 40 min
018: Cami Kwan (Pt. II) - Creator of American Girl Doll of the Year 2022
Cami Kwan is a stop motion director, producer, and one of the amazing partners at Apartment D Films, an animation studio in Burbank, California! Over the the last two episodes we talked to Cami about making the American Girl Doll short series and what it meant to Cami to help tell the story of their first Asian-American Girl of of the Year doll. She also told us about the origins of Apartment D and how she has transitioned from animator to overseeing a full production crew. We also got to hear a bit about her amazing work animating a music video for The Life I Know by the band The Itchy Worms American Girl Doll of the Year: Meet Corinne Tan The Life I Know by The Itchyworms Follow Cami Cami's Instagram: @camikwan Apartment D Instagram: @apartmentdfilms Apartment D website: www.apartmentdfilms.com Nice Shorts is... Fu Yang Website: https://fuyang.wixsite.com/fuyang/about Instagram: @cuckoostuff  Johnny Knittle Website: https://johnnyrk.com/ Instagram: @johnnyrk
Jun 21, 2023
1 hr 12 min
017: Cami Kwan (Pt. I) - Creator of American Girl Doll of the Year 2022
Cami Kwan is a stop motion director, producer, and one of the amazing partners at Apartment D Films, an animation studio in Burbank, California! Over the next two episodes we’ll be talking to Cami about making the American Girl Doll short series and what it meant to Cami to help tell the story of their first Asian-American Girl of of the Year doll. She’ll also tell us about the origins of Apartment D and how she has transitioned from animator to overseeing a full production crew. We’ll also get to hear a bit about her amazing work animating a music video for The Life I Know by the band The Itchy Worms.
Jun 7, 2023
1 hr 9 min
016: Terry Ibele (Pt. II) - Creator of Let's Go Luna Interstitial Shorts
Terry Ibele is an award-winning stop-motion animator in Toronto, Canada. He’s produced and animated for television, short film, and digital media. He specializes in taking ideas from concept to completion – including design work, storyboarding, puppet/set fabrication, animation, and editing. He is also the host of the Animation Industry Podcast! In part 2 of our interview, he shows us the sets from his Let's Go Luna shorts, teaches us about paper mache, and how to use good vs bad toilet paper for scenery. We talk about building his home studio during the pandemic along with supplies and budget needed. Discuss pitching his shows, working with a mentor, and how he balances hosting his podcast with his work schedule. Links Terry Ibele's Full Interview (Pt. I) Why Evergreens Are Always Green Aiken Drum | Let's Go Luna | Stop Motion Animation The Strange Ride | Let's Go Luna | Stop Motion & 2D Jackalope Song | Kids Animation DIG! DIG! DIG! - GIPHY Arts + Caruna Exquisit Corpse Stop Motion Segment The Silly Duck Wizard (Stop Motion) Follow Terry Website: terryibele.com Instagram: terryibele Animation Industry Podcast Shout Out Stop Motion Department Toronto Animation Arts Festival International Ottawa International Animation Festival Julie Stewart Rick and Morty Adventure Time Brett Jubinville Fred Seibert Oprah Winfrey Adina Amin Citoplasmas Stop motion Animation Studio Kinetic Armatures National Film Board of Canada Bone Mother A Claymation Easter Nice Shorts is... Fu Yang Website: https://fuyang.wixsite.com/fuyang/about Instagram: @cuckoostuff  Johnny Knittle Website: https://johnnyrk.com/ Instagram: @johnnyrk 
Jun 6, 2023
1 hr 8 min
015: Terry Ibele (Pt. 1) - Creator of Let's Go Luna Interstitial Shorts
Terry Ibele is an award-winning stop motion animator in Toronto, Canada. He’s produced and animated for television, short film, and digital media. He specializes in taking ideas from concept to completion – including design work, storyboarding, puppet/set fabrication, animation, and editing. He is also the host of the Animation Industry Podcast! In part 1 of our interview, Terry walks us through his Let’s Go Luna shorts! He discusses creating “Evergreen Content”, teaches us the origin story of The Mouse, and shares his life-long hobby of creating an epic wizard tome! Links Why Evergreens Are Always Green Aiken Drum | Let's Go Luna | Stop Motion Animation The Strange Ride | Let's Go Luna | Stop Motion & 2D Jackalope Song | Kids Animation DIG! DIG! DIG! - GIPHY Arts + Caruna Exquisit Corpse Stop Motion Segment The Silly Duck Wizard (Stop Motion) Follow Terry Website: terryibele.com Instagram: terryibele Animation Industry Podcast Shout Out Stoopid Buddy Stoodios Ultra City Smiths Let's Go Luna! Sheridan College ToonBox Entertainment The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature Chris Walsh Davey Swatpaz Reddit Peter Hannan CatDog Toon Boom Dragonframe Flowframes Nice Shorts is... Fu Yang Website: https://fuyang.wixsite.com/fuyang/about Instagram: @cuckoostuff Johnny Knittle Website: https://johnnyrk.com/ Instagram: @johnnyrk
Oct 7, 2022
55 min
014: Threadwood (Pt. II) - Creator of Magical Cat
Threadwood is a boutique animation studio that started in Burbank, CA and is now located in upstate New York. It's run by Emmy Award-winning animation professionals Alexis Deprey and Scott DaRos. Producing both client projects and original content, Threadwood brings unique, handmade design sensibilities to clay, stop-motion, and 2D animation projects. In part 2 they share many more great tips like how to light a fireplace in stop mo, how they balance personal projects with client projects, and how they want to become a full-service animation studio from the spark of an idea to the finished product!!! Links Threadwood's Full Interview (Pt. I) Magical Cat Episodes Flumpy Lynn Animation Wild Card Hello Stop Mo! Podcast Follow Threadwood Instagram: _threadwood TikTok: @threadwood Youtube: Threadwood Vimeo: Threadwood Website: www.threadwood.com Shout Out LoopdeLoop 11 Second Club Catalyst Castle Studios Apartment D Cassie Soliday Dragonframe DDMX-512 DMX Cable ADJ Products DP-415R Screen Novelties GIDERWEL 12 Channel DMX Decoder RGB LED Controller DIP switch Emmy Awards Stoopid Buddy Stoodios Robot Chicken Nice Shorts is... Fu Yang Website: https://fuyang.wixsite.com/fuyang/about Instagram: @cuckoostuff Johnny Knittle Website: https://johnnyrk.com/ Instagram: @johnnyrk
Aug 24, 2022
1 hr 1 min
013: Threadwood (Pt. I) - Creator of Magical Cat
Threadwood is a boutique animation studio that started in Burbank, CA and is now located in upstate New York. It's run by Emmy Award-winning animation professionals Alexis Deprey and Scott DaRos. Producing both client projects and original content, Threadwood brings unique, handmade design sensibilities to clay, stop-motion, and 2D animation projects. In part 1 of our interview, they take us on a deep dive into all things Magical Cat.. from doing their own theme song and sound design to nailing down the timing of animating a cat! So let’s take a stroll through their early careers together making animations for a furniture company and how that led to wedding rings! Links Magical Cat Episodes Magical Cat: 1 Hour Yule Log Mystery Meat (SYFY) Flumpy Animation Wild Card Hello Stop Mo! Podcast Follow Threadwood Instagram: _threadwood TikTok: @threadwood Youtube: Threadwood Website: www.threadwood.com Shout Out Bob's Discount Furniture Michael Bannon Loose Moose Pepsi Lipton Iced Tea Brisk advert - 'Rocky' Stoopid Buddy Stoodios Ellen Coons Lee Young Aardman Purple and Brown Creature Comforts Nickelodeon Tongal GarageBand Adobe Premiere Pro Nice Shorts is... Fu Yang Website: https://fuyang.wixsite.com/fuyang/about Instagram: @cuckoostuff Johnny Knittle Website: https://johnnyrk.com/ Instagram: @johnnyrk
Aug 17, 2022
1 hr 5 min
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