FILMOGRAPHY Animation

Student works: "It's A Dog's World (1970), "I, A Wizard" (1971), "The Miller's Tale" (1972), "Good Garbage" (1973)

"Self Made Man" (1978)--awards from Jacksonville and Ann Arbor film festivals

"Daydreams" (1982)--awards from Ann Arbor, Toronto, and Los Angeles film festivals; aired on France's Antennae 2 
Daydreams was the first time Benny Bugg appeared, albeit in a slightly different form than his Disneyfied appearance is now. Then he was a bug, imagine that. Someone in Ann Arbor thought he was gay. Someone else there said the whole thing was "Kafka meets Busby Berkeley." I was just worried about violating sound copyrights with the use of "42nd Street" from an old 78. 

"Alpha" (1985)--awards from Ann Arbor, Toronto, Lisbon, Tunis, and Melbourne film festivals. This collection of 2500 cel and paper background drawings saw more of the world than I did. When it played in Tunis, there was Arafat--when it played in Lisbon, there was an earthquake-- when it played in Brazil, there was economic collapse...perhaps I need to bring it out for the festival circuits again!

"A HyperRomantic Expectation" (1987)--part of a master's thesis on dance for the University of Michigan...not my master's in dance – that was a project of a poor gal who was recovering from a broken back. So she figured it would be easy to do something to a specially-created animation background.

"Cereal Symphony" (1991)--Arts council promotion for Battle Creek – it's on youtube! Click here!

"Channel Surfing" (1994)--Promotional animation for Fox television pilot.
Here's a lesson--get it in writing. After working on a pilot with Kevin Matthews (then enjoying some popularity at WLUP) for nearly six months on this, the whole plug was pulled when FOX wanted the two of us to take on all legal fees for them. So we have a great 45 second sequence of a transsexual promoting pre-lubed jewelry and the opening animatic, which managed to feature Mr. Bugg. Live and learn!

"Who's Got the Keys?" (1997)--Opening credits and animated links for video musical satirizing the effects of managed care on the hospital workplace – the entire film is available in various segments on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUmSpmEAO_g

"Rush Job" (1998)--2D animation project completely rendered on computer, synchronized to Chopin's Waltz in A Minor.

The film got its name from its production schedule of six weeks, in free time, during 1998. The storyboard had been "under development" since 1984.

One could argue that the project hearkens to a bit of a mid life crisis.

Sfumato #1: Flute Solo" (1999)--2D abstract animation synchronized to a flute solo recorded in 1905 by the Edison studios; finalist, 15th World Animation Celebration, June 2000. Opened for a Limp Bizkit internet concert the same year. Very odd.

"Chippewa Projects" (1999-2004)--2D animation for children's day care series, casino promotions, PSAs, Chippewa creation legend... all together, it came to about 4 minutes' worth of animation

"Political Asylum – aka Good Garbage II" (work in progress); every 30 years or so, I think any animator should get nice and cranky and make some futile political gesture that will expend lots and lots of time and energy and not really make any impact since most of the viewers will be perfectly content to watch reruns of F-Troop. Not that F-troop was a bad show, mind you, but it does make a point...I could just as easily have said Joe Millionaire.

“Your Pharmacist” - a 1988 commercial for the Michigan Pharmacists Association...the 30 second opus is available on youtube by clicking here!

“Radio Play” (1989) – Suzanne Zack and Chuck Peterson assembled this document of a week in Grand Rapids when David Ossman of The Firesign Theatre directed some two dozen sonic hopefuls. See here for this bit of magic when we all could do impossible things before breakfast....

"The Battle Creek Idea" (1992)--film about Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, medical director at the Battle Creek Sanitarium and originator of modern day breakfast foods

"Behind the Counter" (1993)--10 episode pharmacy promotional series for the Michigan Pharmacy Foundation; script, direction, production, and edit

"The One Dollar Miracles of Battle Creek" (1993)--a look at the patent medicine industry in Battle Creek

"Joy at the Speed of Light" (1995)--documentary about individual contributors to the art of animation--Kids! Try this at home!