A Gingerly Prepared Meal -or- Ginger eats a close relative.

A promotion video for the store window. Directed and animated by Poul Riishede

Recently my good friends Poul Riishede and his wife Sansanee, opened a new Pancake House in Chiang Mai Thailand. They have sort of adopted the lead character from my film Escape Of The Gingerbread Man!!! as their mascot.

Years ago Poul left his native Denmark to help me make my film at The Monk Studio Thailand. Like most of my personal film work, I had no budget to pay anyone. But despite that, Poul went above and beyond what was expected... and helped make the film a reality.

A few pages from the menu. Layout and photography by Poul Riishede

During the production of the film, Poul constantly yearned for a well made pancake. Then after a while, he decided to take matters in his own hands... and opened up his own shop! I owe Poul so much for helping me make my own dream a reality... so offered him and his wife the character to help them get their little dream business going. I never expected him to run, run, run with the character the way he has... but I am happy to see little Ginger running again. -tod

Some Ginger goodies for the kids! By Sansanee Riishede!

P.S.- I would like to add that I owe a great debt of gratitude to so, so many who have helped me in my personal film work over the years. Friends with much greater talent than I... who have chosen to share that talent with me for a time. Without you, I wouldn't have much... and I will always be in your debt. THANK YOU!

Paddle Pop Begins

A few years ago I was invited to direct a few episodes of a low budget kids show called "Paddle Pop" at The Monk Studios in Thailand. Paddle Pop Lion (called Max in Europe) is the mascot of Paddle Pop ice cream and of course the hero of the show.



Though we had serious restrictions in terms of budget, content, and schedule... we had a good time putting these little episodes together. English speaking actors are more difficult to come by in Asia, and many of the voices in the series are friends and crew members. For instance, I am the voice of the giant chicken statue in episode 7. The little robots in this episode were inspired by the Balinese Monkey Dance. You can hear hints of Indonesian music in the soundtrack.



Episode 9 was interesting because of the fact that most of the crew had never seen a real snow beast before... or real snow for that matter.  They took it all in stride... and within the limitations we were faced with... did a fine job. Most of the character designs were established before I came onto the project. However, the client asked me to come up with "non threatening weapons." If you notice the soldiers "spears" they are inspired by dental floss picks.

Animation from the movie "Howl" (2010)

Howl is a 2010 American experimental film which explores both the Six Gallery debut and the 1957 obscenity trial of 20th-century American poet Allen Ginsberg's noted poem Howl. The film is written and directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and stars James Franco as Ginsberg. (from wiki)

My role on Howl was as the animation art director, and animation production supervisor. I would take storyboards from animation director John Hays, and designs from art director Eric Drooker, and use them to direct the crew at "The Monk Studios" in Thailand. 

One of the biggest challenges we faced on Howl was figuring out how to bring John and Eric's vision to life on such a tiny animation budget. Working with CG supervisor Salvador Simo, we broke each scene down into 2D elements, 3D elements, cut-outs, matte paintings, and full 3D sets. The 2D sequences were animated and rendered by my students from "The Animation Workshop" in Viborg, Denmark who joined the crew in Thailand for 3-4 months.

For those that are interested, you can see the original proof of concept for the film  HERE.

From the final film... see some film stills HERE... and a few color scripts and designs HERE.

Dallas International Film Festival Interview

"Escape of the Gingerbread Man!!!" is still running the festival circuit, and was recently invited to screen at the 2013 Dallas International Film Festival. 

I had a chance to chit-chat about the film, and about story in general with Chad Jones. You can read the interview HERE. 

For those that haven't seen the film, an online version can be seen HERE .

To "The Monk Studio," "The Animation Workshop" and everyone who helped bring Ginger to life... thank you!