When a young deaf girl discovers a mysterious mixtape, she sets out to change the course of humanity in a dark, dystopian world where creative expression is forbidden. That’s the cool premise behind Mello’s Funk, the new animated short directed by Stoopid Buddy Stoodio’s Mike Roberts and Eric Towner. We caught up with the two talented creatives who are behind this imaginative award season contender.
Animag: Can you tell us a little bit about the inspiration and origins of the short?
Eric Towner: Ever since we featured Marshmello in a Robot Chicken sketch, we’ve been talking about a bigger collaboration. Doing an epic sci-fi short film seemed like the obvious choice! The film couldn’t be further from our work on Robot Chicken, though. There’s definitely a lot of influence from sci-fi/adventure genre (Captain EO, anyone?), but at its core we’re addressing depression, isolation, and how the “noise” of social media can impact us.
When did you start working on the short and how long did it take to finish?
Eric: Getting it done was nothing short of a whirlwind experience. We were looking at projects to deliver as a part of our involvement of Nouns Fest, so the discussions with Mello picked up at the beginning of the year, as did the brainstorming and writing. Animation wasn’t set to kick-off until May with a September delivery, and thus began an action-packed 3 1/2 months of production! We couldn’t have pulled this off without our amazing producer, Chantal Hennessey, and our animation partners at Le Cube. We had a lot of people tell us this couldn’t be done, but they believed we could pull it off.
Can you discuss the visual style and influences of the project?
Mike Roberts: Eric and I had a pretty clear vision of what we wanted, but also remain very collaborative. It was easy to let Le Cube lead a lot with the visual style. People throw around the term “Western Anime” a lot. It’s a bit of a cliché, but that’s definitely the style we were going for as something that feels mature but aesthetically beautiful. I have a specific way I like to do compositing and storyboards and we were able to incorporate those techniques throughout. In the end it’s very hard to tell where everyone’s influence starts and ends, which is the sign of a great collaboration.
Eric: It’s not exactly what we’re known for at Stoopid Buddy, but we absolutely wanted it go give that “Western Anime” our own unique spin. Mike and I had a lot of discussions around treating the cameras a little like we were shooting stop-motion — so playing around a lot with textures, lenses, depth of field, and lighting that gave the world shape, mood, and depth.
You are both veterans of popular animated shows (Robot Chicken, Super Mansion, MODOK, Ultra City Smiths and Crossing Swords, to name a few) How was this short a departure for you? What did you love about working on it?
Eric: The biggest departure for me given the background is stop-motion was diving into a 2D animation pipeline. Our bonkers schedule only allowed us one retake at most, but when you’re used to none, this was a bit of a luxury! I love visual storytelling and loved the challenge of telling this story with no dialogue, and letting the visuals, the music, and the sound lead the way.
Mike: I’ve worked on a lot of shows that are more polished like Hot Wheels, but then scrappy sketch comedy shows like TripTank. My career started with a short film with a similar scope so this kind of filmmaking is very familiar and I love it! Make something beautiful, in a hurry, with people who really care about making something great. The fast schedule didn’t feel like we had to make compromises and I think that’s down to everyone pouring their hearts out. We had a killer producer in Chantelle who kept us on track in spite of the chaos.
What would you say were the toughest aspects of the project?
Eric: In the storyline, our main character Vega is deaf, but has the ability to see sound waves with the help of her synesthetic glasses. It’s an important part of the story — experiencing music for the first time from her point of view. We needed it to feel like a transcendental moment, and the team at Le Cube really stepped up to the plate. As soon as we saw their first test, we were like “Yep, those hours of conversations really paid off. Let’s gooo!”
Mike: I think the biggest challenge was just having to measure twice and cut once, or risk it all falling apart. Productions don’t stop. They’re like trains. They either keep moving or they derail. Our time was tight so we just had to be extra extra careful about what we wanted. It really could’ve been a disaster, but Le Cube crushed it. They’re awesome. Marshmello was amazing too. The music could’ve become really complicated. But it’s fun when things are humming on a tight schedule and everyone is working hard. It feels spontaneous as much as stressful.
Where was the animation produced and how many people worked on it?
Eric: We had teams based here in Los Angeles and Le Cube had teams in Argentina, Spain, and Mexico. It truly took a global effort to pull off something this ambitious in the time we had. The team size fluctuated throughout the process, but as you see in the credits, it took a small army. My guess is around 100 artists get their fingerprints on it!
What do you hope audiences will take away from the short?
Mike: The film has a message and it’s a good one, but I think these kinds of films are more about the feeling it gives you, especially mixed with the original music from Marshmello. Hopefully it wows your eyes and ears.
Eric: I hope they find the world to be rich and engaging and the story to be entertaining and heartfelt. There’s a lot personally that inspired the story, so I hope audiences will give some thought about their relationships with social media and choose to ignore the noise. A single one-on-one interaction with another person can really make a difference. You never know what someone is dealing with behind the scenes. So let’s try to stay connected, we’re all in this human experience together.
Watch the trailer below:
