Acclaimed animation veteran Joe Murray, who is best known for creating classic animated series such as Rocko’s Modern Life and Camp Lazlo, is back on the scene with a charming new 2D-animated short. Titled Fiego and the Magic Fish, the short recently completed a successful run at 22 animation festivals around the world. You can now stream his new 11-minute short at gardenboxfilms.vhx.tv.
The short, which is described as a reimagined “Fisherman’s Wife” tale, follows the adventures of a broken Italian fisherman named Fiego who catches a magic fish and makes wishes to give his wife his version of the good life. “This film has been almost 30 years in the making” says Joe Murray. “It brings me back to the passion I had as an independent animator in the ’80s and ’90s, and actually chronicles the lessons I’ve learned over the years, both in animation and life.”
Murrays says you could say Fiego was almost 30 years in the making. “After Rocko, I began tinkering with a reimagined Fisherman’s’ Wife story to return to independent animation. I wrote, filled sketchbooks and rewrote again. I experimented when I could with any new technology that would pop up for hand-drawn 2D animation. After beginning some animation, I got lured back into television. Following a show for Cartoon Network, I returned to my “Fish Film.” Writing a new storyboard and script, and even recording a dialog track with cartoon voice veterans’ Carlos Alazraqui and Jeff Bennett. But again, I got diverted by Years as a stay-at-home dad, and a show I created for PBS (Let’s Go Luna!) that I was really passionate about.”
He adds, “After the PBS project, (and a Rocko reboot special for Netflix), I retired from lawyers, contracts, gatekeepers and executive wrestling that is volume corporate animation. I relocated to a farm in Belgium, built a new studio from an old cow stable, (Studio Garden Box) and started work on a rewritten version of the film. I scrapped all of the previously recorded dialog and embraced any technology that could aid me in almost completely self-making (and self-funding) the film.
Murray points out that keeping the short all hand-drawn 2D with hand-painted background was very important to him. “My love for old-school animation continued as I experimented with my new indie film style,” says the writer-director. “Aside from the coloring help from my artist daughter Daisy Murray, and the music talents of Meiro Stamm and sound genius Mike Mancuso, I was blissfully able to “auteur” Fiego and the Magic Fish.
He also notes that this indie venture was quite different from his previous studio-funded TV shows. “Gone are the film, cameras, painting cels, none of which I really miss so much,” he explains. “Now I work on a Cintiq and use TVPaint as my software. But I approach it still in a 2D way— pencil lines with the paint behind. I did my backgrounds in Photoshop, TVPaint and Procreate. The editing is digital, the music and sound are digital ( although we have a live orchestra do Meiro Stamm’s score.) Entering festivals is also very different. I used to have to ship off a physical print of the film to the festival committees, but now everything is done online. Everything is much easier and more efficient!”
Murray’s life has also been very different since he, his wife and sons moved to Belgium and bought a farm. “All I can say is that I am in total bliss,” he says. “Every day I wake up, see the kids off to school, feed the goats and the chickens. Two seconds later, it’s time for dinner! I can’t wait to see my family, and I can’t wait to get to work! My wife is Belgian and we were able to have my in-laws live with us as well. I built a new studio out of an old cow stable, with a view of a pear orchard out back. I’m trying to learn the language, but luckily most Belgians in Flanders speak enough English for me to get by. I am appreciative of that!”
For more information, visit www.fiegoandthemagicfish.com.
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