Joe Murray's Journal

Voice Actor Jill Talley Shows How It’s Done.

I’ve given so much attention to Tom Kenny and Carlos A. for their voice work, I wanted to send some props’ along to the very talented Second City, Mr. Show actress Jill Talley for her work on these Frog In A Suit episodes.( She was also Gretchen and Nina in Camp Lazlo). This clip shows Jill in action perfecting lines for Peete’s crush Lilly Hopper, and I’ve included early rough animation to see how they play. You will also see me directing the voice session with my engineer Krandal Crews at Sunshine Studios. Hope you like!

Let me just preface this by saying, I have a real soft spot for anyone who has been dealt a blow in life , especially as a result of being sent into battle on behalf of this country, ( or any country). And I’m also an animal rights activist. But for some reason, I’ve used animals in my cartoons and have gorged on the imperfections of life. And when it comes to villains, or authority figures, I have not pulled any punches, and at times I’ve driven viewers to actually feel sorry for the archetypal bad guy. That said, I went about recording an insensitive cowboy industrialist toad and a French policeman with Tom Kenny and Carlos Alazraqui last week,,, and…. well…. this is how it went down:

Frog In A Suit Progress

Wanted to share some progress with you on the next two Frog in a Suit episodes. Pencil tests are coming in on the animation. ( This one is from Kelly McNutt of the Jantze Studio in Georgia, showing Dad spilling his guts. Not all of the mouth movements are there, as you can see. A lot of blocking for the acting needs to be set in place.

As the animation on Episode 35 is getting completed, the storyboard and script were finished for episode 36, and on Monday we recorded it with Carlos Alazraqui and Tom Kenny. Will have video soon. It was a very entertaining record. More later!

Behind the Scenes “Frog in a Suit” Progress!

This is turning out to be a blast trying to get all the pieces together on a shoe string budget. I have an intern assistant named Tom whose been a great help, not to mention all of the people who have been pulling together to lend a hand. Tom did circle takes yesterday while we recorded Carlos A. and we had a great time.

Check out the progress. More later!

A Big Thank You!

Thanks for everyone’s input on the kickstarter thing. I’ll have it up this week and keep you posted.

Here is my last installment of the “How to Draw Your Favorite Rocko Character” series. This one is on Heffer. Keep an eye out for new developments.

I hope you like it.

Clip from my 2nd Animated Indie Film “My Dog Zero”

This film has been on my mind lately since it was such a grassroots effort to get made. The story is told in my Independent Film section on my site, but it consisted of many stories from having film students help paint it on weekends, to borrowing a Fork lift from a friend to pick up a pre-world war 2 donated ACME camera stand to film it. ( I believe it still sits in the basement of De Anza College where we shot the film in 1990. Then, after it was finished, I had to convince distributors to show it to audiences. But best of all, this was the film that Nickelodeon saw, and led them to ask me to a series, and ultimately, Rocko’s Modern Life.

In setting up the clip, Mildo has just decided he needs a dog to do tricks and attract attention, so he goes to the dog pound. After the clip, he decides to take the dog back, but don’t worry. There is a happy ending ( and pee on the shoe.)

Nick Jennings did the backgrounds for zero, but also helped out with every aspect including filming. He went on to art direct Rocko for me, and later art directed Spongebob for Steve Hillenburg.

Frog in a Suit

Just trying out how to post a Youtube video to my blog. If the ad becomes annoying on it, it can be swept away with a click to the x button. I’m only going to post to YouTube after I’ve put it up here on my blog for a day or two, So my blog readers will always get first look!

Frog in a Suit Clip

Okay, let me set up this clip ( as they say on chat shows.)

Peete Moss has just moved to Croakville ( a town full of toads) with his family. Croakville is a town on the fast track, with Industrialist Harvey Croak running everyone crazy. Peete Moss tries to fit in, sports a suit, and tries to “run with the bulls”.

In this clip, he has a run in with a local coffee shop, and offends the love of his life, Lilly Patt, who is the local school teacher.

This is the first time any one has seen any part of this film. An exclusive for my blog readers. Here goes.

(See Frog Clip above in post for March 8, 2010!)

I give the treatment to Ed and Bev Bighead.