Strangers in the (Late) Night

In the second episode of Independent Animation, the companion podcast series to my Skwigly tie-in book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films, I take a look at the work of “rotating collective” the Late Night Work Club, who last year followed up their 2013 anthology film Ghost Stories with another themed collection of animated shorts titled Strangers.

This podcast follows up on two of the artists who contributed invaluably to the original book:

Kirsten Lepore (Hi Stranger)

Since her promising beginnings with the viral hit Story From North America (co-directed with Garrett Michael Davis in 2007) and breakthrough student short Bottle (that to date has picked up 39 awards and counting) in 2010, Kirsten Lepore‘s animation career has flourished, notable jewels in the crown being her auteur short film Move Mountain (2013) and last year’s Adventure Time episode Bad Jubies. Her Strangers contribution Hi Stranger went crazily viral last month, even getting itself spoofed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. You can read a bit more from the interview in my recent feature Stranger Things: A Conversation with Kirsten Lepore.

Alex Grigg (Born in a Void)

Australian animation director and designer Alex Grigg has produced work for clients such as Super Deluxe, Netflix and Cartoon Network. Presently working at Mighty Nice in Sydney, Alex’s independent work includes the multi-award-winning Ghost Stories contribution Phantom Limb.

The podcast also features exclusive insight about the independent production approaches for the anthology from other participating talents:

Charles Huettner (Intro, outtro and interstitials animation)

Charles is a Pennsylvania-based freelance animator. As well as his involvement with the Late Night Work Club, he was recently involved with fellow LNWC founder Scott Benson‘s indie game project Night in the Woods.

Sean Buckelew (Lovestreams)

Having received an MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sean has since worked on projects including We Are Your Friends, Consuming Spirits and the Annie Award-winning animated sequences of He Named Me Malala. Alonside his independent films he has worked with clients including Disney Channel, MTV, Arctic Monkeys, VH1 and Adult Swim.

Jeanette Bonds (Departures)

Since receiving a BFA and MFA from CalArts for Experimental Animation, LA-based animator Jeanette has gone on to programme and participate in festivals including Slamdance, Platform, KLIK!, Fantoche and the Los Angeles Film Festival. In 2014 her student film Trusts & Estates was nominated for an Annie Award. On top of her independent film work Jeanette is also the Co-Founder, Director and Artistic Director of the GLAS Animation Festival.

Loup Blaster (Freedom)

Presently living and working in France as an illustrator, animator and VJ, Louise Philia Druelle (AKA Loup Blaster) grew up in Calais and studied animation at ESAAT and Volda University College.  In March 2012 she started BBBLASTER, an illustration, animation and music project.

Nicolas Ménard (Wednesday with Goddard)

Nicolas moved to the UK from Montreal to study at the Royal College of Art where he produced the popular student films Somewhere and Loop Ring Chop Drink. During his career he has worked with dozens of clients including Google, la Cinémathèque Québécoise, Universal and Time magazine. He also works as a director at Nexus.

Listen to the episode below or direct download:

Thanks muchly to all the brilliant interviewees for their time and insight, as well as composers Skillbard and David Kamp for the use of their music in the episode. Don't forget that the Independent Animation book itself is available to buy now from pretty much everywhere else that sells books - though at the time of writing you can get it direct from CRC Press with 20% off plus free shipping!