NSFW – complete with buckets of spew, scat and blood.

I saw a preview of this film last month, and it’s an exceptional short; subtle, clever and completely unique. Bravo gang, and congrats on your nomination.

Since this success, an numerous other awards, Malis has endeavored to turn Bendito Machine into a shorts factory. The second of 9 planned shorts recently released and below is the first 25 seconds. For the entire short, head over to Jossie’s site, where he has also offered iPod downloads and wallpapers.

Steve Whitehouse isn’t your typical Flash animator. During the 80s and 90s, Steve was working as a traditional animator on projects like ‘Beetlejuice’ and ‘The Ewoks,’ and then in 1999 he found Flash, and became one of the first (if not THE first) to use it for TV.

But it wasn’t a TV project that propelled him to Flash-fame. It was a series of shorts called ‘Mr. Man,’ which feature a blinking, speechless, triangular man and his three-legged dog. Over a hundred Flash-animated shorts later, Steve Whitehouse had created one of the internet’s most popular characters.

And the festivals took notice. ‘Mr. Man’ won the Grand Prix Vivendi award at France’s 2001 FIFI awards for top internet series. He was nominated in the Internet Series category at the 2004 Ottawa International Animation Festival for his short ‘Vacation,’ (40 episodes!) and in the same year, his short ‘Fishing‘ was nominated at Annecy in the Internet Films division.

But what separates Steve from so many animators using Flash today, is his pursuit of a higher artistic achievement. An art connoisseur (see his Mr. Man short ‘Gallery‘ for proof), Whitehouse has conceived and animated several shorts that would more aptly be classified as ‘avant-garde’ than ‘cartoon.’ From ‘Warholvis,’ ‘Kunstbar,’ to ‘Da Vinci Blues,’ his experimenting is as adventurous as ‘Mr. Man’ is clever.

Steve took a moment earlier this year to answer a few questions about his career, what inspires him and what lies ahead.

AARON SIMPSON: You seem to have bounced between the worlds of television ‘cartoons’ and avant-garde animation rather effortlessly. Do these two genres fulfill separate artistic needs for you?
STEVE WHITEHOUSE: Absolutely. Traditional animation (for TV etc.) requires so many people and so many (necessary) compromises that a pure artistic vision is impossible to achieve. There are many restrictions to what can and can’t be done on TV. The internet has NO restrictions. When Flash came along, it opened up the doors to me and other independent ‘film’ makers as a viable means to get our work out ‘to the masses’. Free world-wide distribution! The one is a team sport and the other is individual effort. Both satisfy on different levels (mostly monetary! Ha ha ha).

AARON: What was the first animation you created with Flash?
STEVE: The first was ‘Interactive Steve‘ I believe. I was just trying to learn the program; using buttons, etc.

AARON: You emerged on the Flash animation scene fairly early. Did you see it as a movement that would eventually gain steam, or simply a niche?
STEVE: I guess I thought it would gain steam. And as it turns out, it has, only not the way I thought it would. Now it’s used as a mainstream/cost-saving tool by the big studios, for which I am partly to blame as I was the first to use (Flash) for broadcast. I did a 3 minute promo in 1999 for a show called ‘John Callahan’s Quads‘ (originally called ‘When Quads Won’t Leave’). Dan Aykroyd did the voice! I love Callahan’s cartoons and thought the style would suit Flash to a tee, and I was right. In fact, too right. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a double edged sword.

The outcome was that since I was able to the work of so many departments (layout, animation, paint, compositing), the studio saw it as an opportunity to cut back and save $ and do the productions here (in Canada/US) as opposed to sending things overseas (where I spent a lot of time in the 80’s and 90’s supervising). So now, the salary levels have dropped back to where they were 15 years ago. Sigh.

AARON: Were you using any animation software before you began using Flash?
STEVE: I made some animated .GIFs but the file sizes were so huge that it was prohibitive to put online.

AARON: How has the software evolved since then?
STEVE: Flash 4 was a big improvement over 3 but Flash 5 was a step backwards. They fixed the bugs for Flash MX and that’s what I’m still using now. Apparently, in the latest version, they’ve made the in-between function a little more sophisticated, which I look forward to checking out.

AARON: What was the goal of the Half Empty collective you participated in?
STEVE: You would have to ask Marty Spellerberg or James Paterson that. I was just taken along for the ride (and the bandwidth!). Someone showed me the Halfempty site as it had some of James’ animation on it and saw that they were interested in others posting their work. Since I didn’t have a website of my own, I sent them a couple of my early shorts (‘Da Vinci Blues,’ ‘Warholvis’) which they kindly accepted to put online. In fact, James wrote my HTML (which I am still using for my site today!).

AARON: What inspired your ‘Warholvis’ short?
STEVE: I did that initially as a birthday card for my Mother (who is a big Elvis fan).

AARON: Where did you first release your Flash short ‘Da Vinci Blues?’
STEVE: I came across Wired.com’s Animation Express site and sent it to them. To my surprise, not only did they accept it but, they gave me some $ for it! Wow! I realized that not only could I do my own shorts but people would pay me for them. I was off and running.

AARON: Are your Flash character models more elaborate than when you began?
STEVE: Oh sure. Initially, I designed Mr. Man in a crude way on purpose in order to exploit the limitations of the Flash program. But, as processor speeds have improved and with the introduction of broadband, I’ve been able to add more subtleties.

AARON: What’s the secret to ‘turning’ a Flash character model?
STEVE: Drawing! My background is in traditional animation (ie; pencil and paper) not computers. The computer is just a tool. Using the onion skin function takes the place of the traditional light table.

AARON: You’ve worked on several animated TV shows, including ‘Sam & Max,’ ‘Beetlejuice’ and ‘Duckman.’ Do you have a favorite?
STEVE: All those have a special place in my heart. For ‘Sam & Max’ we won the Gemini (Canada’s Emmy) for best animated series. ‘Beetlejuice’ because it was rated X (religious fanatics deemed it the WORST show for kids to watch! Because of the existence of the Netherworld, I guess). Duckman because Frank Zappa did the music. Unfortunately, he died that same year. More recently, ‘Gerald McBoing Boing’ is cool. I’ve always been a Dr. Suess fan. And ‘Pucca‘ too – it’s cute and violent! Ha ha ha.

AARON: When compared to your experiences on ‘Beetlejuice’ and ‘Duckman,’ how does the animation pipeline differ on the projects you’re currently working on?
STEVE: When I’m working in Canada, I work out of my home. And currently I’m doing storyboards. So my pipeline work like this – I get the script and designs, do the board, ship it off and wait for a cheque. Ha ha!

AARON: What’s your main function at Nelvana?
STEVE: I’ve worked off and on (and off and on again) with Nelvana since 1986 (the first show was ‘Ewoks’). But have not worked ‘in house’ since 1998. Since then, I’ve supervised animation on 3 direct-to-DVD ‘Franklin the Turtle’ features in Thailand.

AARON: How has the internet changed the way teams collaborate on animation projects?
STEVE: It’s very cool. ‘Kunstbar’ was done in a virtual studio. I did my bits in Manila while the others did theirs from their homes in Toronto. We e-mailed SWFs back and forth discussing the pros and cons as we went. The big studios have networks set up so you can access materials from home. I animated on ‘Foolish Girl’ from home.

That’s the end of Part 1 of ‘The Man Behind Mr. Man – an Interview with Steve Whitehouse.’ Check back at the end of the week for the second half!

But music videos are surely not all he creates. After attending school on each coast, RISD in Rhode Island and CalArts in Los Angeles, he’s worked on animated features, but also live-action shorts. He’s animated high-profile TV commercials for Burger King and Nike, and his animated short ‘The Topside Rag’ recently aired on Cartoon Network as part of their Sunday Pants block. He’s also an illustrator, a comic book artist and a recent addition to the Hornet Inc. team in New York City.

But it’s the music videos that the world has come to know him for. At this year’s SxSw Film Festival, Monkmus’ animated music video for Badly Drawn Boy’s ‘Year of the Rat’ won the Jury Award for Best Music Video. And the same video picked up the 2005 award for Best Music Video at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Watch the video and you’ll soon understand. Monkmus took a beautiful, well-written song and turned it into a visual poem. It’s a story about hope and reconciliation, and however idealized the message may be, the video makes an undeniable, emotional impact.

Cold, Hard Flash recently got together with Monkmus to discuss his ascending career, his Flash-animated projects and what inspires him.

AARON SIMPSON: Your music video for Kid Koala’s ‘Basin Street Blues’ seems even more meaningful in the wake of the Katrina disaster. What inspiration did you originally draw from as you created the video?
MONKMUS: Pretty much the music. The idea of doing a funeral procession just popped into my head as I listened to the track. The more I listened
to it, the more the idea grew. I just went with it.

AARON: You recently signed on with Hornet, Inc. How did you first meet up with them?
MONKMUS: I cold called them. My contract had come to a close with my former reps and I was actively searching for new representation. I don’t specifically recall how I had ever heard of Hornet Inc. (I believe through a friend), but I checked out their website and was immediately impressed with the site and their body of work. So, I e-mailed them to see if they might be interested in working together.

AARON: You took home some fairly prestigious awards this year – Best Music Video at both Annecy and SxSw. Did you make it out to France or Austin this year for the ceremonies?
MONKMUS: No. I would have liked to… but between my schedule and the expense I really couldn’t afford to go. I’m really honored, though, to have won those awards at such great venues. I’m always happy to hear that people enjoy the work that me and my associates have created. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to win anything, so the awards are all a bonus.

AARON: Growing up, did you know that you would work in a visual medium?
MONKMUS: Well… I could always draw well, and I enjoyed it, but it never really dawned on me that I could make a career of it until late into High School (11th grade). For the longest time, I figured I’d go into a profession: Science, Medicine, Law, Business, etc…

AARON: When did you first add computers into your creative process?
MONKMUS: I’ve had computers surrounding me my entire life. My father had a knack with them, so even when I was 10, there were like 3 PC’s, 1 Macintosh (classic), 2 electronic word processors, and an Atari 400 sitting around the house. It wasn’t until college that I started using the computer artistically (and I’m using this term very loosely). Nowadays, there’s always a computer around when I’m working.

AARON: At RISD, did you work with filmstock in your production classes, or was it all digital?
MONKMUS: Film stock. The look and feel of film is amazing. I kinda miss cutting on a Steenbeck, those machines were kinda fun to work on.

AARON: Did you take animation classes there?
MONKMUS: Yes. I learned a lot about experimentation, conceptualization, and working with film when I was at RISD. On the other hand, I did spend a year at CalArts, where I learned about story structure, acting, and design. A friend of mine from school always commented on how I had the best of both worlds having attended both RISD and CalArts. In light of this, I feel very fortunate.

AARON: How did you learn animation timing?
MONKMUS: Also at CalArts. I wasn’t all that great of an animator in school, but I learned the basics there. I’ve gotten a lot better since then just through application, observation, and experience.

AARON: Did you learn After Effects at school?
MONKMUS: No. Other than Photoshop and Quark, I’ve learned to use every piece of software by reading books and manuals, then applying what I’ve learned directly into a project. A few programs I learned by just winging it until I got good at it. I figure this ability came from hours of video game playing, where I’d rarely read the manual except to look at the cool artwork.

That’s the end of part 1 of the Cold, Hard Flash interview with Monkmus. Check back soon for part 2.