In Mark Glaser’s recent interview with SuperNews creator Josh Faure-Brac, we’ve learned that the show has been greenlit for 10 half-hour episodes. According to the lengthy PBS.org interview, these new long-form comedy episodes will hit the airwaves in late January. Here’s a quote from the interview that details some of what we might expect:

JOSH: We’re building the staff up and using a lot of the concepts you’ve seen on our previous shorts, like the Social Networking Wars. We’re taking those characters of Friendster, MySpace and Facebook and having them live in an apartment together, a la Three’s Company with a laugh track. They’re always trying to get girls over, and trying to keep Friendster out of the loop.

Never seen SuperNews? Start with the YouTube hit The Immigration Debate.

Thanks to Simon Owens for the story tip.

Triumph Grilled Spike at Comic-Con 2008

So many great animators got their start at Spike and Mike’s Twisted Festival of Animation. The first US screening of Wallace & Gromit was at a Spike and Mike’s event, and Mike Judge, the creator of King of the Hill, saw his short Frog Baseball premiered in 1992 at the festival, which wound up turning into Beavis and Butt-head.

As attendees will likely recall, the wildly-popular Flash-animated series Happy Tree Friends has been regularly featured in the Sick and Twisted festival. Kenn Navarro, co-creator of HTF, knows the impact Spike and Mike’s has had on our industry. “If the animation world ever had a rock star, Spike would be it,” Navarro said of festival co-founder Craig ‘Spike’ Decker.

At last month’s Comic-con event in San Diego, I got a chance to interview Spike about his Gauntlet show, his new website and his upcoming 3D show.

A big thanks to Jason Costello and Mondo Media for the help with the interview.

What a year for Flash animated productions. El Tigre took home the top prize at the Annie Awards, Sita Sings the Blues snagged the Best Picture award at the 32nd Annecy Animated Film Festival and now the advertising world has bestowed upon upon a Flash project. Last month, the animated Net10 campaign was awarded a Gold at the Cannes Lions – considered the top advertising festival in the world.

In honor of this moment, we present to you an interview with Mike Foran, the Executive Creative Director at World Leaders Entertainment, the studio where the Net10 campaign was produced.

AARON SIMPSON: How did you guys end up partnering with Droga5 to work on this eight spot campaign for Net10?

MIKE FORAN: Droga5 was looking for an animation studio that could tackle a retro style reminiscent of Alex Toth and 70’s era Hanna Barbera superhero cartoons. Seeing that World Leaders produces The Venture Bros. for [adult swim] and that our VB artists design in a similar style, Droga5 selected us for the competitive bid. They asked us to submit a style frame, which we produced, revised, and then we offered a second style frame with even more characters. We leveraged the talent of our crew, particularly Matthew I. Jenkins, a lead VB Character Designer to create the frames that dictated which studio would win. They really liked our approach and aesthetic sensibility and awarded us the eight commercial campaign.

AARON: How long did the production last?

MIKE: The eight spots took about six months – from an extensive character and background development process through the final effects pass and delivery. Last summer we spent a good deal of time refining the look, feel and color for each of the League of Evil characters. Concurrently we spent time creating a fun-but-evil lair to house this unique cast of villains. Every subtly was dissected and discussed over numerous conference calls. Everyone really wanted to make this campaign the best it could be – time wasn’t really the issue.

AARON: What was involved in the production and who was responsible for each step?

MIKE: Droga5 provided us with the excellent scripts and rough character concepts. Matt Jenkins handled the character and background design and oversaw the storyboard process with me. I sat in with them during recording to provide some input on animation issues. Once we had the scratch tracks we got started on the storyboard process. The storyboards, layout, and pencil test animation were completed directly in Flash on Wacom Cintiqs, which allowed us to move quickly. But Flash alone didn’t provide the right look for our project as we needed a more traditional look. So we developed a Photoshop process for digital ink and paint, while still using the Flash environment for speed and versatility. The finished elements were then imported into After Effects for compositing and effects. We developed our own techniques for recreating the exact look of 70’s era film stock, with all their original imperfections and the effects of age.

AARON: What was the most difficult part of the production?

MIKE: It was a challenge to keep things in the realm of the era we were satirizing. Our work pipeline is all digital, but the artists of the era worked solely on analog tools. We had to concentrate on working in an analog way, as if we were working with traditional paper and pencils. We didn’t want to use a lot of short cuts that Flash provides, as they would have seemed out of place on this project. And with all the digital effects at our disposal, it’s very easy to utilize some esoteric thing that wouldn’t have been used back in the 70’s, particularly with the budgets they had.

AARON: How does this production process differ from some of World Leaders other productions?

MIKE: This is actually a progression of the production pipeline that we’ve developed and used for many of the studio’s projects in the past. By combining Flash with our other tools in such a seamless fashion, we’ve created a very versatile pipeline that’s as cost effective as it is quick to use. The new Adobe CS3 software helped in this case as the work we were doing in Flash integrated more quickly with After Effects, so we were able to save some time and increase our flexibility for changes.

AARON: How long have you been using Flash in your productions?

MIKE: World Leaders has been using Flash since we founded the studio. Back when it was called FutureSplash, I used it on some cut scenes for video games. When we founded World Leaders, our first project was producing 10 episodes of WB’s Gotham Girls (recently re-released on the Birds of Prey DVD) which were produced and delivered with Flash. We have used Flash in some capacity on practically every job we have ever done.

AARON: What’s the best part of using Flash in a production?

MIKE: Simply put – speed. It allows us to quickly test out animation with real time playback. We have developed a fully digital production pipeline that helps us to go from storyboards, animatic, layout directly into pencil test or final animation very quickly.

AARON: What was your reaction when you heard that your campaign had won Gold Lion at Cannes Lions Advertising Festival?

MIKE: I was very excited – it’s the most prestigious award in the advertising industry. But all along, I had high hopes for this campaign. From the moment we saw Droga5’s excellent creative, we knew this was going to be a great project to be a part of. They clearly understood the subject matter they were satirizing, and from World Leaders experience creating The Venture Bros., they knew we got it. I’m extremely excited that everyone else gets it too.

AARON: What commercial jobs have you been working on since?

MIKE: We recently completed a fifteen second commercial for Choice Hotels, featuring their rebranding of Econo Lodge. That’s really exciting because they have not advertised nationally on television in over ten years. We’re also starting up production on a web PSA in collaboration with DraftFCB for City Harvest. They are a fantastic nonprofit organization that rescues perfectly good food from restaurants that would otherwise go to waste, and donates it to homeless shelters. DraftFCB’s creative work on this project is great, so I am really excited to direct this spot.

AARON: What else is in the pipeline for World Leaders?

MIKE: The Venture Bros. Season IV is underway, and we have some ten entertainment projects in various stages of development that we are particularly excited about.

AARON: What has been your favorite Flash animation production?

MIKE: The one I am working on RIGHT NOW. Nothing excites me more than the new.

AARON: Thanks for the interview, Mike, and congrats on the award. For more Net10 animation, head over to the no-evil.net mini-site.

Last week we reported on the new Homestar Runner Wii game Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People (SBCG4AP), which is due out in June. While the game series, which is being produced by Telltale, doesn’t feature any elements created in Flash, it’s fun to follow the growing empire that was spawned from one of the first Flash-animated hits to start on the web. So we turn to the source for answers – the Chapman brothers, Mike and Matt, who have answered a few questions about this much anticipated game title.

AARON SIMPSON: The question always seemed to be “why not turn Homestar into a TV series?” Is a platform game a more natural evolution for you guys?

CHAPMAN BROTHERS: I think so. Video games have always been a big part of homestarrunner.com – from visuals, to music, to the actual games on our site. And the WiiWare download service also seems to fit with the way we do things.

AARON: Was SBCG4AP in motion before you created the Viidelectrix Wii game page (which features games designed for the Internet Channel of the Nintendo Wii)?

CHAPMANS: No. We had made the Viidelectrix page several months before we heard from Telltale.

AARON: It seems like every Nintendo platform has appeared in some form or another in the Homestar universe, so this game only makes sense. But had you two discussed a Homestar Runner platform game in years past?
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As part of the ongoing CHF Radiohead/Aniboom Interview Series, we visit with Andrew Kauervane, an artist with a history of music videos, and also a man with some skin in the game. He recently submitted this Flash-animated piece below to the contest. This is Andrew’s take on Radiohead’s moody track All I Need.

Here’s some concept designs Andrew sketched out before diving into production:

AARON SIMPSON: Tell us about the concept of your Radiohead contest submission?

ANDREW KAUERVANE: My concept really revolves around the concept of loneliness and love. I know it sounds corny but that’s what the lyrics did for me. My video exhibits a bit of a self-help message: There is someone out there for everyone. A rainbow to add meaning to your life. You just have to look for it; don’t mope.

AARON: How did this differ from your work on the SheBeats video you produced?

ANDREW: It’s significantly different because I’m doing something I like. I get to be as versatile as I want with the artwork and concept. With this one I’m going for a more avant garde look. I have flashing splatters serving as fills for items, film grain over the animation, and old black and white photography of wars, outdoors, and even newspaper clippings. I’m having alot of fun with this.

AARON: So, how is the process of directing a music video different from other animated work you’ve directed?
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