Cold Hard Flash: Flash Animation News, Videos and Links » Studio B

My Little Pony: Flash Animation is Magic

aaron — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:06:24 +0000

We’ve already written about Dan Vs., the Flash-animated series on The Hub. As it turns out, there’s another Flash-animated series on the network – My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I think I rolled my eyes when I heard about this series the first time, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll see that the team behind the show is rather impressive. Lauren Faust, who wrote on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends, developed the series retread, and Jayson Thiessen is the Supervising Director. You may have seen some of Jayson’s work here CHF in the past, and Rob Renzetti (creator of My Life as a Teenage Robot) is the show’s story editor. I also know many CHF readers have worked on the series, and there’s some top-notch Flash animation throughout. Pre-production ~~is handled out of Los Angeles,~~ and physical animation is produced at Studio B. Here’s a sample:

It’s worth mentioning that this series has fueled a meme, and terms like Bronies, Colts and Derpy Hooves have popped up on 4chan and, yes, PonyChan.

via Humphrey Erm

Disney XD Premieres Kid vs. Kat and Jimmy Two Shoes

aaron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:09:02 +0000

If you hadn’t already noticed, Disney’s Jetix network has relaunched as Disney XD. New series have been added to the slate including a couple digital 2D projects – Kid vs. Kat (created by Rob Boutilier) and Jimmy Two Shoes (created by Edward Kay and Sean Scott). Kid vs. Kat is produced in Flash, while Jimmy Two Shoes is brought to life using Toon Boom Harmony. Jimmy Two Shoes is being produced by Breakthrough Animation and TELETOON, with help from Mercury Filmworks. Here’s title sequence:

Kid vs. Kat is from Studio B Productions and YTV Canada. Here’s the title sequence, which we showed here before:

Thanks to Ron Doucet for the tip.

Kid vs Kat Debuts in Canada

aaron — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:08:54 +0000

A new Flash-animated TV series is ready to claw its way into your house. Kid vs Kat is a new comedy series aimed at children ages 6-11 “about the exaggerated conflict between a demonically malevolent cat and the beleaguered ten-year-old boy to whom it has taken a demented dislike.” The show, which is produced by Studio B Productions along with with YTV Canada and Jetix Europe, is rolling out around the world – including Canada (YTV), Europe (Jetix), South East Asia (Nick) and Australia (ABC). Rob Boutilier created the show. Here’s the title sequence:

Spotted at Ron Doucet’s website.

Cheshire Smile Brings Christmas to TELETOON

aaron — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:27:46 +0000

Here in LA, it was 95 degrees this weekend, so it feels odd to be writing this… but a new Christmas movie will soon debut on TV. The Side Show Christmas, a 44-minute Flash-animated special, will air on the French TELETOON network at 5pm EST on December 7th, and then in English on TELETOON on December 12th. Tim Tyler’s Saskatchewan-based Cheshire Smile Animation partnered up with Studio B Productions to create this film about “a side show owner who kidnaps Santa in a wild scheme to save the family business.” Here’s a promotional clip from the project…

Flash Animated Peanuts Shorts Hit iTunes

aaron — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:02:06 +0000

Warner Premiere Motion Comics has officially launched a series of new Flash-animated Peanuts shorts on iTunes. This first batch is based on comics from Charles Shultz’ 1964 strips.

For a limited time, two of the 3 to 4 minute shorts are available for free. After this promotion, you can buy two of the shorts for 99 cents, or a whole season for $7.99. Studio B Productions animated the project, which was overseen by the Schulz family and estate.

[iTunes link]

Studio B and WGBH Team For Martha Speaks

aaron — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:26:20 +0000

Aimed at the 4-8 crowd, Martha Speaks is a new Flash-animated series that debuted on PBS KIDS last week. This new half-hour series is produced by WGBH Boston and Studio B Productions, and I also noticed that Top Draw joined in for layout work. The show is based on the premise of “what if your dog could talk,” and it follows a successful book series by Susan Meddaugh. The animation directors on the show are Nicola Humphrey, Jos Humphrey and Ishi Rudell.

Cartoon Network Invites George to Their Jungle

aaron — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:48:00 +0000

This Friday, January 18th at 7:30pm (ET/PT), Cartoon Network (US) is premiering the first episode of the new Flash-animated series George of the Jungle. The show was co-produced by Classic Media, Teletoon Canada and Studio B Productions, who also physically produced the project. According to a recent New York Times article, Cartoon Network picked up 52 11-minute episodes, which will air in half-hour blocks in the above-mentioned time slot. For those who remember the original series that Jay Ward produced back in 1967, you’ll recall this was also a primetime show.

Below is the title sequence followed by a short episodic clip.

Pucca Title Sequence Secrets

admin — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:44:00 +0000

Jayson Thiessen, the talented animator behind Chubby Dee (MOV), spent much of 2006 co-directing Pucca at Studio B for Jetix Europe. The title sequence for the Flash-animated series was storyboarded by Thiessen and Tim Packford and then brought to life by Jos Humphrey. Over on Thiessen’s blog, he posted an animatic-to-animation comparison, which we’ll recreate below:

The Animatic

The French-dubbed Title Sequence

George’s Second Term

aaron — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:58:00 +0000

Jerry Beck, one half of Cartoonbrew.com, posted an 8-minute clip from G4′s show The Lab with Leo Laporte which features an interview with Kevin Gamble and Jayson Thiessen, two of the creative minds behind the new George of the Jungle series. The series is animated in Flash by Studio B Productions in Canada, where Gamble is producing and Thiessen is directing.

Beck went easy on the show this time around, whereas back in the summer of ’06 the concept got drilled. But today, Beck need not sharpen his quill – the comments are shrill and filled with disdain over this retread of this classic Jay Ward series from 1967 – and particularly over the show’s use of Flash animation.

I find this all rather amusing. When Jay Ward first debuted Crusader Rabbit, a defining ‘limited animation’ series, I can only imagine the hubbub about how he was ruining animation. Almost two decades later, Ward had perfected his signature style, and he was onto George of the Jungle. The layouts, poses, color palette and overall humor of the original George of the Jungle series are all things I can appreciate, but I wouldn’t call this a beautifully animated show. It’s closer to an animatic – jumping pose to pose.

Don’t we all see the irony here? Flash is helping usher in a new era of limited animation, something Jay Ward helped instigate. Beyond that, the animation in these new series is far better than what Ward and his team could manage on those smaller budgets. Technology has advanced, but it appears that our standards have as well.

Crusader Rabbit

George of the Jungle
Thanks to Justin Weg for the story tip.

Studio B Sees Pucca to TV

admin — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:48:00 +0000

Had a chance to catch an episode of Pucca yet? We here at CHF have been sorrowfully quiet about this new Flash-animated series so far, but we’ll catch up today.

Pucca currently airs in the Jetix block on Toon Disney, but it originated as an online series. The Korean studios VOOZ created the super-short shorts, and they were tight right from the start. They must’ve jacked-up the frame rate to 60fps, because those shorts just zipped along, but the blur effects and tight timing surely helped. I’ve gotta give credit to Eric Pringle and Matt Danner (The Go! Go! Moba Boy! duo) for turning me onto this great series.

Now the TV series is produced by Studio B Productions, and the show looks excellent. Here’s a few clips to get you started:

Slam Bam Birthday Bash

Flower Power