La Muff: Gold Lamé

It's not lame, it's lamé!

Amongst the fun animated projects I've gotten to be a part of lately, I directed this live action music video for my friend Monica Howe, a.k.a. LaMuff. It was a lot of fun to get back into directing live action again and stretch those muscles!

The all-star crew of this video helped create an ornate world for LaMuff through golden art direction/wardrobe/makeup, rad choreography, fun performances, not to mention her catchy tune that inspired it all.
Check out LaMuff's other songs, too. They're all really clever and will make you want to rock out in front of your computer.

Here's the video:

Credits
Director: Pete Levin
Producer: Andrew Ahn
Director of Photography: Aaron Meister
Art Director: Julianna "JP" Parr
Choreographer: Gregory Barnett
Editor: Ishai Setton

Cast: Monica Howe, Alex Barbatsis, Les Borsay, Sheila Carrasco, Alex Kenefick, Michael Loomis, Daniel Safarik, Jean Spinosa, Roger K. Stewart, J. Ryan Stradal

Flygirls: Natalya Oliver & Allison Karman
Dancers: Cricket Amy Russell, Rosalind Helfand, Erin Parks
B-boys: HiB, K-SK, Kyle, Miggz

Wardrobe: Charon Nogues
Face Painter: Justine Serebrin
Art Department: Shannon Dedman, Veronica LeBron, and Alex Kenefick
Hair Stylist: Hazel Hartman
Make-Up/Hair Stylist: Kourtney Kuroki

1st AD: Andrew Ahn
2nd AD: Marta da Costa
Key Grip: Armin Balg
GlideCam: Mac Fisken
Swing Grip: Alex Ojeda
Swing Grip: John J. Miller

Lead Post Production FX: Robbie Harrison
Additional Post Production FX: Nick Woythaler
Additional Post Production FX: Pete Levin
Titles: Patrick McGinley

Production Assistants: Kelly Martin, Kerri Fernsworth, Alex Kenefick, Meredith Curek

Music Produced by: Joshua Fielstra

Caterers: Fiesta Catering
Filmed on location at the 1642 Wine Bar and The Akbar in Los Angeles, CA.

Dinosaur Office!! RAWR!!!

Over at Collegehumor.com, they've turned the popular web-series-with-dinosaur-toys Dinosaur Office into a popular web-series-with-stop-motion-dinosaurs Dinosaur Office!

Here's an episode I worked on over at Buddy System Studios:
Directed by Ethan Marak
Animated by Alex Kamer and Pete Levin

Check it out in 3D on your Nintendo 3DS if you've got one!

Discovery Communications: Holiday Card 2011

Over November, while balancing Spy vs. Spy animation for Buddy Systems and directing a live action music video (coming soon...), I squeezed in one more job; helping Discovery Communications with the animation for their corporate holiday card! It was a fun job, too.

They wanted an origami look that would work in iconography for several of the major channels in the Discovery family; Discovery Channel (shark), TLC (cupcake), Science Channel (rocket), ID (magnifying lens), and Animal Planet (lion). Finally, they form a dove and then a troop of doves, signifying peace for the new year. (Yes, I looked up the technical term for a grouping of doves.) Origami paper art designed and crafted by Emily Franz, Melissa Bloom, and Robyn Yannoukos. Lighting by Jeff Gardner. Studio space provided by my buddies at Buddy System Studios.

"Mary Shelley's Frankenhole" Season 2 - Behind the Scenes

I make an appearance at 2:55, sporting a ridiculous mustache.The Adult Swim people who were there that day were asking some leading questions on if we ever talked back to the puppets, but really these puppets in particular are some of the best of I've worked with. The Frankenhole puppet department has my undying respect. No pun intended.

The new season premieres on January 22nd, 2012.

UPS My Choice - a little paper T-Rex!

Wow, not even back from Brooklyn for a full week and the new spot I just worked on is already up!

For this one I got to work with the talented crew at Charged Studios. Most of the animation is by me in this sequence, with a couple of shots animated by Esther Casas Rouras and Peter Blank. The puppet was designed by Adam Miller, and the spot directed by Adam Pierce. Charged is a great environment and making the spots was a lot of fun, even with the long hours it took to get everything looking the way we wanted it to.

60-Second Version:
30-Second Version:
Here are some behind the scenes shot of Adam punching me in the face!More UPS stuff to be added soon!

Cartoon Network's Mad: Spy Vs. Spy

I get to animate Spy Vs. Spy!! How cool is that?

Click here to see the first of the spots I animated at Buddy System Studios. Puppets and set built by John Sumner.

For those who live outside of the US, you can see some of the stop motion stuff I animated in this video that someone uploaded:

10/2/11 UPDATE:
Click here for another one!

Ronzoni - "Pasta Evangelista: It Pays to Eat Pasta"

This April, immediately after the Foo Fighters video was wrapped, I boarded a plane and headed to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to act as animation director on a series of live action/stop motion spots for Ronzoni Pasta. The spots, directed by Nick Carbonaro and Ben Leavitt for Greencard Pictures, are a fun, energetic way to present recipes and health information about Ronzoni products.

Keep your eyes peeled for the food and puppet animation! Check out all the spots at the official Pasta Evangelista website.