I’m going to kick off this website blog with a piece I recently directed for Rachel Dratch’s “Late Night Snack” on Tru Tv. I’ve been fortunate enough lately to work on a few projects that mane me NOT want to quit animation for good, and this was one of them. Late Night Snack is a sketch comedy show, and each episode in season 1 is a reimagining of a classic fairy tale as told by a celebrity. My piece is “Little Red Riding Hood” as told by Jayma Mays, I think most commonly known as the guidance conselor from Glee.

Tru Tv Rachel Dratch presents "Late Night Snack" Celebrity Storytelling segment Narrated by Jayma Mays Directed/ Designed by Mike Carlo Animation by: Jacob Ospa Chris Airgood Elizabeth Gearreald James Sugrue Justin Offner Mike Carlo

As usual the turn around on this was crazy tight, and to add on top of that I was required to board, design, and animate the entire piece to actor’s voice track. All this while my wife was having a baby! Ultimately I was lucky enough to have some help with animation by some seriously badass animators, Jacob Ospa, Chris Airgood, Elizabeth Gearreald, James Sugrue, and Justin Offner. Seriously, these guys are pretty f@#kin’ good! I also had help from Steve Jacobson who cut my radio play to be the best possible version, so thanks Steve.

Character line up "Little Red Ridinghood" Designs by Mike Carlo

I went with a kind of Looney tunes, cartoony vibe on this one because for me, that’s usually the most fun route to go, although it’s usually a big pain in the ass when time is factor, which it almost always is. This is the part where having some kick ass animators at your disposal is pretty life saving. I don’t consider myself a background designer, but when I need to produce BGs, especially when I’m dictating the style, then I can usually pull something off. Because of the tight deadline I didn’t even think about messing around with backgrounds in photoshop. The faux story book style was born out of lack of time, and not wanting to retrace outlines when the backgrounds were blown up for tight shots. This way consistency of line work wasn’t an issue.

All in all I’m proud of the way this came out, and these guys busted their asses to help me get it done. The read came out great, and there are some really satisfying cartoon moments, executed by a very talented team. Check it out, feel free to comment and enjoy.

-Mike