Category: Videos

Tuesdays with “TIM”

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date February 1, 2011

For the past year, I have been working on a secret project in my spare time with my friend Brian Joseph Ochab. We have been so excited about this for so long, that our joy can no longer be contained!

Brian and I have known each other for quite a few years. We first met when I saw him performing magic at a local Los Angeles establishment. A wonderful magician who often performs at the famed Magic Castle in Hollywood, it turned out that Brian is also a filmmaker! He came to me with this wonderful idea to make an animated short film that parodies Tim Burton’s first short called Vincent.

In Vincent (narrated by the great Vincent Price), a young boy named Vincent Malloy tries to emulate the creepy Vincent Price. Over the years since making Vincent, Tim Burton has obviously become somewhat of a name himself. Our film TIM will be about the young Timothy Todd who wishes to be just like his hero Tim Burton.

While the late Vincent Price is no longer available, last July we were very pleased to be able to work with the legendary Sir Christopher Lee who lent his wonderful distinctive voice to the role of the narrator in TIM. Brian flew to London to record Christopher who also was happy to be a part of our behind-the-scenes footage.

My involvement in this project has been as Co-producer and Art Director. I’ve been busy creating character designs and development art, and soon will be diving into storyboarding Brian’s terrific script. So far the pre-production work has been done by just me and Brian, but we will need a crew to build our sets and animate the thing, and that can be expensive.

We discovered this great website called Kickstarter.com where people can go and donate money to help fund cool projects. Basically it is like a PBS fund drive – we promise you neat gifts for your various donations. Brian put together a great little promo film showcasing what we have been doing thus far and it tells how YOU can lend a hand! Check it out….

If the film doesn’t play here for some reason, you can access it directly by clicking on TimTheMovie.com!

Since our fundraising efforts on Kickstarter will be active for the next two months, I’ll continue to talk about it here on the blog where I’ll show you some of the art and behind the scenes moments from our journey thus far!

And if you dig what we are trying to do, please pass the word along to your friends about how they can also be involved in helping us bring this cool little film to life!

The “LOST” Home Movie

The cast from Steve Czarnecki's entry in the Walt Disney Studio's employee LOST video contest held in May of 2010. — The cast from Steve Czarnecki’s entry in the Walt Disney Studio’s employee LOST video contest held in May of 2010. Click on image to enlarge it.

While most of my posts here on my blog have to do with my drawings and paintings, once in awhile I get to play in other genres of the creative arts. This past spring provided just such an opportunity through my good friend Steve Czarnecki when he called me to see if I’d lend him a hand with a video contest his employer was hosting. His employer was Disney, and they were asking their employees to submit 30 second homemade videos pertaining to the end of their hit television series LOST on ABC. Today, the final season of LOST is released on DVD, so I thought it was a good day to show some of my behind-the-scenes photos of the LOST Series Finalè Event Promo Shoot culminating in showing you the final winning video!

When Steve called me, I could hear the hesitation in his voice. “Hey Chad, um, I………want you to play ‘Hurley’ in my video.” “Why the hesitation?” I thought. Was it because I had won the lottery and then was abandoned on an uncharted island? Nope, haven’t done that. Perhaps because I say “Duuude” a lot? Nope, I don’t say that (much). Perhaps because he knew I had a collection of plaid shirts? Nah. Perhaps we’ll never know.

The backyard was literally littered with airplane parts for “LOST” atmosphere.

The director (at left) surveying his set.

Some details could ruin your appetite.

Steve’s shoot took place all day on a beautiful Saturday. My call time was early in the morning when my speaking part would be filmed. When I arrived, you could see that Steve pulled out all the stops. He had borrowed airplane parts from a salvage yard and had strewn them across his backyard. He had borrowed costumes (I – ahem – brought my own wardrobe), had made props, fog machines, a quality camera, and folks who knew how to use them! This was going to be quite a production!

Not only was the set looking mighty fine – Steve had arranged for some other surprises as well. The reason for my early call time was so that I could work with Daniel Roebuck who actually played Dr. Leslie Arzt on the actual show. Danny was a good sport about coming out and reprising his character for Steve’s short film. Without giving it away, his involvement really made the contest entry sparkle!

Daniel Roebuck (on the right) known for his various roles from “Matlock”, “The Fugitive” and many other shows and movies.

Director of Photography Josh Turchetta shooting a scene with Steve Czarnecki, Daniel Roebuck, and another friend playing a Dharma Initiative worker.

Dr. Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck) and Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes (Chad Frye) with a bucket of Mr. Cluck’s Chicken.

After our morning shoot, I was able to take off for a couple of hours while the guys worked on some special effects shots, then I came back for the party scene. And what a scene! Other folks imitating characters from the show were there, along with three more performers who had small parts on the actual LOST show. Instead of babbling on about it here, I’ll let the pictures tell the story….

Inside the house, Steve Czarnecki is seen here directing his cast on how they should act when a steady cam will roam around them.

Many details were a part of the set such as food items with Dharma Initiative labels, and this drawing of “LOST” producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse with a polar bear.

Sterling Beaumon who played the young Ben Linus on “LOST” was a part of the contest shoot.

Yes, we even had Dharma Initiative scientists – some with battle damage!

The real Nadia (Sayid’s doomed love on “LOST”) came out to play with us – Andrea Gabriel. And no, that’s not my real hair, though I do think that is Andrea’s real hair.

We even had Walt’s dog in our shoot. I had charge of him in some shots. He was very easy to control since I was holding that bucket of chicken all the time. That’s also his real hair.

Erin Cottrell, known for her role of Missie LaHaye in movie adaptations of Janette Oke books.

Our fearless director, Steve Czarnecki, who should be smiling. He won an iPad for all his efforts.

Our fearless director’s daughter, Lindalee Czarnecki.

Neil Hopkins, who played “Liam Pace”, Charlie’s brother and co-founder of the band “Driveshaft”.

And our final parting shot of my friend Doug Engalla on the left, our version of John Locke, and then yours truly.

As I mentioned above, Steve Czarnecki did win the grand prize in the studio contest for his work. You can watch the video below. My only complaint is that with all the great stuff and talent at our disposal – the video is too short. But contest rules are contest rules, so 30 seconds it is! (Complete with voiceover at the end by Bill Rogers, the official announcer of Disneyland!)

Chad About Town Disney Videos

Carl Barks on Walt Disney Treasures DVD

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date July 21, 2009

Back in 2005, Disney released a DVD as a part of their Walt Disney Treasures line called The Chronological Donald, Volume Two. This was the second of four two-disc DVD sets of the complete cannon of Donald Duck short cartoons. One of the extras on that set was called “The Art and Animation of Carl Barks” of which I was glad to be a part.

Donald_Duck

This ten minute extra focused on the work of the great Carl Barks who wrote and drew over 500 comic book stories primarily featuring the Disney ducks during the 1940s-1960s, and even wrote a few more that others illustrated later on. It was through these stories that he created characters such as Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, The Beagle Boys, and my personal all-time favorite Disney character, Scrooge McDuck.

The video was produced by the Sparkhill media company, a representative of which randomly called me one day. The conversation went something like this:

Hi, I’m from Sparkhill. I am producing an extra for an upcoming Disney DVD about Carl Barks and am looking for folks who can talk on camera about Carl. We got your name from the local comic shop in Burbank who said you buy Disney comics all the time. Would you be willing to be on our DVD?

Well, I paraphrased that, but that’s pretty much how it went down. I practically only buy Disney comics (the traditional titles of which are now no longer published in the USA), so the fellas down at House of Secrets in Burbank, CA, thought I’d be a good one to call when Sparkhill asked them if they knew of anyone. They then asked me if I knew of anyone who could talk about Carl, and right away I suggested my friend Scott Shaw! who I know had known Carl personally. After watching the video and seeing that they only had me, Scott and Jerry Beck on there, I wish I had fed them a few more names of local guys who knew and worked with Carl. I had no idea they really didn’t have much of a line-up to talk about this great man.

I am pretty much just a fan of Carl. I wrote him a few times as a kid, even making him a fun pop-up card for his 90th birthday (he mailed back a photo of him holding it). His work was probably the biggest influence upon me going to work for Disney. I fell in love with his work in my father’s old Dell comics from the 40s and 50s where they were first published, often copying various drawings as I tried to figure out how he did it. His stories were just magical – full of imagination and adventure all over the globe (and sometimes even off of it!). I even wrote a comic book story once, basing it on the series of stories Carl did of Donald’s suburban squabbles with his neighbor Jones.

Carl Barks holding the pop-up card I made for him on his 90th birthday back in the early 1990s.

This note from Carl Barks accompanied the photo he sent.

So, as much as I love Carl’s work, just know that the producers of the video didn’t consult with us to approve the final edit. If they had, I know that we would have been quick to point out that some of the art they used in various shots wasn’t Carl’s art, and some of the photos seem to zoom in on guys other than Carl who is standing off to the side, or is not even in the photos at all! I’m not sure why that happened, but it did. Even the art you see below of “Hawaiian Hideaway” was actually drawn by the great (and very living) Disney ducks storyteller, Don Rosa.

Regardless, I was flattered to be asked to be interviewed for this DVD. Carl lived to the ripe old age of 99 (passing away in 2000) and continued to be an inspiration with his many oil paintings of the ducks. No other Disney artist had a greater impact upon me than THE GREAT CARL BARKS!

Click on the image below to watch the video.

Disney Videos