Mollusks Trailer

Mollusks is a new animated web-series submitted to the Movie Extra Webfest competition. The winning entry will be developed into a 7 part web-series. Here’s a short interview with creator, Maik Hempel:

Ozanimate: Hi Maik, I hear you have got yet another short animation for yet another Competition, are you on some kind of animation steroids? How do you manage do get them out so quickly?

Maik Hempel: The short answer is clag glue and heroin. The slightly extended answer is that whenever I work on an animation by myself, I can cut a lot of corners. When no one else needs to know what’s going on during the production, you can be pretty rough in pre-production. My storyboards, for example, looked like some kind of filthy afterbirth, but because I knew what was happening, it was good enough.

Oz: How did the Mollusks concept first came to mind?

Maik: I think molluscs are funny because they are small and slimy and boneless. This was merely a starting point for me to work with. Then came a bit of influence from a show called “Oz”, which I’ve been getting into lately. So I amalgamated these two things into something resembling an animated trailer.

Oz: What softwares were used in the Mollusks production?

Maik: It was animated in flash and blu-tacked together in Premiere Pro. The backgrounds were painted with a virtual brush by the actual Adele Thomas, in Photoshop.

Oz: Your promotional video on the facebook page is hilarious! Have you ever considered a professional acting career?

Maik: Never. But I’ve often considered an amateur acting career.

Oz: How can we help you win this thing?

Maik: If you click this LINK, and vote, I’ll be one step closer. If you then tell your mum to do the same, who knows how far it could go? Only time and the competition will tell.

Oz: What else is coming up for Maik Hempel?

Maik: I have a few ideas I’d like to give birth to, but it all depends on time/moneys. Looking forward to what 2011 will bring… as long as it’s not herpes.