Friday, June 13, 2008

Finally, something new from us!!!

Some people may be wondering what we've been up to recently, we've had a bunch of stuff on the go but the thing we're most stoked on is a pilot we've just finished up and it's for an idea we came up with a few years ago. The concept is a little odd and one that is a tad awkward to say out loud, the spark of the idea came from when Jeremy found out that when some woman give birth they also do a little poo.

And so our Flash animated 3 minute pilot is called "It's the Pughs" and is the story of a man so desperate for a son that after the birth of his daughter, decides to bring up the poo that follows as "his boy". The idea is based on our observations of the "typical" New Zealand bloke. The dad who wants nothing more that his boy to be the Rugby player he always wanted to be. As kiwi as this is, it seems to us this is a fairly universal trait.

As disgusting as the idea of raising a poo as a child is, we've tried to focus on the relationship between Rudy (the dad) and Peter (his poo son). As much as we embrace that the show will be a lot of gross poo jokes, we like to use the phrase "heartwarming toilet humour". As hard a sell as that is. We feel we've managed to touch on that in this short. We want people to love the little poo, then every now and then remember what he is and gag a bit :)

The Pughs are the quintessential "Kiwi family" and live in a fairly stereotypical NZ setting. We've never been ones for localising our work, as it's never really fit with the type of cartoon we love. But something seemed to click here and it all seems right. The "kiwiness" of the characters adds to their charm and should work on a odd level for people not familiar with the NZ way. We don't see "It's the Pughs" as being a show made only for NZ.

So enough talkie, please watch and let us know what ya think! We really want to make a series of this so feel free to leave comments, so we can show potential sponsors what ya think!!


It's The Pughs - Help Me Rudy! from Mukpuddy on Vimeo.



Here's some sketchy stuff too....



















UPDATE:
We've been lucky enough to have "It's The Pughs" featured on a couple of our favourite sites Frederator , Cartoon Brew , Cold Hard Flash and Drawn. A big thanks to Jeaux, Jerry, Aaron and Johnny, you guys rule!!

18 comments:

Jeff Cook said...

Hey that could work!
The Kiwi humour works well and seemed to keep things... tasteful.

Unknown said...

Neato, great work again guys!

Have you ever though about making a boxed set with all your animations that you've done over the years? I'll buy one ;)

Anonymous said...

06/12/2008
Hey Muks:

It's strange but Jeaux was always doing things like that! Even worse when he and his brother got together! Want to thank you for sending the email to Jeaux! You sure surprised him! Something about me coming out of left field1!
Thanks again!
Jeaux's Dad
06/12/2008

Dave Redl said...

I started laughing just reading the blog! "...Decides to bring up the poo that follows as 'his boy'."

As usual the animation and design is top shelf! I expect nothing less from you guys!

As far as story, there's no reason not to love the "Kiwi" angle. I could see American kids imitating that accent in no time, as many American 15 year olds try imitating other imports like "Monty Python", "Little Britain" and "Benny Hill".

Although there's been other poo characters, from John K's first internet outing years ago to "South Park's" Mr. Hanky, your concept is different. Poo characters are gimmicks. Your real star is the father, Rudy, who comes across in the pilot less desperate and more blindly optimistic. It makes his relationship with his poo son touching, in that he cares and loves his boy in light of his son being a turd! There's deeper meaning in there fellas, I promise!

I also see potential between Peter and his sister Patty by having her vie for her father's attention, only to be perpetually thwarted by his favorite child, Peter. Patty could exclaim to her friends, "How could Daddy love Peter more than me? He's poop!" Her friends console, "Yeah, brothers can be that sometimes-" "No, he's REALLY POOP! Plus, Peter's such a brown-noser!" More hidden meaning guys!

Anyway, good luck and post your progress!

D

RAWLS said...

heehee....poo.

Mitch Leeuwe said...

I really like the looks! Cool!

I liked the sparkle friends, but I allready like this one more.

Chris Kennett said...

Loved it! Both my kids were c section, so I never got to adopt a poo baby of my own. Shame.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the nice compliments on my Blog. Love the design and animation you do. Great timing, animation design and voice work on "It's The Pughs"

Mike Geiger said...

amazingly crappy!
in the nicest way possible

Dave Thomas said...

Great short fellas!

Nasty, but still sweet and appealing.

Don Oskowski said...

Simply brilliant!

Alexandre Augusto Ferreira said...

I Really like your work!!!!
Amazing stuff!!

Unknown said...

THese ROCK!

Thierry Cattant said...

awesome stuff! I like the design of your characters.

Anonymous said...

I started laughing in the presentation and did`nt stop untill it ended!

Great job!
Great idea!

web.mac.com/leonardomaciel

Anonymous said...

Good drawing craftsmanship on the character model sheets.

Not too creative on the show idea(a cute pile of poo?) or visual style(like most other material out there)

Just my two cents.

mc gannimation said...

loved it, so fresh and characters looked great really fitted into the bg style? class

Brad said...

Nice work, Muks!