For those about to rock, we cartoon you
VICTORIA, B.C. (CUP) — Pushing the envelope of animation and toilet humour, a new cartoon series has recently joined the new fall line-up on Canada's animation station, Teletoon. Sons of Butcher, based on the story of a real rock band of the same name, follows the lives of three would-be rock gods who are butchers by day and rockers by night.
“It's a bizarre, twisted adventure in… rock,” laughs Jay Ziebarth, band member and voice of character Doug Borski.
“It's like nothing else you'll ever see,” says Jay's brother Trevor, fellow band member and voice of Ricky Butcher. “It's a totally weird, new style and it's pretty unique.”
The show, which premiered Sept. 2 and will air every Friday at 9:30 p.m., is unique in terms of its method of animation. Unlike a conventional animated sitcom, Flash animation is combined with live action video by placing the real heads of the Sons of Butcher band members and other actors onto animated bodies. This was a challenge for the stars of the show because, unlike other animated shows, they not only had to provide their voices, but also their facial expressions.
“None of us were actors going into it,” says Trevor. “It was pretty crazy acting in that situation. We had to wear green-screen spandex shirts and we had to act out scenes by ourselves and couldn't do it sitting next to each other. It's a really weird situation for people who've never acted before.”
In order to create the live-action video heads, the Sons of Butcher production team rented a studio in Hamilton, Ont. and painted the backdrop green. The three cast members, the Ziebarth brothers and fellow band member Dave Dunham, donned spandex shirts made by a figure skating costume-maker and, with the help of the production team, spent three months in the studio shooting the video heads.
“It was like a whole new world,” says Jay. “There's no set rules for it because nobody had really done it before, so we were just flying by the seat of our pants. It was like a huge learning process for everyone involved.”
This concept was far from the original idea for the show and wasn't initially thought of as a financially feasible option, but was made possible with the help of producer Max Smith of S&S Productions (The Red Green Show).
“In the beginning the show was supposed to be a web cartoon,” says Trevor. “It was going to have photo-still heads and maybe the mouths would move. But Max Smith, who's the son of Red Green, suggested that we should try video heads. We didn't think it would ever work, but we screwed around with it a little and found out that we could actually do it, and it would look pretty cool.”
Sons of Butcher was born in 2000, when Trevor and Dunham were students in a Television Broadcasting course at Mohawk College in Hamilton. Jay was a cartoonist known for his website www.zeebarf.com and was recruited by his brother to help out with a short film project. Together they came up with a cast of characters and called the show Butcher & Son, which was meant to be an online animated sitcom.
Through working on The Red Green Show they met Smith, who thought Butcher would make a great animated television series. Around the same time, the three started the Sons of Butcher band, which eventually gave way to many of the stories for the 13 episodes of the show.
“A lot of it is like true stories of stuff that's happened and stuff we've heard,” says Trevor. “I'm not so much like my character anymore, but there was a time when I was exactly like him.”
Sons of Butcher can be seen Fridays at 9:30 p.m. on Teletoon.
“It's a bizarre, twisted adventure in… rock,” laughs Jay Ziebarth, band member and voice of character Doug Borski.
“It's like nothing else you'll ever see,” says Jay's brother Trevor, fellow band member and voice of Ricky Butcher. “It's a totally weird, new style and it's pretty unique.”
The show, which premiered Sept. 2 and will air every Friday at 9:30 p.m., is unique in terms of its method of animation. Unlike a conventional animated sitcom, Flash animation is combined with live action video by placing the real heads of the Sons of Butcher band members and other actors onto animated bodies. This was a challenge for the stars of the show because, unlike other animated shows, they not only had to provide their voices, but also their facial expressions.
“None of us were actors going into it,” says Trevor. “It was pretty crazy acting in that situation. We had to wear green-screen spandex shirts and we had to act out scenes by ourselves and couldn't do it sitting next to each other. It's a really weird situation for people who've never acted before.”
In order to create the live-action video heads, the Sons of Butcher production team rented a studio in Hamilton, Ont. and painted the backdrop green. The three cast members, the Ziebarth brothers and fellow band member Dave Dunham, donned spandex shirts made by a figure skating costume-maker and, with the help of the production team, spent three months in the studio shooting the video heads.
“It was like a whole new world,” says Jay. “There's no set rules for it because nobody had really done it before, so we were just flying by the seat of our pants. It was like a huge learning process for everyone involved.”
This concept was far from the original idea for the show and wasn't initially thought of as a financially feasible option, but was made possible with the help of producer Max Smith of S&S Productions (The Red Green Show).
“In the beginning the show was supposed to be a web cartoon,” says Trevor. “It was going to have photo-still heads and maybe the mouths would move. But Max Smith, who's the son of Red Green, suggested that we should try video heads. We didn't think it would ever work, but we screwed around with it a little and found out that we could actually do it, and it would look pretty cool.”
Sons of Butcher was born in 2000, when Trevor and Dunham were students in a Television Broadcasting course at Mohawk College in Hamilton. Jay was a cartoonist known for his website www.zeebarf.com and was recruited by his brother to help out with a short film project. Together they came up with a cast of characters and called the show Butcher & Son, which was meant to be an online animated sitcom.
Through working on The Red Green Show they met Smith, who thought Butcher would make a great animated television series. Around the same time, the three started the Sons of Butcher band, which eventually gave way to many of the stories for the 13 episodes of the show.
“A lot of it is like true stories of stuff that's happened and stuff we've heard,” says Trevor. “I'm not so much like my character anymore, but there was a time when I was exactly like him.”
Sons of Butcher can be seen Fridays at 9:30 p.m. on Teletoon.
