Music Videos

Why I’m (kind of) done with The Simple Carnival

“Good luck with your album!”

Several people said variations of that comment to me recently. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that The Simple Carnival effectively ended over three years ago.

It’s not their fault — I probably haven’t communicated the somewhat unusual state of The Simple Carnival clearly or widely enough. I figured it might be a good idea to write an open letter of sorts to describe what’s going on.

The state of The Simple Carnival can be summarized as such:

There will be no more songs or albums from The Simple Carnival. It was great fun, but the chapter of my life where I was singing and writing pop songs is now closed.
The Simple Carnival’s recordings will continue to be available on all major digital streaming and download services. Physical merchandise is no longer for sale, but you can find secondhand CDs on Amazon and eBay.
I am done working on the Smitten 3D project. All of the completed music videos are available to stream in anaglyph 3D at www.smitten3d.com. There are no plans for releasing the final product on physical media.
I plan to create some narrative animated shorts. I’ll be writing the orchestral score for those shorts. (It’ll be film music, not pop tunes.)
The Simple Carnival is no longer on the usual social media sites. In an alternate universe, there is a form of social media that I really enjoy being a part of…but in our current universe, no such option exists. That said, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. If I have anything really cool that I want to share, though, I’ll post it directly on www.sundriftproductions.com.

Why did I stop making pop music? After I completed the Smitten album, I felt as though I said everything that I wanted to say in a pop song. I’d rather stop while I’m ahead rather than repeat myself and overstay my welcome.

Unlike pop songs, I don’t think I’ll ever run out of things to say in an animated film. Film allows for a broader range of subject matter than pop tunes. Film also requires many more disciplines to master; there’s always a new challenge lurking around the corner. I want to take the things I’ve learned from affecting audiences with The Simple Carnival and apply that toward visual, animated stories — stories that make audiences laugh, cry, and cheer. It’s going to be a while until I get there, but I look forward to sharing the results with you one day.

In the meantime, there’s still a lot of history about The Simple Carnival on this site. I’m leaving all of it up because I’m proud of the work that I did on this project. But there’s not likely to be any more activity here.

I hope this clears up things, and thank you for your understanding!

Go Away I Like You Too Much wins Best of Show Animation at SD&A

I’m pleased to announce that The Simple Carnival – Go Away I Like You Too Much won Best of Show Animation yesterday at the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications conference in San Francisco!

I wasn’t able to be there in person, but the conference appears to be a pretty deep dive into the art, science, and technology behind 3-D imaging. A big thanks goes out to the kind folks at SD&A for the honor!

Go Away I Like You Too Much on The Short Film Show

Earlier today, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that The Simple Carnival – Go Away I Like You Too Much will be broadcast on The Short Film Show. The Short Film Show airs on Sky Channel 192 and Freesat 161 in the UK, and is on Amazon Prime in the US and UK.

Season 2 begins on January 18th; The Simple Carnival – Go Away I Like You Too Much will be featured in episode 3. Looking forward to seeing it!

Go Away I Like You Too Much Wins 2nd Place at LA 3-D Movie Festival

As I reflected upon 2018, I realized that I forgot to blog about one of my biggest film-related highlights. The animated 3D music video I had worked on for the past year and a half, The Simple Carnival – Go Away I Like You Too Much, premiered at the LA 3-D Movie Festival earlier this month and won 2nd Place USA Film!

I was able to attend this year’s festival and had a great time seeing old friends, making new friends, and watching some terrific films.

A heartfelt thank you to the LA 3-D Club, 3-D Space, and the fantastic audience at the festival for this honor!

Presentation at 3D-Con 2018

A couple weeks ago, I gave a talk at 3D-Con about how I’m using Smitten 3D as a self-directed masters in filmmaking and animation. If you’re interested in low budget DIY indie animation, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes fun in this presentation.

Here is the 2D version:

If you have red/cyan 3D glasses, here is the 3D version (put the red lens over your right eye):

14 Days of The Simple Carnival, Day 11: The making of the “A Geek Like Me” music video

Welcome to Day 11 of the 14 Days of The Simple Carnival!

Every day until February 14 (Valentine’s Day), I’ll be posting one cool, free Simple Carnival thing.

On February 14, The Simple Carnival’s new (and final) album, Smitten, will be released. It’s been nine years since The Simple Carnival has released an album, so I’d like to celebrate the occasion by sharing a bunch of good stuff over these 14 days.

* * * * * * * * * *

My apologies that today’s Simple Carnival thing is not something new. If you’re a long-time fan, you may have already seen this. But tomorrow’s Simple Carnival thing is connected to this, and I thought it might be a good idea to trot out this behind-the-scenes video out for those who haven’t seen it yet.

“A Geek Like Me” is a track on the upcoming Smitten album, as well as part of the 3D animated music video movie Smitten 3D. First, here’s the finished video.

And here’s the behind-the-scenes video (skip to the 6 min mark):.

Tune in tomorrow — I’m going to be giving away something interesting relating to this video.

* * * * * * * * * *

POSTS FROM THE 14 DAYS OF THE SIMPLE CARNIVAL

Day 1: Girls Aliens Food album
Day 2: Really Really Weird remixes
Day 3: GIVEAWAY! Last t-shirt standing
Day 4: “Bittersweet”: The Simple Carnival song you’ve never heard
Day 5: “Tornado” animated storyboard
Day 6: GIVEAWAY! A one-of-a-kind Simple Carnival ViewMaster reel!
Day 7: The making of the “Smitten” 3D music video
Day 8: “Smitten” cheesy laptop demo
Day 9: The making of “The Problem with Friends” music video
Day 10: The making of the “Everything that Grownups Know” music video
Day 11: The making of the “A Geek Like Me” music video
Day 12: GIVEAWAY! Inframan VHS tape prop
Day 13: GIVEAWAY! The Simple Carnival CD collection
Day 14: I wrote some songs…and you won’t believe what happened next

* * * * * * * * * *

Get The Simple Carnival’s fantastic final album, Smitten, from Bandcamp or iTunes!

14 Days of The Simple Carnival, Day 9: The making of “The Problem with Friends” music video

Welcome to Day 9 of the 14 Days of The Simple Carnival!

Every day until February 14 (Valentine’s Day), I’ll be posting one cool, free Simple Carnival thing.

* * * * * * * * * *

Today’s Simple Carnival thing is a new behind-the-scenes video of the award-winning “The Problem with Friends” music video. “The Problem with Friends” is a track on the upcoming Smitten album, as well as part of the 3D animated music video movie Smitten 3D. First, here’s the finished video.

Here’s the behind-the-scenes video (skip to the 28 min mark):

* * * * * * * * * *

POSTS FROM THE 14 DAYS OF THE SIMPLE CARNIVAL

* * * * * * * * * *

Get The Simple Carnival’s fantastic final album, Smitten, from Bandcamp or iTunes!

I’ll be at next week’s New York Stereoscopic Association’s meetup

If you’re in the NYC area, I’ll be appearing (via Skype) at next Wednesday’s New York Stereoscopic Society‘s meetup. The Simple Carnival’s videos will be screened. See this link for details.

14 Days of The Simple Carnival, Day 7: The making of the “Smitten” 3D music video

Welcome to Day 7 of the 14 Days of The Simple Carnival!

Every day until February 14 (Valentine’s Day), I’ll be posting one cool, free Simple Carnival thing.

* * * * * * * * * *

Yesterday’s trivia question asked a question about the song “Smitten” — the title track to The Simple Carnival’s upcoming Smitten album. Today’s Simple Carnival thing is a behind-the-scenes video about how the Smitten video was made.

First, here’s the finished video for the song “Smitten”, in case you haven’t seen it:

And here’s the behind-the-scenes video (skip to the 20 min mark):

* * * * * * * * * *

POSTS FROM THE 14 DAYS OF THE SIMPLE CARNIVAL

* * * * * * * * * *

Get The Simple Carnival’s fantastic final album, Smitten, from Bandcamp or iTunes!

14 Days of The Simple Carnival, Day 5: “Tornado” animated storyboard

Welcome to Day 5 of the 14 Days of The Simple Carnival!

Every day until February 14 (Valentine’s Day), I’ll be posting one cool, free Simple Carnival thing.

* * * * * * * * * *

So far, the “Simple Carnival thing” I’ve been sharing during the 14 Days of The Simple Carnival has focused on The Simple Carnival’s past. From here on out, we’re going to focus on the present.

As you may already know, one of the reasons why the Smitten album has taken so long to create is because there has been a good bit of time where I was working on the album’s companion project — Smitten 3D.

Since 2011, I’ve been creating this animated music video movie. As of this writing, half of it is done. Even though the soundtrack is being released on the 14th of this month, it will be several years until the movie will be complete.

Today is an interesting video that came out of working on Smitten 3D. Nobody has seen this video in full. First, though, some context.

When creating animation, it usually makes sense to create what’s called an animatic. An animatic is essentially an animated storyboard. This gives the film’s creators a chance to see an approximation of what the finished product will look like. It’s really important to get a preview of the finished product because ANIMATION IS EXPENSIVE.

Even if you’re working alone with a low budget — as I am — animation is expensive in terms of time and human labor. So an animatic tells the creators if the film is on the right track. It’s much cheaper to alter the animatic and get the visuals right rather than to redo what is supposed to be completed animation.

In large animated productions, there are people whose main job is to create beautiful illustrations that will be used in the animatic. In a low budget one-man-band sort of production — as Smitten 3D is — horribly-drawn stick figures work just fine. In fact, horribly-drawn stick figures are kind of a funny, abstract way to see the work in progress.

So today’s Simple Carnival thing is a stick figure animatic that I created for the video “Tornado”. “Tornado” is a song both on the album Smitten and the music video movie Smitten 3D. Directly below the animatic is the finished version of the video, which was created with construction paper cutouts and painted backgrounds.

If you watch the finished video first and then the animatic, your reaction might be, “Well, *OBVIOUSLY* the animatic is pretty much the same thing as the finished video.” But if you watch the animatic first and then the finished video, your reaction after first seeing the animatic might very well be, “What the heck did I just watch?” I’m curious to hear your comments below.

Here’s the “Tornado” animatic. You’ll notice that it’s an early mix of the song, as some instruments are missing.

And here’s the finished video for “Tornado”:

A special shout-out goes to Jeff and Jess Decuir of Hyperbubble, Rob Gibson of Mister Fusty, and Matt Williams of The Brigadier for lending their fine voices to this track!

* * * * * * * * * *

POSTS FROM THE 14 DAYS OF THE SIMPLE CARNIVAL

* * * * * * * * * *

Get The Simple Carnival’s fantastic final album, Smitten, from Bandcamp or iTunes!