Smitten 3D

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):

Interview in Stereo World magazine

I was interviewed about The Simple Carnival’s 3D music videos in the latest issue of Stereo World.

Scroll down to read the interview or download it as a pdf.

14 Days of The Simple Carnival, Day 12: GIVEAWAY! Inframan VHS tape prop

Welcome to Day 12 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.

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Today’s Simple Carnival thing is a giveaway of a prop from the video for “A Geek Like Me”. Yesterday I posted the behind-the-scenes video. “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. In case you haven’t seen this hand-drawn video, here it is:

Note the lyric at 2:22: “You know what Inframan is…”

What is Inframan? It’s a bezerk superhero/action/kung-fu/giant rubber monster movie that is cheesy, hilarious, and thrilling. It’s a fantastic movie to watch with friends.

Anyway, today’s giveaway is the actual Inframan VHS tape that I used as a reference when drawing “A Geek Like Me”:

Now, you might be wondering why I’m not giving away the DVD that I had in my left hand. The answer is, I no longer have it. The VHS tape is still in my possession, though.

What if you don’t have a VHS player? Well, the tape is still a pretty interesting conversation piece to have on a bookshelf. And it’s the actual object that was used in the video, so you’ll be owning a small piece of cult power pop music history!

I’m giving the VHS tape away to some lucky Simple Carnival fan, and I’ll pay for shipping to anywhere in the world. To get a chance to win this tape, however, you must send a message to (deleted) that says “THUNDERBALL FISTS!” The winner’s name will be drawn out of a hat. The name will be announced here on this site as well as on Twitter. Good luck!

UPDATE (February 13, 2017): And the winner is…Thor Klippert! Congrats!

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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

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

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.

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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.

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POSTS FROM THE 14 DAYS OF THE SIMPLE CARNIVAL

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

14 Days of The Simple Carnival, Day 10: The making of the “Everything that Grownups Know” music video

Welcome to Day 10 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 for “Everything that Grownups Know”. “Everything that Grownups Know” is a track on the upcoming Smitten album, as well as part of the 3D animated music video movie Smitten 3D.In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the finished video:

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

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POSTS FROM THE 14 DAYS OF THE SIMPLE CARNIVAL

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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):

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POSTS FROM THE 14 DAYS OF THE SIMPLE CARNIVAL

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