Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show has two layers of comedy – the video shot of Carey’s 11-man troupe and the props and sets that are literally drawn into the skits by animators from all over the country. The show, which debuted on WB this fall, has infinite comic possibilities, when animators are allowed to do a little post-show commentary.
In order to get the jobs, auditioning animators download QuickTimes of the cut skits, riff on them and send a treatment and style frame to the show’s producers at Acme Filmworks in LA. If the idea’s really funny, like Harold Moss’ additions to the game show skit "Catch That Knife" – bandaged Busby Berkeley dancing girls, or the winning contestant catching a knife in his hand, then a second later in the back- the job’s awarded and animators go to work on green screens that have been pulled on a Flame and then passed along as TIFF files.
When Moss, a director at Manhattan’s FlickerLab, got the go-ahead on two five-minute skits, he made the deadline by working largely in Flash. One issue with an unscripted show, he says, is that the camera is constantly moving rather than being locked down for a traditional green screen shoot. So a lot of stabilization work had to be done in After Effects.
"It’s a great idea," says Moss of the animation/comedy combo. "We’re improvising also but in much slower motion. While the comedians wrap the show after a day, the animators may be working for six weeks. We have to react just like they do- come back with something funny and fast." The animators frequently post QuickTimes of their work for the show’s producers to comment on.
Moss is a fan of Flash and insists that it’s misunderstood. "People say that Flash animation looks kind of crude and‘puppeted.’ It’s really a digital drawing tool. You can do beautiful Disney-type animation if you have the budget and people."
The show is a Garden Suite production with executive producers Drew Carey, Robert Morton and Ron Diamond. Lead animators were Tom Bone on "Catch That Knife" and Craig Hubbard on "Toaster."