The Fuzzies will screen at Sound of Silent Film Festival in Chicago

APR 16 & 23,  2022

SOUND OF SILENT FILM FESTIVAL

ACM’s popular Sound of Silent Film Festival, now in its 17th year, is a unique event featuring new short silent films in every conceivable genre screened with newly-composed musical scores performed live.

On April 16th, they will present a new program of modern silent films live at the Music Box Theater, and virtually the following week. The virtual presentation will also be available on demand from that point forward. 

This year, the ten films featured were selected from a field of just under 80 submissions from 16 countries, by a panel consisting of a range of artistic professionals including filmmakers Lisa Barcy, Max Cianci, & Tim Leichty. Ranging from poignant and fantastical (Elsewhere by Leah Bleich), grotesque and experimental (Stinger by Chicago filmmaker Brian Zahm), powerful social commentary (Kilter by Rob Stanton-Cook), and even puppetry, mixed media, and live action all rolled into one (Gut Feelings by Vanessa S. Valliere & John Gregorio), each film was selected solely on the basis of its particular craft, potential appeal to audiences and likelihood to inspire creative music.

HOURS

Saturday, April 16,  7:15 PM

Saturday, April 23, 8:00 PM Central (virtual presentation)

LOCATION

Music Box Theater
3733 N. Southport Ave.
$30 general, $15 student with ID
$15 virtual

Parking is limited to street parking

Exclusive Interview: Josh Funk (The Fuzzies) - HNN →

Written by Mike Joy

November, 9th, 2021

What made you want to get involved in the film industry?

I never wanted to get involved in the film industry exactly, I just wanted to create art of any kind. This first started with music but as the years went by, I found more joy composing and recording than I did performing live. The first time I thought that I could become a filmmaker was after watching the music videos of Michele Gondry. He was creating magic through sets, props, camera tricks, and stop-motion animation but he also seemed so approachable and honest in his delivery. What sealed it for me was when he directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I had such an emotional connection to that film that I instantly wanted to make something of my own. I didn’t know where to start so I created stop-motion animations. I learned how to use a camera, edit, control lighting, and taught myself how to animate. I eventually moved into working with live actors and larger sets but kept coming back to stop-motion animation as an effect because of its unsettling qualities.

From script–to–screen, how close did THE FUZZIES come to its original vision?

The Fuzzies is very similar to the original script except in the third act. My original ending was kind of lacking and vague. It also used much less puppetry. I was editing through the entire process and the film seemed to be building up to something that never delivered. I would watch it over and over on my phone and then think, “where would people not expect this to go.” That’s how I made my decisions for Dustin Vaught’s character transformation in those final shots.

What was your favorite day on set and why?

My favorite day on set was when we were filming the toilet monster puppet and we decided to zoom in on Dustin and the puppet’s face as they saw each other. We were thinking of ways to make it funnier and funnier and Dustin volunteered to have a bucket of water splashed on his face as the puppet came out of the toilet. In my first take I was watching the monitor while I threw the water and it only hit half of his face, so I had to do another take. The second and final take made it in the film, and it was hard to hold back our laughter.

What scene did you enjoy directing the most?

I kind of enjoyed the more subtle and suspenseful moments. The bigger stuff is easier in a way but finding the right pacing as someone approaches a sound behind a door or as they discover something unusual in a sink is a bigger challenge. The smallest movements make the biggest difference in those shots. I also loved animating but most of that was me alone with puppets, props, and materials.

What is the biggest obstacle you faced while making THE FUZZIES?

The hardest part was animating Dustin and the towel puppet at the same time. I sewed wire in the towel so it would hold its form and Dustin had to hold completely still as I repositioned the towel and his arm frame by frame. I tried to limit these shots to 24-36 photos but after a while it becomes painful for an actor to hold their arm in the air. I felt an obligation to move as quickly as possible but also to make the best animation that I could.

What was your proudest moment during production?

My proudest moment during production was seeing how all of the pre production preparation made filming somewhat seamless. There were so many days spent storyboarding, creating animatics, and exploring the possibilities of the set that when it came to filming, things moved relatively smoothly, and we had extra time to experiment with performances and dynamics in a scene.

How do you get a film to stand out in the crowd in today’s landscape?

It is easy to get caught up in creating films or moments in a film that echo what is popular. I think this makes a lot of sense financially but artistically I like to make work that I would want to see regardless of its success. There were many times while making The Fuzzies that I thought, “this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever made, and I might be the only one who loves it.” I had to ignore that internal resistance and just go for it. After seeing our film with audiences at film festivals I am so glad I stuck to my instincts.

What other filmmakers inspire you to do what you do?

I’m inspired most by filmmakers who blend puppetry and stop-motion animation with live actors and can play with fun and scary moments within the same scene. Filmmakers such as Jim Henson, Sam Raimi, and Jan Svankmajer were my biggest influences on The Fuzzies.

What is your favorite horror decade and why?

The 1980’s is definitely my favorite horror decade because of the advances in practical effects and animatronics. Some standouts for me are An American Werewolf in London, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and Child’s Play. All of those astonished and terrified me as a kid but also fueled my imagination. I still have nightmares about Chucky to this day! Sometimes he’s trying to kill me, sometimes we’re hanging out. I have no idea what that means but it left an impact.

What is the next step in your filmmaking career?

We just finished the feature film script based on The Fuzzies. It is a much more complex story than the short film but what we started here is a nice taste of what’s to come.

HIT FILM "3 KEYS" OPENS DOORS FOR ART INSTRUCTOR →

Written by Travis Souders - January 31, 2019

Chico State Today

Cradling his newborn son, Josh Funk found himself entranced by the colors dancing on the wall.

Splatters of refracted light, streaming from a prism—a gift for his baby boy—fluttered and hopped about the room as sunshine glanced across the trinket. The images wriggled their way into Funk’s exhausted consciousness, where they would soon manifest as illuminated floating fairies in his award-winning short film, 3 Keys.

As both an educator and a filmmaker, Funk has made a career out of trying to capture those flashes of light—to harness inspiration when he sees it, and to make the most of it. He hopes to drive his students to do the same. 

Deriving purpose from passion has been a form of art in itself for Funk, a lecturer in the art and art history department at Chico State. He teaches three digital media courses within the subject of animation and illustration.

Funk (Art Studio, ’07) has nurtured an affinity for the arts since childhood, but he fell in love with teaching 10 years after he completed his undergraduate work—and the timing couldn’t have been better. Unsure of his life’s direction as he neared completion on his first short film, “The Spaceman,” he was asked to fill in for a former instructor, Nanette Wylde, who was going on sabbatical. He immediately found that teaching called to him, as he saw an opportunity to relate his own young filmmaker’s perspective to students interested in the art and the industry. After Wylde’s retirement last year, Funk stayed on as a lecturer.

“Teaching at Chico State makes me a better artist, a more empathetic person, and closer to my community,” he said. “It forces me to not only keep up technically, but to also reevaluate what was effective or not during my time as a student.”

Now, having captured a cache of film festival awards for 3 Keys—Best Digital Effects at HorrorHaus, second place for Judges’ Choice and Best Animation at Shortz!, Most Original Concept at Videoscream, a Gold Award for Best Horror Film at the Mindfield Film Festival, and the Award of Excellence for Film Short in the Best Shorts International Film Competition—Funk can relay his journey to film success to his students.

“Everything I learned happened after I graduated, so I am able to come from the approach of, ‘I wish I had known this sooner,’” Funk explained. “I would have wanted to know more about real-world problems for artists, how to make money, how to promote yourself, and mostly how to find what you’re passionate about and turn it into something that can sustain you.”

Drawing upon inspiration, he said, is the easy part. It’s identifying where it comes from that can be difficult, and it is that skill he wishes to impart above all else. He takes a grand view of his muses, also considering their own influences to understand what specifically he enjoys about a certain aspect of an art style or technique.

Ever an ’80s kid, Funk cherishes the nostalgia of films like Gremlins, Beetlejuice, and, later, The Nightmare Before Christmas—unsettling yet still charming in their animation styles, mixing puppets and marionettes with live actors or simply bringing the inanimate to life. He remembers being simultaneously “fascinated—and traumatized—by Chucky” after seeing the murderous doll on an Entertainment Tonight clip. His eyes light up when 3 Keys’ style is mentioned in the same conversation as Tim Burton (an obvious Funk favorite, along with Jim Henson) or Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, a masterpiece of surreal animation in its own right.

Whether it was Muppet-inspired delight or porcelain doll-inflicted terror, it struck Funk as immediately important to hold on to those feelings of fascination—and to keep them alive for as long as he could. Staying true to his passion enabled Funk’s vision to come to life on film, said 3 Keys co-producer and director of photography Joe Batt. 

“He really had a clear vision of what he was going to do with it, and the sets really showed it,” said Batt, a longtime friend of Funk’s. “He’s so detail-oriented—there are a ton of tiny little touches in the film that you don’t really notice at first, but they add up in how the whole thing feels. And that’s all based on the vision that he had from the beginning.”

In the 15-minute film, a young woman experiences recurring nightmares, as described to a psychiatrist. Each features a mysterious door and three keys that unlock different scenes, each memorably haunting in its own right.

Funk wants to continue to hone his skills and keep using “old-school” animation styles. He is concurrently attending online graduate school at Lesley University, based in Massachusetts, and expects to earn his master’s in fine arts by 2020. He wants to keep making films, striving to one day produce a feature-length project, and he also sees himself teaching for years to come.

The key, Funk said, will always be catching those moments of inspiration when they appear.

“I want to keep making films, and I want them to be more personal and less influenced by what’s popular than what I believe in,” he said. “And the same goes for my teaching. I want to help people find their authentic voice and direction—once you find that, doors open up for you.” 

3 KEYS WINS TWO AWARDS AT SHORTZ! FILM FESTIVAL

(Chico, CA, August 12th 2018) Director and Animator Josh Funk’s short film 3 Keys has won 2nd Place: Judges Choice and Best Animation: Audience Choice at this year’s Shortz! Film Festival in Chico, CA.

3 KEYS is a fantasy/thriller set in the world of one woman's nightmares. In the office of a psychiatrist (Robert Donnelly), a patient (Brigette Funk) explains her reoccurring nightmares that always begin with a mysterious door and three different skeleton keys that unlock it. Accompanied by stop-motion puppets, marionettes, and miniatures, each nightmare is packed with practical effects.

Local filmmaker to Premiere Latest Creation →

“3 Keys” makes its debut 7 p.m. Friday at the Museum of Northern California Art, 900 The Esplanade.contributed photo

By Leila Rodriguez, Chico Enterprise-Record

POSTED: 04/11/18, 4:31 PM PDT

Chico >> Independent Chico filmmaker Josh Funk earned his place as a stop-motion monster movie maker, and now his latest creation, “3 Keys,” taps into the supernatural, subconscious fears of dolls. 

The spooky short film makes its debut 7 p.m. Friday at the Museum of Northern California Art, 900 The Esplanade, with themes appropriate for a Friday the 13th movie screening and may not be suitable for younger viewers. 

“3 Keys” follows a patient (Brigette Funk) plagued by recurring nightmares that always start with a peculiar door and three skeleton keys. Depending on which key she uses to unlock the door, the patient is transported into an unfamiliar world, and she recounts her terrorizing dreams to a psychiatrist (Robert Donnelly) which offers viewers a maddening psychosis. 

Stop-motion puppets, marionettes and miniatures bring this 15-minute spooky tale to life. 

Puppets and props from the production will be on display at the screening along with brief behind-the-scenes footage so viewers can get a better idea of how Funk made the movie. 

Concepts for the horror/fantasy film began shortly after Funk’s son was born three years ago.

The new father was eager to work on his next film and utilized the odd hours parenthood generously offers to work on his script. 

As his little one grew, Funk began drawing inspiration from his toddler, like how a prism in his son’s room reflecting light became the inspiration for fairy creatures. 

Beloved Muppet puppeteer, Jim Henson was a childhood favorite of Funk’s, but as a kid, he feared dolls and often had nightmares starring the stone-faced toys. 

“I was very interested in how these inanimate objects could be brought to life to scare you or to entertain you, and that was kind of the basis for (‘3 Keys’),” Funk said. 

For the last scene, Funk said he wanted to amp his frightful story, so he sat down with the star of the film, who is also his sister-in-law, to find out who or what spooked her the most as a child. 

Brigette Funk told him of an eerie clown doll, and Funk had every detail re-created down to every last ruffle fashioned from a puppet maker in Prague. 

This was also the first time Funk worked with marionettes. 

“We constantly did re-shoots to make it scarier and scarier because if you’re not a talented puppeteer, it’s hard to bring something like it to life,” Funk said. “But we made it work.” 

Working with family is common in Funk’s movie-making realm. 

Funk made a short film featuring his son Jonah last year, and Funk’s younger brother starred in “The Spaceman” which won Best of Festival at The Sundial Film Festival.

The full-time artist has garnered countless film festival awards for other projects like his first short film “Wormholes,” and locally, Funk has lent his talents to creating stop-motion music videos for Chico bands Michelin Embers in “Diggin’ On” and Severance Package’s “Scissors Gonna Cut Ya.” 

His creative playground in the world of animation and stop-motion holds no bounds and “3 Keys” is no exception. 

“When you work on something so meticulous for so long you don’t even know what you have,” Funk said. “I’m excited to hear what people think and it’s nice to hear it was effective in the way that I wanted it to be effective.”

2017 DEVO Awards →

CHICO NEWS & REVIEW - ARTS DEVO 2017 DEVO AWARD WINNER

By Jason Cassidy 
jasonc@newsreview.com

This article was published on 12.28.17.

Best artist: Josh Funk. The local musician-turned-filmmaker makes some of the most time-consuming art possible: stop-motion animation. In 2017, his projects included a sweet video featuring his young son interacting with animated toys created for the Chico Art Center’s kid/adult collaborative art show, Shared Visions, in August, and a music video for “Scissors Gonna Cut Ya,” a rockin’ earworm by local garage punks Severance Package. The music video is by far the most impressive piece of local art I saw all year, with a meticulously edited animated scene featuring characters that look like living, rocking paper dolls.

Shared Visions: Going Beyond Finger Painting

Written by Leila Rodriguez / Upgraded Living Magazine - August 2017

Chico is saturated with incredibly talented visual artists, so it makes sense they would create the next generation of artistic beings. Local artists have invited these youngins into their studio to collaborate on a new show to be displayed at Chico Art Center. "Shared Visions" is a collaboration group art show where artistic qualities between adults and children, ranging in ages from infant to teenager, are shared. A reception for the show will be 5pm Aug. 11 at the gallery, 434 Orange St.

Visual arts with a refreshing, whimsical flare are expressed through fiber art, shadow puppet display, animation, and painted works made by a six-month old having open canvas and fistfuls of berries and baby food as paint.

The playful exhibit is curated by Chico artisan Erin Lizardo. Erin revisits collaborating with her boys Moses Sarcona, 5, and Solomon Sarcona, 8. The show's theme plays off a previous exhibition Erin participated with her eldest son, Solomon. Last summer the artistic duo created collaged pieces with Solomon's sketches that were manipulated in Photoshop, digitally rendered, and then embellished with watercolor.

This time around Erin and her children will embark on a slightly varied version of working with their drawings. Her boys' latest fascination has been the spooky world of zombies and all things scary. Erin will convert their monster drawings into wearable, textile masks. Approaching her children's project, the artist said she struggled with trying to extract the essence of her children's original drawings to transform them into three-dimensional, representational artwork.

"The premise of the show is to hopefully inspire the community to create more opportunities to be creative with children and to validate the innate creativity children have,"Erin said. "We want to celebrate that and explore that."

Not only is the collaboration with her boys a positive outlet for her artistically inclined boys, Erin is a firm believer in her kids experiencing the process of formally showing artwork in a gallery setting. "I think there's a lack of representation of art from the youth in a formal gallery setting, "Erin said. "Usually it's just an adult thing so I think its cool when kids come to the show they can relate to it and connect with it."

Local animator Josh Funk will team with his 2-year old Jonah to create a short 1-minute looping film titled "Toy Box," starring the 2-year old. Jonah's toys and art he created in preschool will make cameos as Josh films his son playing. "When brainstorming this film I thought about the ways in which Jonah is already creative," Josh said. "He spends a lot of time mixing and matching the parts of my old action figures so I decided to film him assembling his favorite pieces, then animate them using stop motion."

Along with the visual display, Erin said families attending will be able to take home a list of fun and creative activities adults can partake with their kiddos. It trails their emphasis to alternative "screen-time" distractions to continue the collaborative spark between parent and child. It's sentiment Erin said she grapples with often with modern parenting. "Having kids slow down and find that balance again is sometimes challenging," Erin said. "I think coming up with creative ways to interact in everyday life with your children and creating novel experiences for them is hard for some."

Following the reception, CAC will also host a Free Family Art Day 10am to 2pm Saturday, August 12th. Mini workshops, craft tables, snacks, and a cardboard village to roam will be set for parents and their kiddos. Bring your kids, get creative, and leave inspired to artistically collaborate more often at home!

Art show reflects 'Shared Visions' between adults, children →

By Lindsay Holbrook, Correspondent

Chico Enterprise Record

POSTED: 07/29/17, 4:43 PM PDT

Josh Funk’s stop-motion film “Toy Box” brings to life action figures his 2-year-old son plays with.

What does it mean to have a shared vision? Most would think it is just as it sounds. 

People often see things through their own point of view but it is only when these visions are expressed with others that people can share what they see and feel through the world of art.

“Shared Visions,” a new art show at the Chico Art Center, is taking this idea and melding it between both adults and children. 

It is an exhibit where both children and adults come together to express their art in more than just a visual manner. 

“The concept of shared visions is to connect adult artists with children and to play off of and be inspired by the creativity that children innately possess,” Erin Lizardo, the show’s curator, said. “By including children in the process of making art, we are validating that creativity and exploring an opportunity for connection that is often overlooked.”

Lizardo is a Chico artist and musician. She will be bringing her two sons Solomon and Moses to show how new perspectives can be brought through collaboration and working together.

Last year, she shared an art show with her son, Solomon Sarcona, at the Great Northern Coffee and Gallery.

For “Shared Visions,” her two boys will be making textile masks that reflect their zombie and monster drawings.

With the intuition of a mother and an artist and the open-minded creativity of two boys, something special is bound to be made.

Another Chico artist at the show will be animation movie director and writer Josh Funk and his 2-year-old son, Jonah. 

“I decided to create a short film where his decisions in choosing broken action figures determined what and how I would animate the rest of the film,” he said. “Using stop motion animation, I brought his creations to life.” 

Funk is a Chico State University fine arts alumnus. A couple of years ago, he created a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to help make his stop-motion film, “The Spaceman.”

He was able to surpass his original goal amount on Kickstarter and built the puppets and set by hand. He also helped Chico band Severance Package make a music video (https://youtu.be/5leMJH_n6zA).

For the art show, he made a stop-motion film, “Toy Box,” starring his 2-year-old son playing with the action figures which comes to life in the film.

The film will be played Aug. 11 at the Chico Art Center. 

For more on Josh Funk, go to www.joshfunk.com.

“Shared Visions” runs Aug. 4-25 with an artists reception, 5-7 p.m., Aug. 11.

A “Free Family Art Day,” will be held, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Aug. 12, with hands-on activities such as workshops and craft tables.

For more information, go to www.chicoartcenter.com or call 895-8726.

KZFR Interview - April 21st, 2017 with DJ SANJAY

An interview with Josh Funk and Dana Hocking about the new iPhone / Android game KZFR ZOMBIES. Chico, CA has been taken over by zombies and they hate great radio. Battle through downtown Chico, 1 mile, and the KZFR station to save our town! You can even listen to KZFR while you play!

Download the FREE App now for your apple or Android Device.

ARTS DEVO: Severance Package has sharpened its scissors

By Jason Cassidy - jasonc@newsreview.com

Lately, I Keep Scissors In these stinky times, if the shit’s gonna keep hitting the fan, do we cut the damn cord or start nicking some of the monkeys who keep flinging turds at everything that moves?

Severance Package’s scissors are sharpened and ready to slice, and the Chico garage-punk power trio has created the “unfriending anthem of the century” to serve as the soundtrack to cutting the BS out of our lives. “Scissors Gonna Cut Ya” is the just-released first single from the band’s new album (coming this summer), and to properly introduce the sassy, riffy, damn catchy raver to a drama-weary world, the band teamed up with local animator/filmmaker Josh Funk to create a video for it.

The key word there is “create,” because Funk crafted his own little meticulously edited animated world with a video with characters that look like living, rocking paper dolls. Funk filmed the band members (vocalist/bassist Robin Indar, guitarist/vocalist Josh Indarand drummer Mike Erpino) and a few familiar locals (Claire Meehan, Katie Norris, Claire Fong and Moshin’ Dave), all decked out like bee-hived characters from John Waters’ version of the 1950s and then cut them out and placed them against various animated environments. It’s really impressive, and all the cutting (hey, I see what he did there) matches the song’s herky-jerky energy.

Best Local Act!

See it for yourself for the first time at the band’s video-release party this Friday (April 7) at the Maltese. Funk will be on hand for back slaps and congratulatory shots, and Severance Package, The Empty Gate and new Chico crew Licky Lips (playing their first show), will be rock ’n’ rollin’.

New Music, Video bring Tremor of Sass →

By Jeffrey Fox, Correspondent - Posted: 04/05/17, 8:20 PM PDT

Punk rock trio Severance Package and filmmaking animator Josh Funk combined talents to bring an above-and-beyond, top-quality music video that will debut Friday at The Maltese, 1600 Park Ave.

The video release show begins at 9 p.m. Severance Package will be performing as well as local greats The Empty Gate and the debut of Licky Lips. The show is $7 and for those 21 or older. 

Josh Funk, who has been a local musician himself, became even more notorious in the Chico music scene with his stop-motion animation video for The Michelin Embers song “Diggin’On.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTHxxolsgxc). 

When the musicians of Severance Package saw the video, they were enthralled by Funk’s artistic quality and visual storytelling. They implored him to design an idea for their song “Scissors Gonna Cut Ya,” which is the first track from their upcoming LP anticipated this summer.

Severance Package, who formed in 2009, is a classic power trio featuring the vocal and songwriting talents of Robin and Josh Indar (Black Fork, Lott Lyzzyrd) and powered by the double-fisted percussion of veteran Chico rocker Mike Erpino (Deviants, Breakouts, Special Forces). 

Elements of rock — reminiscent of X, Dead Moon and Bon Scott-era AC/DC — the band pairs diamond-hard rock riffs with dagger-sharp lyrics, delivered in stunning male/female harmony.

“We are so stoked to have worked with Josh Funk on this video,” Josh Indar said. “He’s super talented and seemed to know just what we were looking for. It was also fun to mess around with a bit of a different sound than we’re known for.”

Funk printed and hand-cut thousands of individual frames to make this buffet of cut paper eye candy, big hair and sassy characters. 

“Creating this video was extremely fun and challenging,” Funk said. “I really enjoyed collaborating with the band to find a look and imagery that matched the energy of their song.”

After printing and cutting, Funk had to animate the thousands of images, then combine them in the computer to create an energetic feel that matched the band’s song. 

The project took around four months, though Funk said he was working on multiple jobs at the same time. 

“Near the end, I had two weeks straight, six hours a day to meet the deadline. I also hired some local artists to help cut some paper,” he said.

The song and music video bring a sweet tremor of sass and attitude.

It’s inspired by Internet drama and the universal need to remove toxic people from one’s everyday lives by cutting them out. 

The band refers to the song as, “the unfriending anthem of the year.”

For more on Severance Package visit their website at severancepackage.org.

For more details about the video release show, go to https://www.facebook.com/events/255748778212132.

Videomaker Magazine - Live Interview with Josh Funk

Josh Funk, filmmaker, animator and Co-Director of Animation Chico is here with us to answer your questions. (http://www.joshfunk.com/)

Plus, get a glimpse of the Panasonic Lumix GH5 in action!

MONSTERS PROJECT GAME AND BOOK AVAILABLE NOW

Chico, California – October 13th, 2016 – Game developer Dana Hocking and illustrator Josh Funk have launched Monsters Project; a monster themed game, book, and website scattered with hidden levels, codes, and clues. You are free to explore this strange new place, but do so carefully. The surroundings get stranger and oddities abound.

“Our goal was to create a project that reached beyond one platform. If you want to enjoy the game or book alone you can, but there are many layers to keep you curious. If you like mysteries and searching for clues then check out our website and book very carefully," said Hocking.

The Monsters Book is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online retailers. The Game is available as a free download through Apple’s App Store, the Android Play Store, and at www.monstersproject.com.

Play the Game:

Buy the Book:

Josh Funk Wins Best of Festival Award at Sundial Film Festival with 'The Spaceman'

Josh Funk and his brother Jordan Funk with awards for The Spaceman.

On March 5th, film director Josh Funk won top honors at the 2016 Sundial Film Festival with Best of Festival and Best Narrative Film awards. The awards were given for Funk’s imaginative sci-fi short film The Spaceman, created with giant cardboard sets, stop-motion puppets, and old school techniques.

REDDING, CA (PRWEB) MARCH 09, 2016

The Spaceman features an exceptional use of practical effects including stop-motion animation, miniatures, animatronics, and elaborate sets made of cardboard. The film stars Funk’s brother Jordan Funk, who builds a cardboard spaceship, travels to an alien planet, and fights a stop-motion monster. This black and white short was filmed in the Northern California locations of Chico, Forest Ranch, and Fern Canyon.

“I am so honored to be a part of the Sundial Film Festival and to take home these film awards. It’s surreal to see how this small Kickstarter funded sci-fi film has grown to reach so many people,” said Funk.

Organized and presented by the Active 20-30 Club of Redding Foundation, The Sundial Film Festival, in its 8th year, showcases the talent and diversity of filmmakers and photographers at the beautifully restored Cascade Theater in Redding, California.

All entries were judged for creativity, quality, and originality by a diverse jury comprised of independent filmmakers, critics, and educators in the film industry. Proceeds from the event went towards serving the Redding community's greatest asset –local children.

Michelin Embers
The Making of the Diggin' On video and Plans for the Future

Link to "Diggin' On" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTHxxolsgxc

Artist Josh Funk: https://www.facebook.com/joshfunkartist/?fref=ts

The Michelin Embers have long been one of my favorite local acts. Their combination of quality song-crafting and unique instrumentation makes them eminently interesting to listen to and watch. Calling themselves “Western Skiffle,” they are a tough band to peg into a category. Not quite bluegrass, not quite rock and roll, the group draws upon elements from a variety of different musical genres including country, swing, rock, and even the soundtracks of the old spaghetti westerns, to comprise their overall sound.

Johnny Meehan started an early version of the band several years ago with the concept of “playing songs under a trestle,” and my understanding is that the band did indeed meet and play underneath a train trestle. The instrumentation is primarily acoustic, and while the band has undergone a few different line-ups, the current configuration seems to have stuck. Right now it's Johnny on acoustic guitar and doing most of the singing, Ken Smith on ukulele, Steve Bragg thumping a home-made wash-tub bass, and the newest member of the band, Scott Pressman on slide guitar.

The band has released a couple of albums, their first is a full-length collection entitled “Telapachie” that garnered the CAMMIE's award for best local album. The second is a 6-song ep called “Looking for a Hole.” From the ep, the band decided to make a music video for the song “Diggin' On,” and enlisted the help of video artist and animator extraordinaire Josh Funk. The amazing piece of stop-frame animation debuted in December at the International Animation Festival held at the El Rey Theater. It is an incredibly lush, surreal, vibrant and wondrous creation.

I sat down with thee of the four band members recently - Ken Smith was out of town - to talk about the making of the video. Meehan expressed excitement about the idea of collaborating with Funk.

“It presented itself as a cool opportunity. Josh Funk is a badass.”

The band members unanimously point to the video “Wormholes” as an example of Funk's stunning visual artistry.

It turns out the video for "Diggin' On" was itself a sort of collaboration between Funk and Ricky Barnett, the illustrator who came up with the album artwork for the band's two releases. It was Barnett who originally came up with the bird-man figure on the “Looking for a Hole” ep, and Funk got in touch with Barnett to co-create the female bird character featured in the video.

“He captured something in that bird person,” Pressman opines. “He's helped to shape the Michelin Embers' personae and mystique.”

The Diggin' On video serves to extend that mystique. In the video the male bird-person is driving a wood-burning stove fueled cart towards a drive-in movie theater, where he eventually meets a female bird person, and we can assume they may be embarking on a new romance. During an earlier meeting Funk explained to me some of the process. He hand-crafts much of the equipment used in the creation of the video, and for whatever parts or pieces he can't fabricate by hand he utilizes a 3-D printer. Funk will also incorporate found objects where appropriate. One example of this is the autonomous drill that bores a hole in the video's closing scenes. The drill is actually an animated “steam-punk style eye-piece” Funk had collected prior to the inception of the video. As he was trying to decide how to create the sequence that would lead to the hole boring, Funk realized the eyepiece could serve as the drill bit.

The video made its debut at the International Animation Festival here in Chico, and the band members assume Funk has plans to show it in other festivals. In a classic symbiotic relationship, the band sees the video both as a means to display Funk's incredible talents as an artist, and to help get the Michelin Ember's music out to a population that they otherwise couldn't reach by playing local and regional gigs.

“We've all played in bands and played shows,” says Meehan. “Fridays, Saturday nights, and also the Monday and Tuesday night shows. So it seems like, let's expand what we can do.”

“YouTube,” Bragg suggests. “Everybody at work watches YouTube, checks shit out on YouTube.” The video is a great way to expand the band's on-line footprint, and to get them in front of audiences they would otherwise not be able to reach.

“I've always thought the Michelin Embers would do really well in Australia.” Meehan explains. “I can imagine there's going to be some kind of world premier in Australia.”

The animated video is extraordinary, but the underlying song is also a gem. I ask Meehan what the song “Diggin' On” is all about. His answer:

“It's about, I'm pretty sure it's about – they say that love takes work. Being in a relationship takes work. The whole idea of devotion, and then questioning that devotion. I'm pretty sure that's what the song is about. Like, how deep are we going? Where is this devotion? The idea of hard work – where does that end up? Sometimes it feels like it ends up in a hole.”

There is some laughter at this explanation – resigned laughter.

As for future plans Meehan informs me the band is currently working on a new album.

“We're working on an album with the whole idea of road themes,” he informs. “The whole idea is songs about the road. Specifically I wrote this song recently about, do you know, the dude who had the mules? I wrote a song about him. I'm really looking forward to showing you guys the song – I'll pack my Mules.”

Something to look forward to in 2016 – my ear's taste-buds are tingling already.

-NSM

Diggin' On video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTHxxolsgxc

Band's website: http://www.michelinembers.com/music.html

Michelin Embers on BandCamp: http://michelinembers.bandcamp.com/

Get Animated →

Two local filmmakers launch animation fest

By —Esmeralda Ramirez

This article was published on 12.10.15.

For artists, theater actors and musicians, Chico is a pretty wide open art town, with fun venues and an established support network in place. But for filmmakers—an arts niche that has been growing steadily locally over the past decade or so—there have been very few outlets. Other than the annual Shortz! Film Festival—which celebrated its fifth year of showcasing short films this past September—and the occasional screening at the Pageant Theatre, there are only sporadic opportunities for showing off locally made films.

This Saturday, Dec. 12, at the El Rey Theatre, Chico will take at least one more step toward building up the film scene with the debut of Animation Chico, an international animated short-film festival created by two local filmmakers, Shawn Dyer and Josh Funk.

“There are a lot of filmmakers around here and they’re all looking for a place to show their work and most of them go to either Redding or Sacramento because there’s nothing in their town to support them,” said Dyer.

The two grew up in Chico and have been friends since high school. Dyer, a co-founder of the Shortz! festival and creator of last spring’s Ha! Fest comedy film festival at the El Rey, has been making and showing his original full-length and short films for nearly a decade. Funk, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer to the scene, having moved from making music in local bands to creating his own stop-motion animated films since 2012.

“The main reason behind [Animation Chico] is actually to bring more people from other markets to Chico,” Dyer said.

The duo started accepting festival entries mid-summer, and received 71 submissions from around the world over the course of three months. They settled on 36 shorts in a variety of animation styles—traditional, computer-animated, stop-motion, even 3-D—that will be spread among four roughly one-hour blocks during the festival.

Naturally, especially for Funk, another goal of Animation Chico is to shed light on the art of animation.

“I think a lot of people don’t understand all of the different forms of animation that are out there and also don’t understand the amount of time that goes into making these,” he said.

Chico State has a large and celebrated animation program, and Funk pointed out that a lot of those students go on to work on big blockbuster movies, but many locals aren’t aware of all that talent. And though they didn’t get any entries from the university this year, the hope is that Animation Chico can be a showcase for student works in the future.

For the inaugural event, viewers can expect a wide variety of films from many different countries, Funk said, including a six-minute piece directed by French animator Gilles-Alexandre Deschaud titled “Chase Me,” which was produced using 2,500 pieces created on a 3-D printer. Other countries represented include China, Brazil, Thailand, Canada, Hungary and Israel.

“A lot of the content that we’ve received is wonderful, from perspectives other than the average American perspective and you’d be surprised what people come up with outside the U.S.,” Dyer said.

“A lot of times with animation, there are no words, which is kind of nice that it translates all over the world,” Funk added. “You can say a lot with just body movements of a character.”

For its awards, the festival is divided into three categories of animated films: student, international and stop-motion, and a $150 prize will go to the winner in each category. For the jury, Funk and Dyer brought in three artists: animator and Chico State instructor Mark Pullyblank, local graphic designer/comic artist Aye Jay Morano and animator Clayt Ratzlaff.

Also on the program (but not eligible for the competition) is the world premiere of Funk’s stop-motion music video for local band the Michelin Embers’ song “Diggin’ On,” which will be followed by a three-song performance by the band.

Short film festival headlines Chico's El Rey Theater →

By Jerry Olenyn, jolenyn@krcrtv.com

Sixty short films will be showcased at the El Rey Theater in Chico this weekend.

The filmmakers come from all parts of the world, including a few in the Northstate, like Chico's Josh Funk whose 12-minute film "The Spaceman" took two years to complete.

"In my case, it was all the special effects and the stop-motion animation that I did," said Funk. "It took 24 pictures for every second of film that you see whenever there's a puppet involved."

Funk was a cell phone sales representative for eight years before focusing on film making. His story is like many of the other filmmakers, who will show off their efforts this weekend, hoping to one day direct feature films like some of Hollywood's greatest auteurs.

One of the festivals organizers said film lovers will see a large quantity and quality of films over the next three days.

"There are many good films," said Renee Boyd. "There's action, comedy, drama, documentary and animation."

"There are so many beautiful films with good stories," she said.

Tickets are $10 per day or $20 for a three day pass. For more information about the film festival, click here.

• Copyright 2015 by KRCRTV.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

An Animated Vision →

Director and animator Josh Funk created “The Spaceman” as a playful expression of his childhood imagination.“‘I used to make cardboard spaceships as a kid,” Josh explains, “and I wanted to make a film that incorporated childhood themes and as many practical effects as possible.” The film was created using stop motion animation, miniature sets, large cardboard sets, animatronics, and CGI and represents Josh’s second stop motion effort. His previous film, Wormholes, was created using exclusively stop motion techniques.

Though stop motion is sometimes viewed as a prohibitively labor intensive process, Josh holds a special fondness for the medium: “I’ve always been a fan of stop motion animation and in awe of the amount of dedication that goes into finishing a project in this medium.” It’s through this impressive level of dedication that stop motion animators such as Josh earn uncompromising control over their projects. “I can create elaborate sets that would be costly for a live-action film,” says Josh, “there are no actors to worry about scheduling with, and anything I can imagine can be created through puppets. It really feels like art in movement.”

Still, complete control does not always equate to ultimate perfection — but this doesn’t bother Josh: “I enjoy the flaws in this form of animation. For example, if you look closely at The Spaceman you can occasionally see the fur move from where my fingers were adjusting the puppet. There is a performance happening in between the frames.”
“The Spaceman” has so far garnered two awards at the IndieFEST and Best Shorts competitions and will be headed to several more festival by year’s end.
We want to offer a special thanks to Josh for giving us a behind-the-scenes peek at his work in the images featured in this article. Watch “The Spaceman” and keep up to date with Josh’s latest projects at www.joshfunk.com(link is external)

Jordan Maison is an editor and VFX artist whose plied his talents in web content for Disney Studios as well as movie and videogame websites.

Issue: 

• September 2015