I've found a niche making barmy animations for serious documentaries. Cartoons are the ideal medium to elucidate complex subjects, and make jokes about them.


A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CROISSANT
How pastry chefs contribute to global disharmony.
A documentary called Penis Dementia: The Search for the Perfect Penis needed some outstanding parts. I contributed 26 animated segments, totalling about eight minutes. Produced by Markham Street Films for Discovery Health Canada, the Life Network, and SBS Australia, it's a witty and incisive look at the myths and facts of the organ. Here's a sample:


HOW BABIES ARE MADE
A seminal moment in anyone's life.
1.1 mB - 19'


LYNDON B. JOHNSON
Why we fight.
1 mB - 22'


DESPITE ALL EVIDENCE
Don't try this at home.
340 kB - 9'


A MAN NEEDS 3 THINGS
Not what you're thinking.
800 kB - 22'

C R E D I T S :
For Markham Street Films
Producers: Michael McNamara and Judy Holm. Voiceover: Judy Holm.
When Citytv launched QT: Queer Television, they wanted a series of documentary cartoons as a weekly feature on the show. Each cartoon described the homosexual activities of a different species of animal (all true, according to this book.) Here's four of the twenty:


THE GRIZZLY BEAR
(Ursos actos)
2.2 mB - 35'


THE FLAMINGO
(Phoenicopterus)
2 mB - 35'


THE VAMPIRE BAT
(Desmodus rotundus)
2.2 mB - 35'


THE BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN
(Tursiops truncatus)
1.8 mB - 35'

Not enough? Here's four more.

C R E D I T S :
For Citytv Producers: Irshad Manji and Adriana Salvia.
Executive producer: Moses Znaimer. Voiceover: Charles Pillon.
For the documentary I Was a Teenage Feminist, my toons illustrated some of the concepts and history behind feminism. It was first broadcast on the W Network in March 2005.


AREWE EQUAL YET?
Not history, herstory.
5.1 mB - 1.39'


WHAT IS THE PATRIARCHY?
It's a man's world.
1.8 mB - 35'


ON FEMINISM, BY PAT ROBERTSON
Hard to believe, but it's all true.
2.2 mB - 35'


C R E D I T S :
For Up Front Entertainment Inc Producers: Barbara Barde and Therese Schechter.
Director and voiceover: Therese Schechter.
 
   

LUKE MURPHY, TORONTO FREELANCER: ANIMATION, WRITING, DESIGN, FILM PRODUCTION, PHOTOGRAPHY, WEBSITES