Greetings From Loonaville
2008. Adobe After Effects, Adobe PhotoshopD.
Total run time: 1:15
Back around 2002 or 2003 I began teaching a class in Adobe After Effects—perhaps my all time favorite app. One of the things I had my students do was create an opening title sequence for a fictional TV show. I must admit it looked like fun, so in 2008 I decided to make one too. The scrapbook contains a number of in-jokes and references; for example, I used several of my father's childhood photos from the 1940s. You can see him pointing next to the name “Ed Smelt,” riding a tricycle on the “Bill Premise” page, and finally the in back row of the Sunday school class picture on the “Sam Conclusion” page. The names Alexander Biggle, Bill Premise, and Sam Conclusion are all references to Monty Python characters—Cardinal Biggles, Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion. The name Joe Shlabotnik is lifted from Peanuts—that was the name of Charlie Brown's favorite baseball player. The name Tina Palin of course combines Tina Fey and Sarah Palin, who were inextricably linked at the time. Mamie Farquart and Ed Smelt were silly-sounding names that I invented. The music track is Planet Claire by the B-52s.