Dec 23, 2019

How the cartoon met his own voice actor in "Spongebob's Big Birthday Punk".

Spongebob Square Pants are at the turning point. This year, the franchise, among other things, celebrated its 20th anniversary, marked by a one-hour TV special, Spongebob's big birthday punk. Meanwhile, the series was renewed in the 13th season, and the audience was shown a trailer for the Spongebob movie: Sponge on The Run - the character's third theatrical outing, and the first

, which is mostly cgi, the future is safe for jaunty sponge and his aquatic friends. This was the first year of the franchise since the death of creator Steven Hillenberg in 2018 on May 11. Spongebob's big birthday punk was conceived before he died, but was subsequently recast as a tribute to him. Jonas Morganstein, a live-action director who studied at Calarts with Hillenburg, tells cartoon Brew about his efforts to respect the creator's artistic spirit:

The special sees Spongebob (the voice of Tom Kenny) take part in a live-action "surface world" birthday tour with his best friend Patrick Starr (Bill Fagerbakke). There, they encounter a human version played by a cast of voices (which, surprisingly, has not changed widely throughout the history of the show). This surreal encounter- the first for the show- is played out with trusty slabs, cartoon characters frequently corresponding to underwater burger joints. See some of it below.

This special was well received when it aired on Nickelodeon on May 7 and picked up Annie's nomination for best special production. Cartoon Brew caught up with Morganstein to discuss the joys and challenges of staging a hybrid scene with a reliable slab. He works in the studio Jonas & Co.It is joined by Hema Mulchandani, co-owner of the project.He was the executive producer of the special.

How he directed the cast in this scene, especially in terms of their physical performance-

Jonas Morganstein: This was an unprecedented situation: A group of actors who have uttered characters for 20 years ago portrayed a live-action version of "Alternative Reality" for the first time ever in their character version.

When I worked with Tom Kenny and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton) at the voiceover booth, they physically played a line: an arm in the air, an animated face. They bring the dialogue to life with their movements. Those pitch-perfect performances were already in them.

We have created an appropriate set of parameters to nurture that performance. We built the perfect setting and founded the greasy spoon with the right layout of the pass through the windows and grilles and transformed it into a reliable slab. Next, we equipped the cast in the wardrobe, which represents the real-world interpretation of each character. After that, we rehearsed several times with all the cast and did blocking.

The live-action segment is full of comic touches like Kenny's enlarged eyes and multiple arms.

Morganstein: In the show, Spongebob is generally the only character to physically deform. He is a character from Tex Avery, whose emotional reactions and reactions to physical situations are more powerful than contained inside a simple sponge rectangle. My favorite corner of the Nickelodeon Animation Office is the door of the storyboarding team, where the artist changes the body of favorite Spongebob

We needed the physical manifestation of Spongebob to express the same level of infinite personality defying physical reality . So [his human opponent] Jimbob dances at high speed, spins a spatula like a propeller, and sprouts multiple arms like a Hindu god. These effects required over-the-top performances from Tom Kenny.

The live-action segment was either accurately scripted with the storyboard, or there was room for improvisation on the set-

Hema Mulchandani: The whole episode was about Nickelodeon Animation and they came to us with all the story beats in place, especially about how animated characters are integrated into each scene. Shots without character integration were open to improvisation.

Morganstein: There was a ton of improvisation because it helped the actors lose themselves in their characters. Much of the horse play between Tom and Clancy [Brown] in the kitchen, Bill and Roger [Bumpass] (as Patrick and Squidward) improvise vaudevillian jokes next to Tom's over-the-top performance, especially as Tom makes fun of Clancy, and some of them are in the final couple. We have made it easy for you to get the most out of your life. And Mr. Lawrence used his writing skills in exploring variations of the heist monologue.

What were the main challenges in synthesizing and editing this sequence-

Mulchandani: To hit a fast-paced schedule, many of the characters were made pretty precisely in the animated live-action version before shooting, so that they were seamlessly synthesized in the post. For example, Spongebob popping out of the tank to touch the spatula, a combination of multiple live-action plates, animated characters, cartoon water effects, cg elements and smoke effects The whole project had to bounce back and forth between Nickelodeon animation and us. Multiply that by 407 shots.

The cartoon cast has been replaced by figurines in a few shots - I thought this was impressive. Why this choice -

Mulchandani: In general, wide shots use dolls, and close-ups use cartoon animation. It was both a time-saving device and a fun way to maintain its indie DIY surreal vibe.

Hybrid movies and series specifically inspired you when staging this scene-

Mulchandani: Spongebob showrunners Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller encouraged us to see the early 1980s avant-garde film Forbidden Zone as an inspiration for something special. This cult classic [directed by Richard Elfman] is filled with a mix of live-action and animation, in-camera special effects, and fun, low-budget solutions to tell unconventional stories. Marc and Vince are always encouraged and challenged to take creative risks and find mixed media solutions.

Morganstein: That recommendation was liberating for us. You can see the effects of the movie in the diner scene with its in-camera effects, speedlamps, and shameless use of dolls. You can also see it in the office scene, especially in the boardroom, where there are monkey costumes and dog dolls.

Plus this sensibility influenced how we brought patched segments back to life [the pirates played by Kenny]. For example, when a mottled sail is going down the sidewalk like a boat. This was created on camera via a human stop-motion pixilation inspired by norman McLaren's Neighbours, which I loved when I was at Steve Hillenburg and Calarts. These avant-garde film techniques seemed right on the target, because I felt a personal responsibility to contribute artistry that reflected Steve's artistic spirit.

Looking back over the Spongebob episode for 20 years, the show has always been in tune with the animated comedy perspective of its live-action seg with a similar DIY sensibility that's all part of the joke.

(This interview is done by email and has been lightly edited for brevity.))