Jun 6, 2022

Face's Music Party": Indie-style kids' variety show

Nickelodeon's iconic 1990s mascot "Face" is back in "Face's Music Party," a new hybrid variety show for children debuting today on Nickelodeon.

"Face's Music Party" is built around overarching themes of robots, imagination, and bugs. - Each episode is based on an overarching theme - robots, imagination, bugs, etc. - and is divided into distinct acts that can be viewed individually or enjoyed as part of a larger whole. One of the major advantages of the show's variety format is that Nickelodeon can upload individual skits and songs to YouTube for children to watch at any time. However, another important advantage from the creative side of production was that the show team was able to commission work from independent artists and musicians from around the world.

The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation in association with Jonas & Company, Inc. David Kreiler is the showrunner and executive producer. Jonas Morganstein and Hema Mulchandani of Jonas & Company also serve as executive producers, while Kreiler and Morganstein are directors; the two directors spoke to Cartoon Brew about their reimagining of Nick's icon.

Faith debuted in 1994 as Nick Jr. and was the animated host and mascot of Nickelodeon's preschool programming block for over a decade. Faith presented musical shorts, show intros, and bumpers between shows to Nick Jr. viewers. The character combined a funny voice, goofy facial expressions, a wide range of colors, and props to play dress-up and engage with other on-screen characters. Faith continued to appear on Nick Jr. for 10 years, eventually leaving the air in 2004. [but each episode also featured musical numbers by independent animators from around the world.

"We try to shine a light on talented animators and designers who don't have much to work with," explained Jonas Morganstein, director of the indie division, in a conversation with Cartoon Brew. 'We work very hard with inexperienced animation talent. Some of the people we work with have a lot of experience, but others have very little. We want them to express themselves. That's really important.

Each musical insert, based on a classic nursery rhyme such as "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," "Puff the Magic Dragon," or "The Ants Are Marching," is interpreted in the artist's personal style, whether 2D animation, computer graphics, cutouts, or stop motion. Animators involved in these segments include Angela Stempel, Hobo Divine, Monique Ray, Eleanor & Giovanni, Jordan Bruner, Loulou Joao, Chris McDonnell, and many others.

"The easy part would be to license the videos of these songs, which already have millions of hits on Youtube. But we can't just drop and drag it into the show; we want it to sound like it was made by a real person, not an AI."

"We'll need a lot more than that.

He further explained. There's a lot of music out there that I wouldn't like if I were a parent. Because it feels like a contrived toy that repeats itself over and over again, rather than being worth watching. So we want to be the answer and the antidote."

Updating Faith's character to be able to host a half-hour show was one of the first hurdles the production staff had to jump over. To do so, they turned to veteran character designer Joe Mosier (character art director on "Vivo" and character designer on "The Emperor's New Groove" and "How to Train Your Dragon 2").

"He's a great character designer, and we had to adapt old designs to our format and work out some very subtle points that were problematic in keeping the characters on screen for longer periods of time," explained Morganstein. "If you look at the old face, the eyes are very far apart and there is a big blank space in the middle. So, at Joe's suggestion, we moved the eyes in and made them bigger and warmer to fill that empty space."

While Faith's look is new, there are some old rules that the showrunners want to stick to. One such guideline, which is stretched from time to time, is that Faith should not have any human appendages. This means that the character's animators will always have to come up with other ways to create a charismatic host and narrator.

"We thought about the dynamic characters of Tex Avery and Steven Hillenberg," said the director. 'Otherwise, there would always be just two eyes and a mouth on the screen.'

"Bugs Bunny was a big element," agrees Kreiler. Jonas and I talk about those influences all the time."

While many physical changes were necessary for Faith to function as the host of her own show, the character's personality needed to remain as charming, funny, and approachable as her predecessor. Because gender, race, and age are not defined, there is a wide range of opportunities to play an active role.

"Obviously, Faith's first job is to introduce the segment, but we want the character to go on a journey with the audience and tell a story that they can relate to," Kreiler explains.

"We're always trying to balance Faith's role."

"Faith is ageless," Morganstein elaborated, "but has a maturity level similar to the children who watch the show." Faith is definitely not a teacher, not an authority figure, but more like an older cousin with the same curiosity and sense of wonder as the children watching the show. Faith is a flawed narrator with whom the children can relate."

Nickelodeon's production is directed by Eric Casemiro, Executive VP, Global Series Content, Nickelodeon Animation. Niki Williams serves as Nickelodeon's executive in charge of production. Veteran voice actor Cedric Williams voices Faith, and Celia Bruinkel is the animation director for the series.