Works

U Can’t Stop the Rubber Rocket! (2014)

I directed and animated this music video project for Australian funk outfit, Rubber Johnson on the Respect Music label. The video is for their single "U Can’t Stop the Rubber Rocket!" (also available on iTunes and Amazon) for which I also did the cover art.

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Falling in Flames (2012)

A music video I worked on as a contractor to Studio Kenaz. It is an accompaniment to the Yumiko: Curse of the Merch Girl project by indie hip-hop artist Murs and Josh Blaylock of Devil’s Due Publishing. The video is directed by Studio Kenaz head Aaron Miner, while I contributed to the project as the lead story artist and lead animator.

Opening scene boards

Someone who has read the graphic novel will probably notice inconsistencies between it and the video. The video actually ended up being more of an interpretation of the song’s lyrics than an adaptation of the book itself, as we only had bits and pieces of the source material to reference at the project’s conceptual stage. I was probably the only hip-hop fan among the crew, and I happened to be listening to The Weeknd on non-stop repeat at the time, so most of my contributions on the conceptual side concerned rap fame tropes (drugs, poppin’ bottles, girls kissing girls, etc) while Aaron came up with the more fantastical elements (jumping into the rift, et al).

Party and Video Shoot scene

Production took place over the course of three months from April to June of 2012, in time for the video to be shown at San Diego Comic-Con. After Comic Con, it seemed to vanish from existence until it surfacing a year later to coincide with the digital release of the book. The production crew was mostly composed of students from Cogswell College and San Jose State University. Having already graduated from De Anza, I happened upon the lead animator position by being the one person with the most time to animate.

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The Turtle and the Monkey (2012)

"The Turtle and the Monkey" is my thesis film for the animation program at De Anza College. The film is an adaptation of a Filipino folk tale; one that I had never heard before. The film actually came about as a literary adaptation exercise for an animation screenwriting class. I chose to look specifically for Filipino folk tales to animate, as they were new territory for me despite being Filipino-American.

'handsome' monkey options

The majority of production took place from Dec. 2008 to June 2011, in time to be screened at the 2011 De Anza Student Film and Video Show. The animation and compositing were done in Toon Boom Studio 4.5, while Corel Painter X was used for the background paintings. Additional production continued into 2012, with new footage and music being added in time for entrance into the 2012 film festival circuit. The film was selected for screening at the 2012 California International Animation Festival and the 2012 SoDak Animation Festival.

Turtle expression sheet

The music was composed by the awesome Dolores Duran-Cefalu, who adapted the Southeast-Asian kulintang/gamelan sound into a compelling film score. Joel Natanauan and Robert Pendleton provide the voices for the Monkey and the Turtle, respectively.

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Welcome to the Third World (2008)

My first animation gig, I contributed a few seconds of animation to the music video for "Welcome to the Third World" by The Dandy Warhols. The video was directed by Webster Colcord. The production, (at least the part in which I participated) was decidedly old school - pencil, paper, and pegbar.

I animated the shot at about 00:29 (with the tweaking monkey and tipsy hippo) and the dancing hippo 

girls at 00:39.