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Aaron Augenblick | |
|---|---|
 Augenblick at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in 2011. | |
| Education | School of Visual Arts |
| Occupation(s) | Animator, director, and producer |
| Awards | ASIFA Awards |
Aaron Augenblick (born December 28, 1975) is an American animator, director, and producer. He is the founder of Augenblick Studios, known for his work on Ugly Americans , Superjail! , Wonder Showzen , and Golden Age .
Augenblick grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, and studied at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City. While at college, Augenblick created two animated short films entitled "The Midnight Carnival" (screened at Slamdance Festival 2000) and "The Wire". These films received two ASIFA Awards and the SVA Dusty Award for outstanding achievement in Animation. On October 20, 1996, "The Wire" was screened on the Cartoon Network as part of the ToonHeads special: A Night of Independent Animation. [1]
He began his professional career working at MTV Animation on such television shows as Daria , Cartoon Sushi and Downtown . In 1999, Augenblick founded Augenblick Studios, an animation production facility located in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to animation, Augenblick has written and illustrated the Xeric Award-winning "Tales of the Great Unspoken".
From 2004 to 2005, Augenblick was the animation director for two seasons of Wonder Showzen , a cult favorite for MTV. Augenblick Studios garnered widespread notoriety for their spot-on parodies of classic cartoons, leading to Augenblick being named as one of the rising stars of animation by Animation Magazine .
In 2006, Augenblick wrote and directed Golden Age , a faux-documentary which examined the scandalous private lives of iconic cartoon characters from the past. The ten episodes series was originally created for Comedy Central's broadband channel Motherload and was later released as a 22-minute short film. Golden Age was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and played in numerous festivals throughout the world.
Augenblick Studios created the first season of Superjail! in 2008, an animated series for Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. Augenblick was the show's executive producer and animation director.
From 2010 to 2012, Augenblick served as the supervising producer and animation director for Comedy Central's horror-comedy series Ugly Americans . The 2011 Ottawa International Animation Festival screened a retrospective of Augenblick's work. In 2015, he directed animated shows "Golan the Insatiable" for Fox and "The Jellies" for Golf Wang. Augenblick served as an executive producer and director for Adult Swim's adaptation of The Jellies in 2017.
Liquid Television was an animation showcase that appeared on MTV from 1991 to 1995. It has served as the launching point for several high-profile original cartoons, including Beavis and Butt-Head and Æon Flux. The bulk of Liquid Television's material was created by independent animators and artists specially for the show, and some previously produced segments were compiled from festivals such as Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation.
Wonder Showzen is an American adult sketch comedy television series that aired between 2005 and 2006 on MTV2. It was created by Vernon Chatman and John Lee of PFFR.
John Russell Dilworth is an American animator, actor, writer, director, storyboard artist, producer and the creator of the animated television series Courage the Cowardly Dog. His work has mainly appeared on PBS, CBS, Showtime, HBO, Fox, ABC, NBC, Arte, CBC Television, YTV, Teletoon, BBC Two, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV, among others.
Garri Yakovlevich Bardin is a Soviet and Russian animation director, screenwriter, producer and actor best known for his experimental musical and stop motion films. He was awarded the 1988 Short Film Palme d'Or for the Fioritures cartoon and the Order of Honour in 2011.
PFFR is a Brooklyn-based production company and art collective consisting of Vernon Chatman, John Lee, Alyson Levy and formerly Jim Tozzi until 2009. The group has been active since 1998.
Chris Prynoski is an American film and television producer, animator, and director, known for his work on TV programs such as Downtown, Metalocalypse, Freaknik: The Musical, Motorcity and Megas XLR and films such as Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.
Vernon Chatman is an American television producer, writer, voice actor, stand-up comedian, musician and a member of PFFR, an art collective based in Brooklyn, New York City. He created the television series Wonder Showzen, Xavier: Renegade Angel, The Heart, She Holler and The Shivering Truth. He also produces and voices characters for South Park.
Michael M. Wartella is an American underground cartoonist, animator, writer and director based in New York City, generally publishing under the name M. Wartella or just Wartella. He is best known for his work in The Village Voice and on Cartoon Network's MAD.
Augenblick Studios is an independent animation studio founded in 1999 by Aaron Augenblick, and located in Brooklyn, New York City. The company has created a wide array of animated shorts for television, film, and the Internet, with a target audience typically being adults. Their clients include Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, the TED conference, PBS, MTV, and Nickelodeon.
John Michael Lee is an American television producer, writer, director, voice actor, and musician best known for his work on the MTV2 comedy series Wonder Showzen as a member of the rock band/art collective PFFR.
Golden Age is an adult animated mockumentary short film which debuted as a web-series on Comedy Central's broadband channel Motherload in 2006. Ten segments trace the sordid careers of oddball cartoon characters from throughout the history of animation. Notable characters include Marching Gumdrop, Lancaster Loon, and Kongobot. The film is produced by Augenblick Studios and directed by Aaron Augenblick. Golden Age was an official selection of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
ShadowMachine is an American animation studio and production company for film, television, commercials and music videos.
Superjail! is an American adult animated television series produced by Williams Street. It follows the events that take place in an unusual prison. The pilot episode aired on television on May 13, 2007, and its first season began on September 28, 2008 on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim.
Titmouse, Inc. is an American animation studio that develops and produces animated television programming, feature films, music videos, title sequences, commercials, and short films. The studio opened in 2000, and has offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and Vancouver.
James Michael Tozzi is an American artist, commercial director, producer, voice actor and musician best known for his work on the MTV2 comedy series Wonder Showzen and the Adult Swim show Xavier: Renegade Angel and as a member of the rock band/art collective PFFR.
Dave Hughes is an American television producer and editor, currently employed at Williams Street as well the founder of his production studio, Million Monkeys Inc. Hughes previously worked as a video editor while at MTV Animation, working on series such as Beavis and Butt-head, Celebrity Deathmatch and Cartoon Sushi, before meeting with coworker Matt Harrigan to work on Space Ghost Coast to Coast in Los Angeles. He has worked on several Adult Swim series, and is the creator of his own show for the network, Off the Air.
Allan Charles Neuwirth is an American screenwriter, producer, author, designer, and cartoonist known for his work in film, television, print, and as co-creator of the syndicated comic strip Chelsea Boys.
Zoolander: Super Model is an American adult animated superhero comedy film directed by Aaron Augenblick and starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Tim Gunn and Nick Kroll. Based on the Zoolander characters created by Ben Stiller and Drake Sather, it was written by John Aboud and Michael Colton. The work was produced in 2011 as a series of short episodes with the intent of releasing it as a web television series, but the episodes were eventually packaged together as a film instead, and was released on Netflix in 2016 in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. In May 2020, it was released worldwide on CBS All Access. This was Jerry Stiller's final voice acting role before his death on May 11, 2020.
Christy C. Karacas is an American musician, animator, voice actor, director and writer, known for creating Superjail! and Ballmastrz: 9009 for Adult Swim and directing the Cartoon Network series Robotomy.
In the United States, before the enforcement of the Hays Code, some cartoon shorts contained humor that was aimed at adult audience members rather than children. Following the introduction of the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system, independent animation producers attempted to establish an alternative to mainstream animation. Initially, few animation studios in the United States attempted to produce animation for adult audiences, but later examples of animation produced for adults would gain mainstream attention and success. Adult animation in the United States includes shows with superhero, sci-fi, and fantasy elements. Some of the most prominent animations with these mature themes include The Simpsons, BoJack Horseman, South Park, Futurama, and Archer, along with other adult animated television series, feature films, and animation in other forms which helped the genre expand over the years.