The Briefing Room

Dogsharks help save energy in a 1:00 animated short film that went online Earth Day, April 22nd. Animated by the folks at MOSS, Dogsharks: Climate Change, was created in conjunction with Robert Wurzburg, creator of the Dogsharks brand.

“This project came out of a conversation with Robert Wurzburg about creating cartoons to get people thinking about the issue of global warming. As we were launching MOSS, we decided to create this one together as our first in-house PSA,” explained Harold Moss, co-founder/creative director of MOSS, a brand initiative created to focus exclusively on producing media, across all platforms, fostering environmental, social, and political awareness. “Working with Robert is like going to a creative playground and we relished the opportunity to find a fun way to get out a message we care about — what individuals can do to combat global warming. It focuses on a small step, but that first step is the most important in getting people aware and active.”

It only takes one to change a light bulb and in this short film, a Dogshark demonstrates just how easy it is to substitute a compact fluorescent (which uses 75% less energy) for a standard incandescent bulb. The Dogshark’s performance generates wild applause and bouquets of flowers from an audience encourage to “start acting now.”

Robert Wurzburg added, “The nature of Dogsharks is inventive thinking about all sorts of things, their observations sort of snap things into focus, even the obvious. Environmental Awareness is part of Dogshark DNA. It’s a given. MOSS and my team are having a creative riot screwing all these facets together. We’re excited about the possibilities.”

The MOSS creative team included Director/Creative Director Harold Moss, Executive Producer Tammy Walters, Producer Franklin Zitter, Animation Director/2D Animator Nikolay Nachev, Storyboard Artist Ryan Sias, After Effects Compositor Devin Clark and Sound Designer/Mixer Thomas Lino.

MOSS utilized Adobe Production Premium CS3, Panic Transmit (file transfer software), PowerMac G5 Computers, iMac Intel Computers, Apple 20” displays, Dell Ultrasharp 24” widescreen displays and Wacom Intuos 3 tablets in the execution of this project.

Robert Wurzburg is Dogsharks Creator, Creative Director, Art Director, Writer, Designer and Composer. Composer and Creative Consultant Gahlord Dewald worked with Wurzburg. The musical underscore was arranged and performed by Wills Bates (all rights reserved by Robert Wurzburg and Gahlord Dewald). The voice-over was supplied by Conrad Wurzburg.

About MOSS:

Founded on Earth Day 2008, MOSS, an offshoot of FlickerLab, the New York-based multimedia design and animation studio, is a new brand initiative that will focus exclusively on producing media, across all platforms, fostering environmental, social, and political awareness and change.

The company’s reel includes environmentally and socially relevant projects completed under the FlickerLab banner including an animated campaign for the American Heart Association featuring the Bad Fats Brothers and The Better Fats Sisters; a viral short, How Pregnancy Happens, for Planned Parenthood; Anti-smoking campaigns for American Legacy and Comedy Central; Michael Moore Productions (A Brief History of the USA, in the Academy Award winning, Bowling for Columbine, and graphic design and effects for Moore’s Palme d’Or winning film, Fahrenheit 9/11); a range of ads for Green Peace and MoveOnPac.org; co-creating and producing the web series This Modern World (which satirized political inequities, corruption, and environmental destruction); Trouble The Waters (Consulting Producer and graphics for this 2008 Sundance and Full Frame Festival Grand Jury Prize winning Katrina documentary), among others.

MOSS is headquartered at 7 West 18th Street, 4th floor, New York NY 10011. FlickerLab also maintains offices at 119 Fifth Avenue, 8th floor penthouse, New York, NY 10003. For additional information, or to see a reel, contact Managing Partner/Executive Producer Tammy Walters at Tammy@flickerlab.com or by phone at 212 560-9228. Visit FlickerLab at www.flickerlab.com and MOSS at www.thinkmoss.net

Credit Sheet:

Airdate: Earth Day, April 22, 2008 – launched on the Internet

Product: Short animated film

Title: Dogsharks: Climate Change

Length: 1:00

Description: MOSS animated short featuring the Dogsharks. In this short the Dogsharks show us how easy it is to change from a standard incandescent light bulb to a compact fluorescent, which happens to use 75% less electricity.

Production Company: FlickerLab

City/State: New York, NY

Director/Creative Director: Harold Moss

Executive Producer: Tammy Walters

Animation Director: Nikolay Nachev

Storyboards: Ryan Sias

Producer: Franklin Zitter

After Effects Compositing: Devin Clark

2D Animators: Nikolay Nachev

Sound Designer/Mixer: Thomas Lino

Hardware/Software:

Adobe Production Premium CS3

Panic – Transmit

PowerMac G5 Computers

iMac Intel Computers

Dell Ultrasharp 24” widescreen displays

Apple Displays

Wacom – Intuos 3 tablets

Dogsharks Credits:

Creator, Creative Director, Art Director, Writer, Designer, Composer: Robert Wurzburg

Composer: Gahlord Dewald

Music Arranger and Performer: Wills Bates (all rights reserved by Robert Wurzburg and Gahlord Dewald)

Voice over: Conrad Wurzburg

“Dogshark Yell” (all rights reserved by Robert Wurzburg)

Special Thanks to:

Clara, Will, Robbie, Bridget and Conrad

Creative Consultant: Gahlord Dewald

Consultant: John McCarty

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