3/12/05

Hi there friends. It's been a long time since an update and much has happened since. In the winter of 2005 I worked on four internet spots for MSN, another freelance gig through Wildbrain. I then did some travelling through the winter. In February I visited my brother in Tokyo where he's lived for a long time now. Jetlag and culture shock aside, it was a great time. I then went off to China to be best man in my friend Ryan's wedding. I ate some of the best food I've ever had, sang some karaoke and hung out with some really cute bridesmaids.

The biggest change happened when I got back from Asia. I packed up my apartment and moved out here to San Francisco to work at Wildbrain full time. Unfortunately, the handoff of my apartment to a friend of mine fell through, so if anyone in New York out there wants a nice studio in Queens EMAIL ME!

I'm now in a one month sublet in San Fran apartment hunting for a permanent place. So if anyone knows of a decent one bedroom in the mission, EMAIL ME.

So, aside from the lack of stability in my life and missing my New York friends terribly, things are going well. Hopefully when I have some things figured out here, I'll get into the animation community out here and hopefully keep my fingers on the pulse of my animation friends back home. Enjoy the snow guys!

-Mike

7/06/04

Thought I'd update this website a little bit and let people know what I've been doing for the past year or so. I've been getting more commercial work through a company in San Francisco called Wildbrain. Keep your eyes out for my latest work, a series of Chiclets commercials!

Want to see some of my work on DVD? Ten other New York filmmakers and myself have put together a DVD packed with independent shorts. My film, Tongues and Taxis, shares the screen with bigshots like Bill Plympton, George Griffin, and John Dillworth. Also on the DVD are two RISD pals of mine Jesse Schmal and Fran Krause. BUY IT!

Tongues and Taxis wins Best of Show at ASIFA East animation festival. Pioneer Headbangers commercial wins award for animation and humor!

Additional prize awarded for worst acceptance speech ever.

August 2003

Tongues and Taxis wins best film of 2002-2003 at Chicago City Limits First Sundays Festival

4/06/03

Tongues and Taxis wins the Chocolate oscar for the Jury Prize at the Chicago City Limits First Sundays monthly film festival. Here is a photo of Oscar's last minutes before being devoured.

3/31/03

Pioneer Headbangers Commercial Hits number 2 of top 20 on AdCritic.com!

Are you an advertising agency? Are you a rep looking someone who can make funny commercials? Are you a production company looking for a director who knows animation inside and out?

EMAIL ME!

02/20/03

Keep your eyes out for this Pioneer car stereo commercial. It's my first directing job!

The animation was done on Wacom tablets in Flash. Backgrounds were made in 3-D with Cinema 4D XL. Both elements were composited with After Effects.

One of the best things about this project is that I got to hire some great New York animators. Lets's give a hand to Grant Sligh , Fran Krause, Andrea Breitman, Aaron Zisman and Chris Siemasko of Animation Mafia , and Will Krause! Additional thanks to my producer Don Parker, Complete Pandemonium, and BBDO West.

10/11/02

I just moved to Brooklyn! Remember the apartment Jeff Goldbloom lives in in The Fly? That's the kind of space I share with three other guys. I've just finished a new short film. Watch it here!

05/31/02

I'll be gone next week at the Annecy Film Festival in France with my film Tongues and Taxis. While I plan to revel in the cheap wine and baguettes, I will sorely miss bathroom fans, which we take for granted here in the States.

04/12/02

Hi Folks. Well, it seems that someone broke into my site and was able to hack into my mailing list and send everyone on it a virus. It was your standard .exe file, and anyone with a decent email service or a basic knowledge of what you should and shouldn't download from your mailbox might not have even noticed. So my apologies go out to the grandparents, Outlook Express users, and any other technophobes that might have been affected. Since I don't know how to combat these evil hackers, I've discontinued my mailing list. Also, my mike@mikeoverbeck.com email address is dead, so I'll get my hotmail account up to speed.

-mike