The Big Game

In 1998 Cartoon Network began an annual stunt to commemorate the Super Bowl. The idea: have John Madden and Pat Summerall call play by play on classic cartoon moments. And "The Big Game" was born. Each of the 4 years the stunt grew to the point that by the year 2000 John and Pat made on screen apperances along with an unlikely cast of popular celebrities including Bubba Smith, Scott Hamilton, Joe Mantegna, Jack Hanna, and the Inside the NFL cast who added their own take on which cartoon character would win that year's "game."



The editing challenges were many on this project. I think the most challenging segments required taking pre-recorded play by play voice over and matching the script to action clips from classic cartoons. I would add freeze frames at appropriate moments in the action to accommodate a telestrator. An interesting exercise in an early form of mash-up.

The Big Game from Jon Dilling on Vimeo.

Courage The Cowardly Dog

Courage The Cowardly Dog is something of an acquired taste. My niece used to love the show. Her mother hated it. A recurring challenge for Cartoon Network. For these promos, writer/producer Stuart Hill imagined a series of funny situations involving real dogs to promoted the show. This spot, which was on my demo for years, always illustrated for me the discipline an editor needs to show from time to time. A zen approach to knowing when NOT to cut.

Courage The Cowardly Dog from Jon Dilling on Vimeo.

This is a great example of Stuarts quirky sense of humor. It should be noted that Stuart is a dog lover (had 2 wonderful dogs) but could be quoted after the completion of this campaign saying "I'll never work with animals again."

Silence Is Golden

This is the first of two interstitial pieces that I worked on with writer/producer Stuart Hill.
If you look in the back row of the theater (visually between Blue Falcon and Wonderwoman), you'll see a man with glasses eating popcorn. That's ME!
And of course Larry Morris plays the poor guy that has to suffer through the movie.

Silence Is Golden from Jon Dilling on Vimeo.

This was filmed at Atlanta's Plaza Theater. A funky old theater on Ponce de Leon Ave.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

I never worked on the show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, but these promos use all the elements from the show's production reels. Lip-flap, arm-flap, head-flap, we pretty much flapped every aspect of Space ghost to put this thing together. Combined with some new backgrounds and live action footage, these spots written by Stuart Hill promoted the 5th season of Coast to Coast.

Space Ghost from Jon Dilling on Vimeo.

Space Ghost from Jon Dilling on Vimeo.

Space Ghost from Jon Dilling on Vimeo.

Ed Edd & Eddy

Ed Edd & Eddy launched in January of 1999.
Question: How do you promote a cartoon with no footage of the show?
Answer: These spots.

Ed Edd n Eddy Spot 1 from Jon Dilling on Vimeo.

Some times you have very little to work with. This was one of those times.
Clever writing and about 6 frames of animation went into these promos. We literally had a walk cycle and a run cycle for each character (about 6 frames of each) to put together a launch campaign.

Ed Edd n Eddy from Jon Dilling on Vimeo.

I think this was one of a handful of projects I worked on Quantel Editbox. A ridiculous product that promised the world and delivered very little. The least of which was a match-frame button!

Coffee Break

Chris Kelly wrote this funny scene between Birdman and Falcon-7.
I remember editing this in Avid and conforming it on a Quantel Editbox.
Most of the footage is re-use of an old Birdman episode.
Chris touched up a couple frames in Photoshop. We lip-flapped the VO, added gate weave and old film dirt and the result is pretty convincing.

Coffee Break from Jon Dilling on Vimeo.

TBS

On November 3, 1997 I began working at TBS.
I was hired to work for the in-house production facility known simply as "Turner Production", later named "Turner Studios." I remember at the time getting a lot of advice from peers to not take the job. Turner was viewed as a backwater of production. A place to start your career, not the place to get ahead. I've seen the picutres and videos that support that viewpoint and if you've seen "WKRP in Cincinnati" you'll get some idea of what Turner was like in the early days.

Well a few years after I started, Turner built the Southeast's largest production studio, a $50 million full service facility. And most of those people that told me not to come here are now my co-workers.