Interview No. 43
Interview By: @The-Great-One
Today's guest is a fascinating animator who has been telling many of his stories through music. He has won flash portal awards for all his flash movies. Some you may recognize include Less Than Three which he won the Daily Feature for, Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire which he won the Daily 3rd Place and was one of the winners for Halloween 2007, and Headphones On Your Heart which has won a Daily Feature as well. This animator is none other than @GoshaDole.
Q: How did you find Newgrounds and why did you join?
A: I've known about Newgrounds since I was I was a freshman in high school. I actually had another account that I used back then to just puruse the site. The site inspired me to want to get back into animation in general. I used to play around with Hyperstudio and a program called "Click & Create" when I was younger, using them to create animated objects for simple games and such. After playing around with Flash for a bit, I decided to start making animations. Eventually I made "Ballad Inure" and felt comfortable enough to put it up on Newgrounds. I believe my "goshadole" account was made back in 2005.
Q: Your first flash submission would win you your first award. A "Daily 2nd Place" to Ballad Inure. It was quite the interesting flash movie and for your first not too shabby. What was the process in creating this and looking back on it now are you still proud of it?
A: This flash includes personal character creations that I've been drawing for quite awhile, the "Jack Maverick Universe". I actually made a few other Jack Maverick animations that I never made public, some I never finished. I'm still proud of this piece, even though when I re-watch it, I notice how well my drawing and animating ability has improved over the year. I still love these characters!
Q: Your second flash submission is entitled Less Than Three. This flash would win you your first "Daily Feature" award. This flash has an addictive and upbeat song. You've stated that you made this flash to promote the song. I want to know the entire story to this flash movie and this song, what all can you tell us?
A: "Less Than Three", the song, had actually been out for about a year or so before I created this animation. The "Ricardo Autobahn" remix was set to be released in the defunct game "In The Groove 3", so thats how I heard about the song. I found out that one of my friends actually knew the producer of the song, the owner of Disko Warp Music, based in Portland, OR. Eventually I met up with him at Sakura Con, a Seattle anime convention, and mentioned how I animate and whatnot. My friend was telling me how I should just give it a go, and try my hand at animating to the song. Disko Warp initially was kind of a personal joke to create cheesey eurobeat/eurodance style music, DDR-style music. My video for "Less Than Three" was kind of just a fan project. I wasn't prepared for how popular it got.
Q: One of your well known flash movies is entitled Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire. Quite the interesting song and your animation tells a story. A music video that is certainly vivid and wonderful for both the eyes and ears. Where did the inspiration come from and what was the process in adding animation to music? How was this done?
A: After the success of the "Less Than Three" animation, I kind of took a little break from animating. Eventually I heard the justinB remix of "Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vamprie" from the Disko Warp producer and knew I had to make a music video for it. This was all before the whole vampire/Twilight craze, in addition to being a few months before Halloween. I asked if I could animate another video to go to the song to help promote its release. My idea was just to have a vampire and a girl have an escapade together during the vampires prowl. This would constantly be interrupted by hunters. I drew my inspiration from multiple sources including Castlevania, Interview with a Vampire, and Buffy. I wanted to create funny weapons for the hunters, so I made stake bombs and impaler pikes. Again, I wasn't prepared for how popular this animation would become.
Q: Headphones On Your Heart is one of your strangest flash movies while at the same time giving a message. I seem to have some trouble seeing your message. Is there one and if yes then could you share it with us? Does the flash Nothing in Between give us closure to this story?
A: Leeni is a Seattle-based chiptunes/electronic artist. I heard this song and contacted her about creating a video to go with it. She was down with my idea for it and it eventually emerged. The story in the video is about the Leeni character dealing with a break-up situation. She eventually finds her pixel friend, which she can see because of the headphones. The rest of the world cannot see what is going on. The message of the video is kind of about dealing with overcoming odds, internally, that only you can face to feel better about whatever situation you are in. Basically, put headphones on your heart and then turn the volume up,and forget about the outside world. HOYH ended in kind of a cliffhanger, with Leeni being reunited with the pixel character. I wanted to have her jump into the world in which the pixel was from. The pixel in the game world is kind of a prince/king of this strange video game land. The message in this is that distance can't really separate things that are emotionally attached. This video gives closure to the first video. In addition, it sets up a premise if I were to make another Leeni animation. We'll see what happens.
Q: My favorite flash of yours is none other than Deadbeat Boyfriend. So much can be said and at the same time so much can be debated. What was the inspiration behind this flash movie and what was the process in creating it?
A: This song was put out by Disko Warp. I asked the producer about doing a video for it, since I thought the song itself was both funny, and paced well for a video. I had seen some people go in and out of a lot of relationships during the time, so some of their actions were represented in what the characters did in the animation. I wanted the video to end with the girl just becoming happy, instead of trying to cling to a dead-horse of a relationship. The tune of the song is based on "Korobushka", otherwise known as the Tetris theme. Because of this I wanted to implement a fake puzzle game into the story, I also just really like puzzle games. There are a lot of subtle hints about relationships in this video. For instance, the white picket fences that she walks by, which kind of represents her wanting the relationship to be "ideal". There are also the various birds in love, which were there to kind of rub in how happy people can be when they are in a strong relationship. The puzzle game scene, in addition to making the dude look like a douche, also represents the building blocks of a relationship, and the struggles that go back and forth between them. The whole theme the video is about constant struggles and breaking cycles.
Q: Your latest flash movie Space Space Shooter is yet another bizarre story. Something you're quite good at. What was the process in creating this flash and more importantly, what was the inspiration?
A: "Space Space Shooter" was actually one of the original Disko Warp demo songs. The "Band New Remix" was made for the Speedisko series. After hearing this song, I really felt like it needed a video, both for the song and for fans that have known about Disko Warp since its beginning. I originally had an idea for this video to be about a dude dealing with a video game addiction. It eventually evolved into what it began. The underlying message of this video is how quickly social media and technology spreads through society; in the blink of an eye basically. I also wanted to impliment a fake shmup/stg game into this video, since the song is kind of a throwback to arcade style shooters, even with its suggestive lyrics.
Q: At the time of this interview you are currently on an "Award Streak" something very rare. Which means every single flash submission you have uploaded has received a Newgrounds Flash Portal award of some sort. How do you feel about these awards and do you think this streak will continue?
A: I feel very honored to get these awards. I like to spend a good amount of time thinking about a refreshing plot/storyline before I began animating a project. I also listen to the song I plan on animating too a lot before actually.
Q: Being an animator on Newgrounds. What advice would you have to give to others who are getting into flash?
A: If you are into Flash, for the animation aspects of it, I'd suggest just playing around with the program as much as you can. Just do a lot of tests before you start on some epic project, otherwise you might get discouraged quickly. Start off small with your projects, by animating simple figures. As you progress, start looking into walk cycles and other frame by frame animation, in addition to dynamic perspectives.
Q: What can we expect from GoshaDole in the future?
A: As long as I keep hearing interesting new songs, I'll keep creating new video! I've thought about making a Jack Maverick comic in the near future as well. I just need to plot out a storyline for it. As of now, I'm taking a short animation break to concentrate on some new art and web projects. Again, I'm very thankful for all of my fans and people who enjoy my work. I want to keep creating new projects to excite and for people to gain inspiration from.