Troy DeWinne and Ethan Dirks on Creating Animated Goblin Music Video with Chef Giants | Slamdance 2021 [Exclusive Interview]
Sometimes the best creativity comes to a person by just messing around.
Two college friends, Troy DeWinne and Ethan Dirks, formed a goblin band back in the day. They wrote a ton of music and it grew into a larger world for themselves. Eventually, their musical path turned into an animated music video.
Now, those singing goblins rapped their way as a feature short film at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival.
Here’s the synopsis of the short film:
Two goblin bandmates—Luther and The Boy—visit an outdoor diner run by the famous chef giants. Praising the giants’ tasty dishes, The Boy can’t wait to stuff food in his mouth. Luther, however, feels the chef giants don’t deserve such praise; their health code violations being totally unacceptable.
With that in mind, Dewinne and Dirks donned goblin masks and filmed a live-action music video. They painted over the music video with rotoscoped characters and vibrant backgrounds. Then this world expanded to include devils, satyrs, and elves.
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LRM Online’s Gig Patta chatted with the two co-creators Troy DeWinne and Ethan Dirks. We discussed the music and the animation that came through in this short music video.
Troy DeWinne is a director, animator, and writer. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in its radio-television-film program. In 2018, he directed Boys’ Club, a dark comedy short that featured at the Overlook Film Festival, Brussels International Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, and deadCENTER Film Festival.
Ethan Dirks is an art director, designer, and game developer. In 2016, he co-founded the streaming startup Plot Guru. Several publications covered the startup, including Popular Science, Business Insider, and Wired. Built In Austin named Plot Guru as one of Austin’s top startups to watch.
Chef Giants is currently streaming at the Slamdance Film Festival until February 25. For ticket information, visit www.slamdance.com.
Watch the exclusive interview with Troy DeWinne and Ethan Dirks below. Let us know what you think.
Source: LRM Online Exclusive, Chef Giants
