David Firth
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| David Firth | |
|---|---|
| Born | David Firth January 23, 1983 Doncaster, England, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Animator, musician, actor, voice actor, filmmaker, video artist, broadcaster |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Website | |
| http://www.fat-pie.com | |
David Firth (born 23 January 1983) is an English animator, video artist, amateur filmmaker, and musician. As a cartoonist Firth's work is largely distributed via the Internet (most notably the popular Adobe Flash animation website Newgrounds, as well as his own personal sites). Several of his various works in cartoon Flash animation, as well as his multiple music videos and works of video art have garnered large followings, and include some of the most acclaimed video series online.[1][2]
Notable animation sequences from Firth include Salad Fingers, as well as the comedic Burnt Face Man series. A number of Firth's works have been featured on the BBC in the UK, and the BBC has hired Firth on several occasions to work on TV programs and commercials. He also created a flash-series called "Jerry Jackson", which can both be viewed on Newgrounds and his own site, in which a cartoon character ironically pretends to be "a professional animator", even though the animation is intentionally poorly animated. Jerry Jackson was also based on the people that would write badly written hate comments on his videos, as he would read them, he imagined that they spoke like Jerry Jackson. Firth also created Men from Up the Stairs.
Firth's work often contains a large amount of vulgar language and dark imagery and tends to explore topics of a disturbing or surreal nature, such as depression and mental illness. Firth has stated that is not his intention to upset or offend.[3] He also wrote and animated his Sock series based on his own dreams. Some of his work may be described as dark humour, while much of it is simply experimental, using many different styles.
Firth is a fan of Aphex Twin,[4] and has used references such as the song "Milkman" in a cartoon also titled "Milkman". Also, in the cartoon "Scribbler", an Aphex Twin poster can be seen. Firth has also used music by Aphex Twin in his more experimental, stop-motion films.
In addition to several broadcasts of "Devvo," David Firth has submitted short films for "Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe", televised on BBC Four.[5]
Firth composes electronic music under the pseudonym of Locust Toybox. He is currently working on his first animated feature film, currently titled "The Meadow Man". Firth believes the title will eventually change, though has said that for now it is the official title, [6] as well as more of his small cartoons, such as another Health Reminder. Firth also plays lo-fi pressure-pop music under the alias Stegosaurus Trap, and is a member of a band called Grape Digging Sharon Fruits with friends and contributors to his projects.
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[edit] Fat Pie episodes
Before his Salad Fingers debut, Firth worked on online episodes of the 'Fat-Pie' series,[7] which follows the surreal misadventures of Jim and his friends. Three full episodes were made[citation needed], each one lasting roughly 15 minutes long and have plots based on the rise of a craze or theme. Unlike Firth's later work, the animation was produced using Macromedia Director and TVPaint. In 2004, Firth started work on episode 4, but about a quarter-way-through, aborted the project. The characters Freddie, Dane, Spider and Lazy Lemon have since re-appeared in The World Within A Sock, a short series produced by Fat-Pie for Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe.
[edit] Work with the BBC
Firth has also produced several animations for the BBC Comedy[8] website, including his Musical Predictions 2009[9] and a five part series about a character called Jerry Jackson[10] in 2009, a character sometimes believed to be an actual person, but stated on Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe as being an alter-ego of Firth.[11] An earlier short of Jerry Jackson made outside of the BBC about Linkin Park also gained the attention of the band themselves.[12] In 2010 he created a new series based around a new character called Drillbithead.[13] On May 26, 2011, Firth released a ninth Salad Fingers episode titled, "Letter."
[edit] References
- ^ "2005 In Review: Pop Culture." The San Francisco Chronicle. December 25, 2005.
- ^ "Salad Fingers' Stream Of Consciousness Entertains Viewers." The Daily Campus Online Edition. December 8, 2005
- ^ Fat Pie FAQ "Do you purposely try to upset people?"
- ^ "Interview with Salad Fingers Creator David Firth."
- ^ "BBC Four - Screenwipe". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/features/screen-wipe_legacy.shtml.
- ^ http://meadowman.blogspot.com/
- ^ http://fat-pie.com/
- ^ "BBC Comedy - David Firth". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/show/p002qt1v/david_firth/.
- ^ "BBC Comedy - Musical Predictions 2009". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p002xrqy/david_firth_musical_predictions_2009/.
- ^ "BBC Comedy - Jerry Jackson @ Festivals". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p003sjtj/david_firth_jerry_jackson_festivals/.
- ^ Charlie Brookers screenwipe episode "Christmas Special" aired 22 December 2006
- ^ http://mikeshinoda.com/2009/01/30/jerry-jackson-rulllz/
- ^ "BBC Comedy - Drillbithead and the New Best Friend". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p00bgcp4/david_firth_drilbithead_and_the_new_best_friend/.
[edit] External links
- Fat-Pie.com David Firth's website hosting a complete collection of his works
- Interview with David Firth at Personal Halfquake
- BBC Comedy - David Firth animations
- David Firth at the Internet Movie Database
