Thoughtful, poignant animated shorts can be nice, but let’s not forget what cartoons were made for: slapstick violence, lowbrow humor, and being a bad influence on children. "Nine to Fire", an independent animated short by Tom Smith, was created for just these reasons.
The cartoon was made in just under five months by a small crew of students from the University of Arizona, and features a combination of hand-drawn animation, watercolor backgrounds, claymation, CGI, and live action footage. Since nobody involved had any formal animation training, many of the techniques used in the production were developed on the fly. Writer / director / animator Tom Smith personally spent over 2,000 hours on the production. The film premiered at Tucson’s Fox Theatre in May 2011.
More of Tom's stuff and a look behind the scenes can be found at tlsaz.tumblr.com