Father Geek here with ol' Elson Gunn and a cool chat he had with pop animator Bob Cesca...

ELSTON GUNN ABOUT THE WAR EFFORT AND "VH1 ILL-USTRATED"

In the liner notes of 1965's "Bringing It All Back Home" Bob Dylan wrote, "I accept chaos." Today, a new "Bob" wants you to accept "chaos" as well. Camp Chaos, that is. And this Bob is Bob Cesca. If you visit campchaos.com, you'll find some of the most subversive and innovative animated shorts online and this Friday the same kind of animated wackiness will be in your home on your television screen. Camp Chaos is behind the new animated sketch comedy program "VH1 ILL-ustrated" premiering Friday, October 17, at 10pm (EST). Nothing in pop culture is sacred in this cornucopia of cartoon cut-ups. Everyone from the President to the King of Pop will be lampooned indie toon style.

But that's not all. This year Cesca was the proud recipient of the Nodance Film Festival's Golden Orb Award and Audience Award for Best Feature for THE WAR EFFORT, a mockumentary centering on a group of citizens as they immerse themselves in the war on terrorism with their own ideas of American patriotism. According to the synopsis at the offical website for THE WAR EFFORT: "You'll never look at an car windshield mounted American flag the same way again."

Thankfully, Bob Cesca was able to share more about his latest shenanigans with us.

** How did you get started? Which came first for you, the animation or the indie pic?

Animation definitely was first, mainly because of Flash. I picked up the very first version back in 1997 and started making shorts for a site I worked for back then. Out of nowhere Entertainment Weekly gave one of the shorts an "A-" which was cool so that really became the catalyst for building the campchaos.com website and going indie. The software actually made it affordable to produce shorts with a crew of one. But the goal was always to expand into producing features. In fact, even with the earliest (and worst) of our cartoons, we always tried to bring a theatrical element into the production either with Tim Panella's brilliant music or with a 1:85 aspect ratio.

** For those who haven't seen it, tell us in your own words a little bit about THE WAR EFFORT.

It's really both a postcard and parody of the period of time immediately following 9/11 and the beginning of the War on Terrorism. We wanted to create a film which rips all the knee-jerk patriotism that arose in those days so I wrote a story which focuses mainly on the competitive aspect of patriotism back then. Essentially, he who waves the most flags is clearly more patriotic -- even though actual democratic participation remained low. So in the film we meet an ensemble group of insane characters who each have their own concept of what it means to support the troops and so on. They all end up entering a morning radio show contest for "America's Most Patriotic American". It's very much a multi-layered comedy with both broad and smart elements.

** It's set in and around Philadelphia -- where you and Camp Chaos are based -- shot on a shoestring budget on digital video, correct?

Absolutely. One of the goals of the movie was to shoot it quickly in order to make a timely release. And yeah -- the budget was pretty damn low. I think we did the whole thing for around $8000. We shot on miniDV with the Canon XL1S and used the infamous "frame movie mode" which simulates a progressive scan look which is closer to a film look -- but still video enough to look like an America Undercover style doc.

** What kind of advantages/obstacles did that present for you for this kind of story?

The biggest obstacle was the lack of crew. I think we had -- at the most -- a crew of about 5 people. Like so many indie films, we had to cover just about everything and learn new things along the way. But the biggest obstacle was to desperately avoid the production value headaches of a no budget film. So we made a serious effort to open up the story and shoot in as many locations as we could and pull in as much variety as possible. Needless to say, we did a lot of begging. It was interesting because principle photography began in October 2001 and people were very much spazzy about the President and patriotism. As a result, we had to make up several cover stories for what the movie was really about. My favorite one was, "It's a movie about a fat man who is a recovering alcoholic."

** THE WAR EFFORT combines two of my favorite genres: socio-political satire and the mockumentary. You must be a fan of BOB ROBERTS. What films, if any, influenced the making of this movie?

I think the biggest influence here was the original film version of MASH, in both message, narrative style, and performance. I wanted all improv in order to get spontaneous performances so we really looked at MASH for the dialogue style -- with people talking over each other and the visceral chaotic rhythms that Altman nailed in that movie. And obviously the political aspect of MASH was always floating around in the anti-war ideology of the film's thesis, but also in the fact that we don't reference 9/11 in the movie, but it's clearly the catalyst for everything. We substitute "the War on Terrorism" for any 9/11 mentions much like Korea was substituted for Vietnam. The narrative style of the movie, with a very loose through-line is something that came out of MASH as well, but also from the idea of hitting a doc feel -- where the story was almost entirely rewritten in the edit. Beyond that, Christopher Guest's mockumentaries are clearly represented in the style as well.

** A lot of times when filmmakers make a movie like this they claim they're just simply making a comedy without any kind of statement behind it. Is that true for this film?

I think this thing is all about statements. I mean, we don't force an anti-war patriotism analysis down your throat but we tried to work in as many jabs at aspects of patriotism as possible. In fact, the whole movie is a metaphor for how the media and the government use crisis and fear to manipulate us into becoming rubber-stamping drones. And in the end, we're all ultimately burned by it with roll-backs in civil liberties (I'm looking at you, John Ashcroft).

** With respect to the message of the film, if there is one, did you try to be as objective as possible from the characters' point-of-view? Is the whole thing basically just comic exaggerations based on your own observations?

Yeah, I think satire is all about exaggeration and subjectivity. Dammit, I mean, the media and the Bush administration literally dared all of us to speak out. How could we resist? I think just about everything from drugs to Bill Maher became instantly labeled as "with the terrorists" during those days. At the same time, there's a lot of "funny because it's true" moments in there too and, in a strange way, they're almost cartoony.

** What kind of treats do you have on the DVD?

There's a pile of extras. I think I counted a total of 45 deleted scenes. There's an obligatory outtakes real. Two feature length commentaries. We're also including some home movie footage from Park City, and three Nippleman cartoons featuring our version of President Bush (before 9/11 made him smart) from our website.

We're self-distributing the DVD through our website: http://www.campchaos.com/thewareffort . The release date is November 28, but you can pre-order now. Video Encoding in Oregon, who have done a lot of high profile releases, are doing the encoding and assembly.

** How did "VH-1 ILL-ustrated" come to fruition?

You mean the show that premieres Friday, October 17, at 10pm eastern on VH1?

It's been something like 3 and a half years in the making. It started with the "Napster Bad" cartoons in 2000. We had a meeting with VH1 that Summer about doing a show made up of animated cartoon shorts that rip apart rock stars. Seriously, what happened between that point and right now could fill a couple of books. I didn't think an animated sketch comedy show (now featuring all sorts of pop culture besides music) would be this difficult to get on the air.

** Are you trying to re-invent television sketch comedy? What new things are you bringing to it?

We're not trying to re-invent, just to switch it up a little. We're bringing an indie underground web style to it -- one that's not as forgiving as a lot of sketch comedy. Part of that has to do with how exaggerrated the character drawings are. I mean, they're really ugly caricatures. Ultimately, the show is something new in terms of animated shows. The last I checked, I don't think there's been an animated show in which the individual features are this short. It's pretty fast paced from one piece to the next.

** Does the show represent the different animation styles at Camp Chaos? You also have many different writers working on the show giving you material.

The style is an updated form of what our original web cartoons look like. The network wanted noses, which we haven't really done before. We also animated at 30 frames per second -- our web shorts are only 10-15fps.

** What kinds of things can we expect to see on the show?

The George W. Bush sketches are brilliant. For some reason, we really piled onto Christina Aguilera. There's a sketch in the first episode involving a breaking news story where her vagina falls into a well.

** Let's show a clip. (I've always wanted to say that.) You do have previews on your site, right?

Definitely. http://www.campchaos.com/vh1/

Can I set it up? This is where my character realizes that his car is missing and I want to know where it is.

** I hear you're also working on an animated family feature. What can you say about that?

It's called FIREDOG. Very different from anything we've done before -- mainly because we're just the production house on this one, but also because we're pushing the limits of what Flash can do with a fuller, traditional animation style. It really looks sharp and fluid -- very unlike the web or TV herky-jerky style. Scott Duthie is the director and this is really his vision, but he's got an incredible sense of humor and timing. He's also brought in a lot of celebrities to perform the voices: Lauren Bacall, Tony Danza, Tom Arnold, Beverly D'Angelo, William Katt. The producers are in the process of getting distribution lined up for 2004.

** Anything else in the pipeline? What live-action story would you like to tell next?

I would love to work with the cast of THE WAR EFFORT again. I can't say enough about that gang. Maybe if the DVD sells well enough I can find enough cash to actually pay them. Seriously -- if you buy the movie, check the credits. This was an incredibly talented group of actors and comedians.

I'm also working with author David Walley on a live action movie adaptation of his book "The Ernie Kovacs Phile". I've always been heavily influenced by Kovacs and this is kind of a dream project to co-write and direct a feature about his life -- but mainly about his motivations and warped view of the world. Very surreal and very much in Ernie's style -- which is the way David wrote the book. David is one of the most underrated, underappreciated authors I can think of and deserves more recognition. Check his website: http://www.walleyswitzend.com/

** For more about Camp Chaos, visit http://www.campchaos.com

Elston Gunn

elstongunn@hotmail.com