Float On Films is the brainchild of Michael Edmondson, a Film Production graduate who has been working hard the last few years carving out a place for himself in the industry. He’s just had his first big viral hit, thanks to a four-minute animated parody he made of Richard Dawkins, in which the venerable atheist-scientist is seen wearing a white singlet, Flavor Flav necklace clock, and rapping some hard truths about evolution. Dawkins is joined by a hip-hopping entourage of like-minds, including Christopher Hitchens (smokin’ and drinkin’), and Darwin. It was first posted anonymously, went viral, and then Michael outed himself as the Creator.

What prompted Michael to do this project? While working for Premise Media, Michael was asked to come up with a piece of animation to promote a satirical documentary they were making called Expelled, about the debate between Intelligent Design and Evolution. Bloggasm, a respected colleague in the blogosphere, interviewed Michael to get all the details: “Originally it was a six minute piece to be used within the film Expelled,” he told Bloggasm. “It told the story of the ‘rise of the Machine’ (Darwinism). When I had arrived the script was already written having passed through three sets of hands of writers directly or loosely connected to the film…In the editing room for Expelled, the production team decided the film had taken a different direction in tone than expected and that the unfinished animation no longer fit the film.” So they put the animation online.

We caught up with Michael to fill in a few more blanks.

Read the interview…

What sort of inspirations were you looking at to get a handle on how you wanted to present this animation?

Originally the animation was part of the film. When I was hired the script had already been written but later when the animated sequence was cut from the film and became a viral piece… and then a rap video… everything changed. I read Richard Dawkins’ book God Delusion, frequented PZ Myers blog Pharnygla and watched hours of Youtube videos on the subject and characters to catch up. As far as the visual style, I wasn’t reinventing the wheel. South Park and JibJab most notably had been there before me. I just tried to make it visually exciting using the elements I had already created, tell a story, add some humour and keep it all to budget. It’s not hard to put your stamp on something when you are involved in every aspect of the creation. I even performed all the dancing myself. I filmed it alone in my kitchen in front of a makeshift blue screen. My wife is thrilled with the cross dressing.

You graduated from Film a while ago, I wonder if there are lessons you learned at VFS that you continue to remember and use while working with clients in your career?

Don Hunter always told me “even if you mess everything else up… light the eyes.” Sure there are always exceptions… but more than once over the years I’ve been lighting a scene whether it was animation or live action and thought “something is missing” then remembered Don’s advice.

Can you tell me a bit more about your journey from Film Production to creating this animated piece — what other projects have you worked on?

Since graduating from VFS, I’ve shot an independent feature, and edited video for Electronic Arts Canada. I left Electronic Arts four years ago and started an animation company, Float On Films, creating everything from animated shorts to live action web commercials.

Any advice for students who are just about to start their year in Film Production?

Have fun. Take it seriously but not too seriously (you are making make believe). Make a comedy. You are risking less. An unfunny comedy is much better than a bad drama.