Update 3: Here’s a higher-quality version on Crackle.com
Update 2: Hey I won! Wow! Incredible. A big thank-you to Laura and the band for choosing my video. Thanks to all of you readers for the generous comments and kind words. Having never really done anything like this before, it’s very rewarding to me that it was a success – in the contest, and with all of you. Thanks! And be sure to visit Laura’s site to check out the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place videos!
Update: Fun facts about the making of the video.
The chickens make their animation debut today! This is my entry for the Laura Veirs music video contest. It’s for the song “Phantom Mountain” from the Saltbreakers album – a great album – go get yourself a copy!
Just click the video to start playing it. If you can’t see it for some reason, you can watch it on YouTube.
[Technorati tags: Cartoons, Chickens, Phantom Mountain, Laura Veirs, Music, Video]
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131 Responses to Phantom Mountain
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Buy my new book!
amazing! Simply amazing!!
Wow! That was just incredible! Most excellent!
Very Cool!!
GORGEOUS!!!
stunning!!! congrats, it’s really beautiful!
Now that’s fecking amazing. Fantastic work, Doug! Hope you win it. 😀
Awsome!
Holy mother of chickens! That was awesome…both the song and the video.
Go go Chicken power!
That was great! I got so into it that when the butterfly flew down, I tried to scroll the page to follow it!
Great job!
WOW! Ok, I’ve always loved pixilation in its many forms – and this is a great example! I love the way the chickens work with the 3d environment, and I think it goes brilliantly with the song.
Kudos!
Very cool!!!! Love your chickens. Congratulations.
Very well done! Cool song, too. Gotta check her out.
This video is so amazing!!! you mixed the fabulous chickens with origami an d godzilla!! im pretty sure you’re going to win the contest!!!
Keep it coming Doug! your chickens are awesome!
OMG this was so Great!!!! Do you think maybe there will be more animations in your future? I would love to see savage chickens on TV
Have an awesome weekend!
Regards Marti
absolutely brilliant…
very innovative and catchy…
song and even more your animation ..
so, i’m gona watch it a third and fourth time now 😉
Fantástico, de verdad impresionante trabajo, muchas felicidades. Saludos desde México de parte de Krom.
Well done! Most excellent animatration!!
How much do you rock? That was SO cool. Nice work. I hope you win!
That was great! I’ve read every single Savage Chickens comic and I really enjoyed the animation and the music. Thanks!
Wow, that was fantastic! 😀 I like them animated.
Great job! Very creative. I love the idea where the medium becomes the art.
AWESOME!!
That was really impressive. I would love to see some stats on it, like how many frames you shot, how long it took you, etc. Stop motion animation has always fascinated me.
Darn Firewall at work. Can’t see the comic today. Must skip work and rush home to see Savage Chickens. The power of the chicken compels me!
C.
Superb! Glad to see Frued and the choocks getting animated:)
Awesome…excellent job!
Doug, you have outdone yourself!! Post-it animation?? I love the little office supplies that move around the animation, like the cards to make waves. How long did it take you?
Well done! I like stop-motion animation anyway, but you did a great job with this.
Surreal!
Wow!! You did a great job, loved the music. Turning all my friends on to your site.
That was absolutely brilliant.
That was absolutely beautiful.
And I can’t begin to imagine how many hours you put into this work.
Just plain awesome!
doug, you are the only person i feel safe recommending this to… Quit your day job!
VERY cool! You just may have found your new niche! Wow! 🙂
THAT is so cool.. love the animation muchly!
That was awesome! ^^
Absolutely awesome! Great job!
omg, doug that is awesome, how long did that take to shoot and make?
It’s incredibly awesome, but you know that. You will totally win.
Awesome!! Completely made of win.
Well done! How long did it take to film all that stop frame animation?
Loooove the animated chickens, especially the one that “flew the coop”! And the butterfly and office supply montage was way fun! You must have spent weeks on this, if not months. Go Savage Chickens!!
Not only did the chickens make their video debut, but Dead Dog and Godzilla, too! Very esoteric video and well put together.
That was brilliant!
That was amazing. Hopefully you’ll do some more of these animations again.
Did I see Dead Dog Bob make an appearance?
Fantastic video! Be sure to let us know if you win.
Wow thanks everybody! I’m really glad you like it!
It took 2 weeks to make, with about 500 sticky notes, and 1500 photos. I’ve put up some other fun facts about the making of the video here on the behind the scenes page.
Bravo! You’ve taken chicken art to a whole new level!
How did you manage to suspend the butterfly in air while you took the shots?
Amazing – great work!
Hands down, best chicken cartoon EVER!
That was…really cool.
AWESOME! I’m beyond impressed!!! You have just made my depressing morning a whole lot brighter!
Hey! That’s awesome!
…What’s th’ punch line?
That was awesome! Great tune, too.
Wow, Doug. That was fantastic! I definitely need to check out the behind the scenes information.
I loved how the animation worked with the song, especially the butterfly.
Oh my goodness! You must have spent so much time on it! And it was amazing! Amazing! Amazing!!
I quite like it 😀
Doug, what a fabulous job you did! That was incredible!
I showed it to my youngest daughter and she loved the part where the chicken was “roasted” by lightning. I have to say, that *was* pretty cool.
i read the behind the scenes stats. your film is both creative and entertaining. you spent more time planning it than a lot of shows that are on tv today. the fact that you storyboarded puts you above many kids shows i’ve worked on. best to you
Brilliant! Made my day 🙂
That was wonderful and very creative. I, too, am interested in how you suspended the butterfly in the air while filming.
Superb.
that was amazing..
do you still have a day job ???
Don’t like the song, but the visuals were awesome. I must say, the multi-color papclip was my favorite character 🙂
That was awsome!!! You did a fantastic job. 🙂
WOW. I know you’ve heard it already but WOW!
Wow, that’s absolutely amazing!
Great song, and awesome work!
i agree with everyone else. this was simply fantastic! i was really getting excited to see it, and the hype you created was worth it! great job!!
That was so amazing! I’m completely in love! <3!!
Really amazing! One of the best stop-motions i have ever seen 🙂
That was awsome!!!
It was great all the way through but it really got me smiling when the dog tackles the lighter to save the butterfly.
I don’t think I realized you were left-handed?! Doesn’t matter – this is frickin’ amazing. And thanks for the related Fun Facts. You always bring a smile to my day!!
Wow! Excellent, really! That’s the best thing I’ve seen on the internet in a long time. I freaking love those chickens!
wow. Wow. WOW.
a steaming pile of awesome!!!!
[:
you have lots of time on your hands, don’t you?
ps: lefty’s rule!
Wow, Doug. Superb. First animation? Two weeks? Incredible.
It was ok- maybe i missed some deep meaning.
That was simply amazing!
Love love love the butterfly. 🙂 That’s my favorite origami diagram!
I feel bad leaving nothing but a “me too” comment, but I pretty much had to
CHANGE
MY
PANTS
after seeing this! It was absolutely nuts. I’m so glad other people felt the same way because this definitely deserves animation!!
I see no reason why you wouldn’t win this competition. That was completely mesmerizing!
This is a big leap in your work. I didn’t realize you were an artist of so many mediums! I’m very impressed =)
WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!! I love this super duper special animated edition! Well done, Doug!!! 😛
Good God you’re talented!
THAT. IS. AWESOME.
that was unbelievable!!!!! you’re awesome. -highfive- it HAS to win that contest.
Amazing work! I enjoy the day to day escapades of the chickens, but this was just wonderful! What software did you use? Camera? Good luck!f1r35T0rm
Great job Doug! I love it!! I hope you win!
Truly amazing, Doug, especially if this is really your first animation!!? But listen– Do you know about Xuangzi, the monk who dreamed he was a butterfly, then woke up and wondered if he was a butterfly dreaming he was Xuangzi? Your interplay of drawings with reality reminded me of that Taoist story. Way cool.
Out of the videos I could find that were done for the contest I think yours is the best, you’re so gonna win this.
beautiful!
Fabulous! GO CHICKEN GO! Great work. Really nice flow.
FANTASTIC!
Ever since I discovered your chickens a year ago they have been a part of my morning routine.
I’ve always been impressed with your talent…your video just blew me away!!
Awesome work!
And it’s Doug Savage for a first-place win! Yay Savage Chickens!
very first thing I’ve seen of yours was the blank page cartoon.. I love it. I just emailed it to several other writers…
now this great video! I turned off the sound because it was breaking up, but still was riveted by the story.
really Doug you’re doing me a great service….
people googling me will find your cartoons and think they’re mine. good thing they’re great! haha
btw I’ve been a writer director on & off for 30 years. great animation.great story.
I found you googling myself. a lost friend found me a couple of weeks ago through google. so curious I followed through. and here you are.
I’ve just signed up for your cartoons. best of luck.
Doug Savage
second comment
just watched it again. too awesome, no three awesome.
and I agree, quit your day job.
Doug S
wow! brilliant!
can’t wait to see more of those.
froudo9
Wow, so very wow. I did some animationshorts myself, and I know it’s an awful lot of work to get. Respect for getting it done in two weeks. It looks amazing. No wonder you won the contest 🙂
And I love your chickens, I’ve been visiting them for over a year now, and won’t stop any day soon.
congratulations Doug!! well deserved!! enjoy your super prize 😀
Congratulation on the win! You deserve it.
Warren
congratulations on the win, doug! you definitely deserved it. the video is amazing.
Congratulations on winning, Doug. I am so happy for you.
However, unlike other commenters, I don’t want you to quit your day job, but that is because of purely selfish reasons. 🙂
Many congratulations Doug!! We knew you’d win!!!
That was wonderful!! I was most impressed!
Congratulations !!!
Its a truly awesome video !!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Love the stop-motion vid and congrats on the competition!
Doug! ! viewed this when you posted it and thought it was great and wonderful! I’m so glad you won!!! 🙂
And yes…this is Paula H.
All Kinds Of Awesome.
That was a totally awesome video! It’s no wonder that you won. Love the chickens!
The first time I’ve left a comment when over a hundred were already there – but man was that a blast! I LOOOOVVVEEEEDDD IT!
When are you going to do another?
Congrats on winning, that was an awesome video.
Here via someone’s blog, and now cannot remember who as I have been checking out the chicken cartoons.
Congrats on winning, Doug! That was awesome! Nice Origami, too!
Savage Chickens are a good joke in our family. Especially the irrational fears.
Wow! That was excellent. Really cool animation 🙂 I heard ‘Galaxies’ from Laura Veirs a while back and love this song as well…
Very creative.
I definitely want to see more chickens on rollers coasters.
that is pretty darn amazing! congrats
I’m just back from seeing Laura Veirs play in Edinburgh (30/01/08). Great gig. She was full of praise for the videos and for the enormous effort you and the other winners put into the competition. She urged us all to check out the vids. So I did. I’m impressed. Congratulations.
Wow, cool stuff!
Just wow! That was amazing. such an outstanding style to it!
I had the best time watching this! As a matter of fact, I watched it twice. Couldn’t view it when you released it last Sept due to bandwidth issues, but tried again today and it WORKED! Amazing job. Bravo!
Now I’m going over to Itunes to pick up Laura’s cd.
have loved the chickens since we were first introduced – but the animation just brings them to life – perhaps that’s the point – loved song props dimension jumps – entire production just brilliant
yeah awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome dude you rule!!!!!!!!!
[…] check out the interview I did with WNYC about creating the Phantom Mountain music […]
the story behind it is SO amazing! how did make it on time? the whole thing is great! good job.
Great work, Doug. Congratulations!
[…] video will be stop-motion animation (like Phantom Mountain) but it will be visually very different from anything I’ve done before. I’m still at […]
Hey, I’ve just seen “Phantom Mountain” and I thinks it’s great. Have been following the chooks (I live in Australia) for some time now, and I always look forward to the new drawing.
Congratulations (sorry it’s late)!
Framton,
Adelaide, South Australia
well done! and congrats on winning the competition! 😀
[…] It’s quite different from anything I’ve done before, but see if you can spot the brief chicken cameos at the beginning. I’ll post some behind-the-scenes stuff soon! And if you haven’t seen my previous music video yet, check it out: Phantom Mountain […]
AWESOME! I LOVE IT!
…wooooooowwwww……