Animation Hotline: Panhandler from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Elmo (my cat) sits in that same spot every day and if I have papers there or try to move him he gives me the stink-eye.

Keep the messages coming!
US +1 212-683-2490
Australia 1800-636-642

Animation Hotline: Tryst from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

This is Sue Williams’ inclusion in the Hint Fiction anthology.

If you have a story please call the Animation Hotline at +1 212-683-2490!

Animation Hotline: Tumbleweed from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Dawson sent me this message in 2011 but I am just getting to it now. I have over a thousand messages and about two hundred of them are in the queue so if I didn’t get to yours yet, please be patient. Or better yet, leave a new message! I’m sure you have a new story to tell.

US +1 212-683-2490

Animation Hotline: Housesitting from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

This is another one of the animations for the Parer Place Urban Screens in Brisbane, Australia. The Animation Hotline is screening there through May 6, so any new messages will be premiered on this six meter marquee.
In Australia the number is toll free 1800 636 642.

Animation Hotline: Date from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

This is another one of these messages from Australia. I’ve gotten a few but I’d like to get more messages so I have more to choose from. So if you are from Australia, please give me a call at 1800-636-642. The number is only going to be up until the end of next month, so get the messages in now!

Animation Hotline: PapaCookie from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

The creativity of the Metropolitan Opera singer Theodore Uppmann live on through the PapaCookie Potluck. Friday night Stephanie Stone rocked the house with a set of jazz standards. She said she knows 3000-4000 songs depending on the day and her memory. She’s 92.

Animation Hotline: Toblerone from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

I should really do this animation for Valentine’s Day and maybe I’ll replay it on Valentine’s Day, but I thought the store was so good that I just couldn’t not make the animation right away. Yum-Yum.

If you have a story please call me at:
US +1 212-683-2490 (ongoing)
Australia 1800 636 642m (until May 31)

Animation Hotline: Rabbits from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

I love that she was throwing rocks at bunnies but they didn’t find it threatening enough to stop eating her garden.

Call me! 212-683-2490

Animation Hotline: Escalator from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Just to clarify, Neil Diamond is not the father of Michael Diamond (Beastie Boy) and Dustin Diamond (Saved by the Bell’s “Screech”). The caller was talking about Urban Legend and that was one that I believed most of my life. Thank you Wikipedia for moving me out of the celebrity information dark ages.

Call me and leave a message so I can animate it.

US +1 212-683-2490
Australia 1800 636-542

Animation Hotline: Tasty Hand-Pulled from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

This is a plug for my favorite noodle joint in Chinatown, Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles. It’s at 1 Doyer Street (at Bowery) and the guy makes the noodles right there while you are waiting. I think it used to be $4.25 for a bowl, but now maybe it is $5.25 per bowl, and when I was really really broke I would go there for some hot soup and it would sooth me right to the bottom of my soul.

Call me and leave a ridiculously interesting story (in US) at +1 212-683-2490.

And for the next month they are screening the Animation Hotline at Parer Place Urban Screens in Australia and have set up a toll free hotline number for Australia only at 1800 636 642. Parer Place is this 20’ LED marque over a media arts center in Brisbane. parerplaceurbanscreens.wordpress.com/

Animation Hotline: Paris from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Rachel went to Paris and went thrift store shopping. I’m kind of excited about this one, I’ll have to say it is a “breakthrough” because I always say that I don’t do very well with characters and that I’m not a character animator, but then I asked my brother Drew to draw a character and so he drew a robot. He’s an illustrator and he mostly draws characters, so maybe we can pair up like all those amazingly awesome twin teams.

Animation is an answering machine sitting in my bedroom that I want you to call so I can animate your message. Call me in the US at +1 212-683-2490
and for the month of April and May you can call me toll free in Australia at 1800 636 642.

Animation Hotline: Zapatos from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Finally got an message in Spanish! Thanks with the help in translating.

If you have a story (in any language!) give the hotline a call, 212-683-2490.

Animation Hotline: Zapatos from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Finally got an message in Spanish! Thanks with the help in translating.

If you have a story (in any language!) give the hotline a call, 212-683-2490.

Animation Hotline: Monkey from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Jeff from the rocker-band “Bubble Gun” left a similar message on the voice-mail the other day but then I pulled the audio off of their CD. I don’t usually use audio from anything other than the voice-mails, but this time I did. Please don’t judge me, I’m just a guy, tryin’ to get by, makin’ some little animations.

If you have a story or want to leave a message for me to turn into an animation, please call my voice-mail at 212-683-2490.

Animation Hotline: Monkey from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Jeff from Bubble Gum left a similar message the other day. I don’t usually tweak the audio, but this time I did.

Animation Hotline: Get Out from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Had a great time at the Taos Shorz Film Festival last weekend. Got a ton of new messages and will be doing as many as I have time to do. Not sure if this one is from Taos or not :).

I’m still collecting messages, so if you have a story please call 212-683-2490.

Animation Hotline: Get Out from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Had a great time at the Taos Shorz Film Festival last weekend. Got a ton of new messages and will be doing as many as I have time to do. Not sure if this one is from Taos or not :).

I’m still collecting messages, so if you have a story to tell, please call 212-683-2490.

Animation Hotline: Mousetraps from Dustin Grella on Vimeo.

Could someone please tell me what is going on with the VFX community? I was supposed to have an action scene of her jumping out of the car and rolling along the side of the road and then an explosion, but all I got is this green screen.

Animation Hotline is a series of micro-animations that use telephone messages for content. Give me a call at +1 212-683-2490.

animationhotline.com

“Jewish” is one of the shorts that was part of “Other Than” a collaborative documentary project by Real Idea Studios that premiered at Cannes.  My friend Mike Barron, who’s a sys admin and a cartoonist left the message. 

There used to be a scoreboard just like this in the gym at Garfield Elementary that they would sometimes let us use for basketball games.

The entire film is available online at snagfilms.com

This is for Taos Shortz.  They’ve installed one of the “hotspots” in a gallery in Taos and it allows people to leave messages directly into my Dropbox folder, so I can just pluck them right off of the interweb almost as soon as it happens. 

Animation Hotline is a series of tiny little micro-shorts that use messages left on my voice-mail for content.

Call me at 212-683-2490