The Race to Animate
In the streaming era, animation is big business.
Vulture takes a look at where we are, and how we got here.
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It featured the singer dancing with a cool, street-smart, rapping, dancing cartoon cat.
The directors decided to combine Abduls proficiency with movie-musical style and tap dancing with her modern-day dancing abilities.
Cats are cool, Reckinger explains.
And they dont do what you want.
That natural aloofness of a cat (or Kat) would juxtapose nicely with the poised Abdul.
After all, opposites attract.
It was too retro at first, and we wanted contemporary, Reckinger says.
Eventually, they came up with an agreeable design and presented it to Ayeroff.
And thus, MC Skat Kats outfit was born.
Animation is about silhouettes, he says, and striking poses is the essence of animation.
Amazingly, both Chambers and Abdul remained sharp throughout the tiring shoot.
It took so long in part because every scene had to be shot multiple times.
The whole thing may not have worked without a pro like Abdul.
Shes a technically great dancer who could duplicate every take, Patterson says.
That gave the floor a tacky enough surface to allow Abdul to nail the tap section in one take.
Traditional, handmade animation is a process a tedious, labor-intensive process.
Cels have to be painted, but lines on the rough drawings must be cleaned up before that.
They did a beautiful job, Reckinger says.
Opposites Attract was averysuccessful video.
Not only did it propel the song to No.
It also birthed a fun, slightly edgy, and seemingly very marketable character in MC Skat Kat.
The label once again turned to Patterson and Reckinger to handle videos, and the duo directed two.
(Patterson says it was loosely inspired by the classic Chuck Jonesdirected Daffy Duck cartoonDuck Amuck.)
96 on the Hot 100.
While Patterson and Reckinger worked on those follow-up videos, Virgin explored other avenues for MC Skat Kat.
MTV floated an underwhelming offer to make the character its official mascot.
That didnt pan out, but MTV also nearly commissioned an MC Skat Kat animated series.
We heard that it was down to us andBeavis and Butt-Head, Reckinger remembers.
Nevertheless, Patterson and Reckinger designed some MC Skat Kat dolls that were never released.
The reason why it all went away: timing.
Patterson and Reckingerwent on to direct videos for Sting, ELO, and Donald Fagan.
They currently teach animation and new media at the University of Southern California.
