Oodles of Doodles: Get Happy At TIFF 2024
Pharrell Williams Welcomes You (& me!) to The Doodleverse
Yo…
Welcome to Doodleverse. This is gonna be a wild ride so buckle up: safety first.
Know This: next-generation entertainment company Doodles joined forces with Pharrell Williams for a contemporary animation experience: Dullsville and The Doodleverse.
The world premiere of Dullsville and The Doodleverse was happening in downtown Toronto, during TIFF: Saturday September 7, 2024 at the Design Exchange on Bay Street.
(Cue flashback: 10 years ago I visited the Design Exchange to check out This Is Not A Toy; the first major exhibition of designer toys worldwide. Lotta freshtastic Pharrell work. Designer toys is another rabbit hole for another day. End…flashback.)
Dullsville and The Doodleverse is a 19 minute animated special directed by Doodles co-founder Burnt Toast (straight outta Hamilton) and produced by London/New York-based creative studio Golden Wolf.
There is a lot packed into that sentence you just read. Packed as in sit down and bounce on the bursting suitcase to get it zipped closed, you know?
History Lesson Kids…
Doodles was founded in 2021 by Evan Keast, Jordan Castro, and Scott Martin (aka Burnt Toast.)
Currently, Doodles is a visionary artistic ecosystem and a collective however it began as a collection of 10,000 generative NFTs. Featuring original art created by Burnt Toast, who produced hundreds of unique visual traits for the NFT collection. It ah…sold for millions.
Turns out the F in NFTs stands for fun…
The Doodles NFTs also established a distinct and creative (mostly online) community. (Indeed, the Doodles party I attended at the Design Exchange was the culmination of the community’s numerous gathering during that September weekend. It’s like a family reunion only with nerds. People flew into Toronto from as far as England. The Doodles community played pickleball at Stackt Market, enjoyed a BBQ and got to know each other IRL (In Real Life…) often matching faces to screen names. Basically: they left the Metaverse to come to Toronto.)
I totally get it: NFTs and an online community meeting…some IRL introductions for the first time is all…weird. Honestly? Pickleball is weird, too. It is a strange world out there filled with wild wonder and unknown spectacle.
A bit more backstory…trust me it’s all relevant.
On June 21, 2022: Doodles announced music, fashion, and cultural icon Pharrell Williams as Chief Brand Officer. (I believe Pharrell’s business card flows in that order.)
As part of the initial agreement: it was announced Pharrell would produce an NFT-focused album titled Doodles Records: Volume 1.
On January 24, 2023 Doodles acquired transatlantic animation studio Golden Wolf. With the Golden Wolf acquisition Doodles was now operating in animation, gaming, merchandise, music, and live events. (I’m glossing over a lot here: this is the opening crawl in Star Wars…I’m trying to get you to the cool lightsaber fights.)
Jumping ahead a bit…
On April 4, 2024: Doodles announced their upcoming animated special. Their tweet promised: “a groundbreaking storytelling experience from Doodles x Pharrell Williams.”
On August 9, 2024: the music video for Not in the Store by Pharrell and Coi Leray, was released:
On August 30 2024: the music video for Can’t Hold Me Down with Pharrell, Lil Wayne, Lil Yachty and Kyle Richh was released:
If it makes easier for you, picture Gorillaz or Prozzäk; other virtual animated bands made up of talents musicians who have Day Jobs in real and notable bands.
Which brings us to this TIFF party on Saturday, September 7th at the Design Exchange.
All of this animated music is on the Dullsville and The Doodleverse soundtrack.
(Think of Pharrell as the new Michael Jackson. You know how MJ’s song Thriller is a song just under 6 minutes? (The album version clocks in at 5:57.) But then the Thriller music video is 13 minutes. Clearly, that’s not a music video…that’s a short film.
And the 13 minute Thriller video was financed by a one hour special/documentary: Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller which was sold to many TV networks such as Showtime.
So: Michael recorded the Thriller song (which played on radio), made a short film about the song (which aired on MTV) and made an hour long documentary about the making of the short film featuring the popular radio hit (which was broadcast on TV).
So: Pharrell contributing an animated soundtrack to a 19 minute animated short connected to a community organized around a popular NFT is kinda no different than everything MJ did with Thriller. What Pharrell is doing is Thriller 2.0…Thriller on the blockchain.)
This TIFF party was a bold opportunity to behold the world premiere of Dullsville and The Doodleverse while interreacting with the creative Doodles community. I was a tourist in this world.
The infectious animated short is about a guy and his cat trapped in Dullsville where monotony reigns unfettered and cubicles keep everyone trapped.
Thankfully the guy (Hap) and the cat (Mello) are injected into a magical and alternative reality powered by imagination and bright colours.
(And yes that’s Lil Wayne’s voice at the end of the trailer as the skeleton DJ. Notice the golden rib? Ha!)
Dullsville and The Doodleverse is astounding. I want more episodes…an entire season. Please. And thank you.
Brimming with imaginative and artful play: this is an exceptional world you want to visit more than once. It’s quirky, humourous and layered with hip hop music. It’s a full meal. Come at it when you’re hungry.
If you’re a fan of The Simpsons or Futurama (more Futurama, really) you need to check it out.
This was beyond all doubts one of the coolest TIFF parties in the nearly 50 year history of the film festival.
They splashed Doodles animations all over the blank walls before and after we watched the animation special. There was an open bar (which I’m sure led to some Blurred Lines…).
Below is a photo of DJ Spider. Talking to him before the party began I asked him…knowing Pharrell was gonna be in the audience: what’s your opening song philosophy?
Startled he looked at me and laughed. He told he I don’t have a specific opening song. I’m gonna play a lot of mashups and a lot of remixes.
Which he did…DJ Spider is outstanding. Much grooving unfolded.
Sometimes you just Get Lucky.
Always Grindin’ Henry VanderSpek and I were Happy to shoot the Pharrell Williams red carpet for his Doodles/Dullsville and the Doodleverse release party at TIFF 2024.
I ain’t Frontin’ it was Fun Fun Fun to shoot that Beautiful N.E.R.D.
And a couple of days later (still at TIFF) I saw Piece by Piece the Lego: the Pharrell Lego biopic/documentary. I have many emotions about that as well. But that’s another saga for another day.
It was a joy spending time with Pharrell during TFF and touring his surprising world.
I’m grateful to be around at the same time as Pharrell who has many gifts and talents. Pharrell is a passionate storyteller and he wisely picks different mediums to share his tales. Pharrell is cool. So, cool.
If you just want to enjoy only the music work…sweet. Get Lucky is a remarkable tune. (Especially when you add Stevie Wonder Nile Rodgers to the mix!)
However, the toys, the fashion, the animation, the Doodles and more…they’re marvelous. Yes: they make me…Happy.
Whew.
I’ve covered NFTs, pickleball, Pharrell, cartoons and a TIFF party. And I closed with Daft Punk. Who I miss terribly.
You did great keeping up with all this: pumpkin sticker for you.
My milkshake doesn’t bring all the boys to the yard…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.