When: April 16, 6 and 9 p.m. Read More
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Global animation studio presents annual showcase at Rio Theatre
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Titmouse 5 Second Day … Night!!!
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When: April 16, 6 and 9 p.m.
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Where: Rio Theatre, 1660 E. Broadway
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Tickets and info: Riotheatre.ca
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Frog and Toad, Star Trek: Lower Decks, the Legend of Vox Maquina and Beavis and Butt-Head are only a few of the hit animated series coming from Titmouse. With locations in Vancouver, New York City and Los Angeles, the company whose website proudly proclaims “we make cartoons” celebrates 25 years in 2025.
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Each year, Titmouse offices set aside a day for a paid day off where regular work is shut down and staff can spend a shift producing their own animated shorts. The resulting works are put together into a compendium series titled Titmouse 5 Second Day … Night!!! which is screened in every city where the company has a studio.
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Originally, the shorts were just shown to staff but word got out to other animators. Titmouse COO Ben Kalina says the decision was made to open up the event to the public with theatre screenings in each of the major urban markets the company has studios. Titled Titmouse 5 Second Day … Night!!!, this year’s event takes place at the Rio Theatre.
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“Back in the day, five seconds was what you could expect to make in a day, and we would screen it in the lobby at the end of the day and just have fun,” said Kalina. “Over time, people got to thinking about it over the year and roping in friends and making some that were pretty long. One year, we had three hours worth of material, so we have tried to request it’s kept to two minutes.”
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Vancouver animator Holly Giesbrecht has worked on everything from Captain Underpants to Angry Birds. She is working on her fourth piece for the annual celebration. The only time Giesbrecht missed participating was the year she was off giving birth to her son.
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In other words, this is a good time for the animators.
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“For sure, people team up and get pretty epic little shorts going,” said Giesbrecht. “I typically start looking through my sketchbook in January looking for something that could be turned into a little short and keep it to the one day. For a studio to let staff do this is really cool.”
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Some of the shorts to come from 5 Second Day … Night!!! have gone on to become full-length series. Ben Kalina admits that there are real benefits spun out of the fun event. With the frequent turnover in animation jobs, studios aren’t always aware of the skill sets employees bring to the table.
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“Parker Simmons developed Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart from his short, which was a series that ran for a year,” said Kalina. “It was a great piece that we developed more and sold to Cartoon Network. Another one of our animators turned out to have great voice acting chops and went on to develop an entire career voicing other shows we did.”
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Giesbrecht, who produced a delightful short titled the Silliest Jokes for last year’s event, says she would love to develop something into a larger series.
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“This year, I did one called Monday Groove where my goal was to take a drawing I started off with and let it flow,” she said. “For 5 Second Day, you can skip having a story and just dial back your idea and let it flow. I was able to get some music from my husband, royalty free, and just let it come together.”
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Giesbrecht notes that many contributors will play around with different animation techniques for their pieces. Kalina enjoys having people who aren’t even animators get involved.
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“People who aren’t even artists have done pieces, including last year having one of the secretaries get involved,” he said. “It’s really a chance for everyone on staff to just cut loose and get creative for a day.”
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The public screenings have become so popular that extra screenings have been added to handle the demand. The sellout events are a go-to on the annual animation calendars and Kalina notes that there have been additional screenings at fan expos, comicons and animation festivals where best of 5 Second Day … Night!!! creations have been shown.
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“It’s kind of interesting seeing who shows up and how many people will bring notebooks to jot down what kinds of technologies and ideas are on people’s minds on any given year,” said Kalina.
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