Mark Gravas

Mark Gravas
Born (1966-09-29) 29 September 1966 (age 58)
Occupation(s)Director, writer, animator
Years active1987–present
Known forYakkity Yak
CJ the DJ
SpouseSandra Walters

Mark Gravas (born 29 September 1966) is an Australian animator, director and producer. He is the creator/director of Yakkity Yak (2002/2003), an Australian/Canadian co-production. Mark co-owns Sydney based media production company Kapow Pictures[1] with his partner Sandra Walters.[2]

Mark Gravas directed the 2005 animated film Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie, He also designed and directed the 2006 Cartoon Network production of Casper's Scare School.[3] Gravas also co-owns the creative company Kapow Pictures, based in Sydney, Australia.[4]

Life and career

Mark has lived in Sydney, Australia for most of his life. He left school at the end of year 10 and studied fine art, and later graphic design at Randwick Tafe.[5] He traveled to London in his 20s and worked at various animation studios. He met his partner Sandra Walters in London. He directed a short film for Nickelodeon Ego from Mars[6] in 1999 and also worked with Bradley Trevor Grieve BTG[7] on Agent Green.[8] He went on to create and direct the short film Show and Tell[9] in 2001 which won an AACTA Award[10] for best animated short in 2002. Mark created, designed and directed Yakkity Yak[11] a 52 x 11 mins children's TV series for MTV Networks International[12] in 2003. He designed and directed Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie[13] in 2005 and Casper's Scare School[14] in 2006. He co-created (and designed and directed) CJ the DJ[15] with Stu Connolly, a 52 x 11 mins children's TV series shown on ABC 3[16] in 2009. Mark has also designed and directed music videos including Everyone Seems to be Out to Get You[17] selected for Annecy Animation Festival[18] and Tickle[19] shown at Pictoplasma Berlin 2013.

References

  1. ^ http://kapowpictures.com/
  2. ^ Yakkity Yak
  3. ^ School in Session for Casper
  4. ^ Distance no barrier to making characters heard
  5. ^ "TAFE NSW Choose from hundreds of courses. Explore. Enquire. Enrol. - TAFE NSW".
  6. ^ List of Nickelodeon short films#Ego From Mars
  7. ^ Bradley Trevor Greive
  8. ^ Bradley Trevor Greive
  9. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Show and Tell. YouTube.
  10. ^ AACTA Award for Best Short Animation
  11. ^ Yakkity Yak
  12. ^ "Top 25 Greatest Nickelodean TV Shows". IMDb.
  13. ^ http://www.petercottontailmovie.com/
  14. ^ "Casper's Scare School". IMDb. 20 October 2006.
  15. ^ "Australian Television: CJ the DJ".
  16. ^ "ABC3 - TV Program - CJ the DJ". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009.
  17. ^ "404". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  18. ^ "Annecy 2012, International Animation Film Festival". Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2013. 2012
  19. ^ "Animation | Characters in Rhythm | Pictoplasma | Berlin 2013". Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.