The studio’s first documentary, which explores the fusion of art, technology, and nouns, chronicling their creative journey to conceive, design, and build a massive Rose Parade float, premieres May 29 at Consensus 2024, before moving to X on June 1.
SHARK, PICKLE, CONE A Nouns Documentary, the first-ever documentary film from Emmy, Annie and Clio-winning animation collective Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, premieres 7 pm on May 29 during Consensus 2024, the world’s biggest crypto event, moving to X @NounsDoc beginning June 1.
The film, produced in association with Decentral Media, is at once a chronicle of Stoopid Buddy’s own creative journey to conceive, design and build a massive float for the Rose Parade, and an introduction to the growing digital arts initiative called Nouns, which funded the project. It also explores the promise — and potential pitfalls — that blockchain technologies hold for mobilizing communities and creating new paths of financing, monetization and distribution for independent artists, filmmakers, technologists, and NGOs.
Infused with irreverent humor and a casual approach that are hallmarks of Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, SHARK, PICKLE, CONE was shot in 2022 and 2023, following along as a team from Stoopid Buddy worked with Nouns on creating a float for the 134th Rose Parade. The project captures the drama and uncertainty that shook the digital finance world in November 2022 when cryptocurrency exchange FTX suddenly and dramatically collapsed.
In advance of its global debut at Consensus in Austin, Texas, SHARK, PICKLE, CONE has also been minted as an NFT itself, in collaboration with Zora, the first full-length documentary to be minted to the blockchain. Through bonfire.xyz, SHARK, PICKLE, CONE will offer token-gated access to hours of original interviews and bonus materials archived from the making of the film.
“Nouns is a grand experiment, the Rose Parade was a grand experiment, and now creating this documentary continues that innovation—both through its subject and through the process by which it was made, which eschews all traditional methods of financing and distributing a film,” says producer and director Neil Berkeley (Beauty is Embarrassing, Gilbert, Harmontown). “NFTs and the vision of Nouns demonstrate that there are exciting and different ways to bring a film to the screen. Old modes aren’t working. This is a new mode.”
SHARK, PICKLE, CONE features interviews with the founders of Nouns and its most active members. The film looks at many of the real-world projects that have been brought to life with funds raised from daily auctions of digital Nouns avatars while examining the challenges and conflicts that arise within the DAO, or “decentralized autonomous organization,” which by design lacks traditional, centralized leadership hubs to guide its development.
“There are a lot of people who have no idea what an NFT is or how a DAO works, but it’s very clear that these still-unfamiliar concepts are having enormous influence around the world,” says producer Eric Towner, also a co-founder of Stoopid Buddy Stoodios. “Our goal was to create a film that illuminates these ideas, while still being a fun and engrossing look at the real struggles that exist on any creative project.”
SHARK, PICKLE, CONE is also produced by David Heiman, with Seth Green, John Harvatine IV, Matthew Senreich and Chris Waters joining Towner as executive producers.
Check out the trailer now:
Source: Stoopid Buddy Stoodios
Journalist, antique shop owner, aspiring gemologist—L'Wren brings a diverse perspective to animation, where every frame reflects her varied passions.
