‘Animation Hotline’ Turns Voicemails into Web Series

Suppendapo is Wreck and Salvage’s eschatological web series and warehouse, preparing individuals for the impending apocalypse since 2005. Here’s how it works:

Persons who believe the Rapture is an imminent event and/or persons who believe in creative and entertaining online video are asked to call the Suppendapo hotline at 206-339-6324. (It’s a real number. You should give it a ring.) You’ll get their answering machine (all of the the company’s End of World specialists are undoubtedly handling other calls), at which point you will be prompted to leave your order for whatever (and I mean whatever) it is you require to live in a post-Armageddon world. Suppendapo then fulfills your order by way of an animated, clip art-heavy online video.

Animation Hotline is kinda the same thing, except without the catastrophic premise.

Artist Dustin Grella solicits interested parties to give his answering machine a ring at 212-683-2490. (Again, a real working number. Try it.) Callers can leave any message they want, though the the shorter (10 seconds or less) the better. Grella then uses his more or less incredible chalk drawing and stop motion animation skills to bring the random voicemails to 2-D life. There are musings on the national debt, stories about the kinds of things that only happen in New York, and ravings from a man that needs some sustenance.

Dylan Schenker at TheFW notes it takes Grella roughly 12 hours to complete each video. It’ll only take you a few minutes, though, to go through his entire catalog. And you should. Animation Hotline is one artistic and participatory original web series to watch.