PERSONAL THOUGHTS:
If there was anyone who could ever get me interested in stop-motion animation, it would definitely be Musa Brooker. I loved hearing about his upbringing and his journey in the film industry, as well as how he got involved great projects like “Robot Chicken” and the stop motion episode of “Community”.
I’ve always loved watching episodes of “Robot Chicken” and am a huge fan of “Community”, so being able to meet Musa was extremely exciting. I really loved how strikingly different stop motion looks compared to 2D and 3D animation – it honestly is an animation style that cannot be replicated.
I was also particularly fond of his stop motion work on commercials like Nike and Beats. They were so much fun to watch, and were quite effective as 30 seconds commercial breaks.
One aspect of Musa’s lecture that I really appreciated was his emphasis on having a creative outlet outside of the entertainment industry – specifically, his emphasis on “the industry does not care about you” was a very stark and important reminder to prioritize my health over corporate and capitalistic productivity. Ensuring that I maintain my own creative outlet while paying bills was especially important to me when I entered the XA program, and I’m so glad that Musa touched upon this.
BIO:
Musa Brooker (that's 'moo-say') is a Los Angeles-based director, animator, writer and producer who has worked with such clients as MTV, McDonalds, Disney, Hasbro, Target, Honda, Netflix, Paypal, and Google. He is currently employed at Shadow Machine as the Supervising Director of a new 2D animated series premiering in 2025.
The Philadelphia native holds a BFA in Animation from The University of the Arts and an MFA in Experimental Animation from The California Institute of the Arts, where he was a Jacob K. Javits Fellow. When he's not working for larger animation houses, Musa can be found tinkering on projects at his own small studio, Platypus Pictureworks.
Throughout his career Musa has animated, supervised or directed various elves, trolls, cake, cereal, corn dogs, miniature cars, life-sized cars, a sponge named Bob, a mystery-solving dog, cybernetic fowl, tumbling leaves, celebrities fighting to the death, a talking tree, a group of Bratz, a tower of taste buds, a town of cougars, McNugget Buddies, robots in disguise, super powered sandwiches, real sandwiches, real people, an atomic-powered super lizard, imaginary mascots, a giant booger, a pickled diva, a sour milk carton, a singing tomato, a Super Bowl champion, a former First Lady, a Sith Lord, a Wookiee and a Goof.
Musa has been a selection committee member for the New York Animation Festival and the Annie Awards. He has written for The Animation Journal, appeared as a panelist at Comic Con, presented at the Society for Animation Studies Annual Conference and lectured at Pictoplasma. Since 2010, Musa has been a faculty member at The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Titmouse Foundation, a non-profit that works to provide opportunities in the animation industry for students from historically underrepresented communities. In 2022 Brooker was honored with the prestigious Silver Star Award for Outstanding Alumni from his alma mater The University of the Arts.
In his spare time, Musa enjoys listening to old school Hip-Hop and NPR, visiting Disneyland and voting. He is a nearly obsessive Beatles fan and despite being allergic to cats, Musa is proud papa to feline siblings Dexter Doo and the late great Barnaby Jones.
