Schoolhouse Rock was the inspiration for these fun educational animations I developed for the Scholastic, Inc./Microsoft Home CD-ROM "The Magic School Bus Explores the Rainforest". 

My original assignment was to develop short straightforward animated presentations on jaguars, bromeliads (the bucket-like flowers that host small ponds in the trees) and other key players in the Costa Rican eco-system. Then it occurred to me that our audience would pay more attention to the presentations if they were funny, so I came up with ideas like a jaguar hosting a game show, or a soap opera based in a bromeliad. With an o.k. from the clients, I wrote a dozen different minute-long stories about life in the rain forest.

I storyboarded each animation and supervised the artists who produced them. I also directed the voice recording sessions and consulted with the musician who scored the project.

Click the titles above to see the scripts and several frames for two of my favorites, "Jaguar, Jaguar, El Tigre Superstar" and "Bromeliad Place".