South Park Anal Prob

From Avid Rescue to South Park: My Unexpected Journey with Matt and Trey Parker"

In 1995-1996, shortly after leaving NBC 9 News and joining Update Productions, my reputation as an "Avid guru" led to an unexpected encounter with animation history.

During production of South Park's first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe," Matt Stone and Trey Parker lost their project on the Avid Editing system. They reached out to Update Productions for technical support.

Drawing on my extensive Avid expertise, I recovered their project efficiently. Matt and Trey were impressed enough to invite me to edit on their show for two days, even offering me a permanent position which I declined as I had just started at Update Productions and they didn't yet have a network deal.

Behind the Animation Curtain

One of the most fascinating aspects was visiting Celluloid, where I witnessed the original South Park animation process firsthand. The studio had a camera mounted over a table containing paper cutouts of all the characters. Everything was hand-animated frame by frame, with separate cutouts for eyebrows, eyes, and different mouth movements.

Later, I visited their upgraded operations in Marina del Rey, where they had expanded significantly with a huge animation team. The South Park offices reflected the creators' personalities - each desk uniquely decorated and creative.

The Uncredited Contribution

To this day, I've been unable to get proper credit for my contribution to South Park's beginnings. Despite petitioning IMDb, my work remains unacknowledged in the official records. My old boss at Ed Cornell, who edited their first five-minute Christmas postcard, can verify all of this, along with Danny Buscarello, who owned Update Productions at the time.

From South Park to Oscar-Winning Productions

This early career experience was just the beginning of my journey in visual storytelling. After Update Productions, I moved on to Warren Miller Films (1997-2000) as both an editor and cinematographer, working on TV pilots like Destination Wild. At just 24, I directed, shot, and edited a Nike campaign titled "Play," which began a long-term collaboration with Nike.

My career has since included working as Michael Jordan's personal cinematographer, winning an Oscar for Best Documentary as camera operator/editor for "The Cove," and serving as Director of Photography for HBO productions including Issa Rae's "Rap Sh!t" and the Lizzo documentary.

This South Park experience taught me valuable industry lessons that have served me throughout my career spanning over two decades in film and television production.

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*Dennis Flippin Jr. is an award-winning Director of Photography with extensive expertise in visual storytelling. His company, Flippin Entertainment, provides comprehensive production services from concept to completion, with a mission to produce projects that convey meaningful messages and positively impact the world.