Animated invitation leaps right off the page

AN ultra-sexy and short animated movie arrived at my desk today, and 28 seconds later, I was deep inside a cartoon version of Ivan Kane’s nightclub world of mischief and fun.

Kane, a master mood-setter, created the animated short for his invitation to the second anniversary party for his club Deep next Tuesday. The star is a Cool Cat with VIP status who arrives like Tony Manero (the soundtrack is “Stayin’ Alive”), high-fives Kane and is pursued by the ladies until he winds up in a tryst with a Pamela Anderson look-alike in one of the club’s infamous VIP freezers. (Deep is at the former site of the Brown Derby.)

The Cool Cat and movie plot were Kane’s brainchild. But when it came to executing the idea, he teamed up with I2NET, the Huntington Beach firm that developed his Web sites, on the $10,000 project.

Freelance animator Mike Nawyn, 24, who likes hanging out at Deep, spent 100 hours working on the project with Kane, the first project of its kind for I2NET.

“We’ve done animations for invitations before, but this is the first time anybody’s gone to this extent,” said I2NET Vice President Scott Capone. “It’s a mini-movie.”

All of the Hollywood and Vine club’s unique features, including the erotic dancers in the one-way-mirrored glass boxes, are showcased in the cartoon for the invitation-only bash.

Last year’s invite was an X-rated peek-a-boo box, complete with its own flashlight and perverse instructions. Some guests received last-minute reminders: a champagne bottle adorned in a pleather corset.

“If you’re on the A-list in L.A., you get so many invitations you just wind up tossing out,” Kane said. “I strive to make mine memorable. Last year, our invitation was dirty and sexy and fun. Things get wild and crazy at Deep.” So, what is the rating for Kane’s movie debut?

“The freezer gives it the X-rating,” Capone said. “If you take out the freezer scene, we can go to an R. But for now, it’s a soft X.”

And that’s exactly how Kane likes it.