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September|October 2020

Volume 34, Issue 8, Number 303

6 Frame-By-Frame 4

Stuff We Love

By Mercedes Milligan

Features 6

Ode to a Latvian Childhood

Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen discusses the inspirations for and challenges of her award-winning animated feature My Favorite War. By Ramin Zahed

Shorts 8

Senior Moments

Director Kaspar Jancis takes us along on an aging Cosmonaut’s journey.

Television/Streaming 10

Extinct No More!

DreamWorks Animation puts the giant dinos back to work in Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous. By Tom McLean

This Show Really Grows on You!

Creator Stephen P. Neary gives us the scoop on his wonderful new HBO Max series The Fungies!

14 ‘Bros’

A Sweet Farewell to Those Cuddly

We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong opens up about the show’s hugely satisfying movie, which also served as a grand finale.

18 10 Things to Know About Monster In My Pocket Cyber Group Studios co-founder & CEO Pierre Sissmann gave us the early buzz on the ‘90s franchise update.

20 Embracing New Global Opportunities Despite a challenging year, Toonz Media Group forges ahead with strong slate of creative-driven projects.

An Extraordinary Friendship

WildBrain Exec VP Amir Nasrabadi gives us the scoop on his new co-pro with Cartoon Saloon, Dorg Van Dango.

Max)

Pixelatl: 2020 festival trailer (Exodo

Studios)

Mip Junior: Droners (Cyber Group Studios) Cartoon Forum: Droners (Cyber Group

Studios)

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A Star-Studded Mexican Connection

Return of the Spanish Screen

Virtually The Same

The artistic director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival discusses this year’s unusual edition. By Chris Robinson

10 Shows to Catch at MIP Junior

The annual children’s content event MIP Junior is scheduled to take place October 12-14 at the famous Palais de Festival in Cannes.

Made in Malaysia

A snapshot of the animation and digital content in the region shows an industry that is thriving despite a challenging year.

Opportunities 46

Autonomous Animator

Useful, geurilla rendering tactics. By Martin Grebing

VFX 48

Spotlight Pixelatl Festival director José Iñesta says this year’s virtual edition will feature a record number of special guests and inspiring events.

Cover: The Fungies! (Cartoon Network/HBO

Visualizing Indescribable Monsters

The team at Framestore faced some unusual challenges as they created the monsters for HBO’s acclaimed new series Lovecraft Country.

Tech Reviews

Razor Blade 15 Studio Edition, Foundry’s Flix 6.3 and Silhouette Paint for Nuke. By Todd Sheridan Perry

Pixelatl panels provide a healthy picture of animation produced in Spain.

Back in the Real World

France’s Cartoon Forum is one of the first fall animation events that will not be virtual.

A Cartoon Forum Sampler

A quick look at some of the new shows that will be pitched at the Forum this year:

Day in the Life 52 Marika Makaroff, CEO & creative director of Gutsy Animations (Moominvalley), shows us how to balance work and self-care in the COVID era. www.animationmagazine.net

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E ditor ’ s N otE

Alive and Kicking E

very year in September, we would all get ready for the rich collection of worldwide animation festivals, markets and events. Obviously, things are a bit different for all of us. Although we are beginning to witness the slow return to normal in several countries in Europe, we are still far from going back to filling up convention halls and auditoriums. Things may not go back to the pre-Pandemic norms until a vaccine is readily available, but it’s a good sign that some events like Cartoon Forum and MIPCOM are doing their best to keep the events live, but paying serious attention to the COVID-19 safety guidelines. The pandemic certainly made a huge impact on the state of the theatrical movie business. While streamers like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon and Hulu all got a big boost in their numbers because of the stay-at-home boom, much-anticipated summer titles such as The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Mulan and Minions: The Rise of Gru were either delayed or went the pay-per-view route. Fortunately, we still have a lot of excellent animated projects to tell you about. Our cover story, The Fungies!, is a fun and creative new toon that began its run on HBO Max last month. We had a chance to catch up with the show creator Stephen P. Neary, who told us about the inspirations and challenges of having your own show picked up by a major animation studio (Cartoon Network). We were also thrilled to hear from Ottawa Int’l Animation Festival director Chris Robinson, who gave us his unfiltered look at the surreal experience of planning a major global event for a virtual audience. You can Exodo Studios’ trailer for Pixelatl 2020 also read about some of the online event’s highlights — including interviews with Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen, the visionary director of the feature My Favorite War, and animation veteran Kaspar Jancis, who is back this year with the acclaimed short Cosmonaut. We’ll have more coverage of the festival and an up-to-date schedule of the panels and classes later this month on our website and daily e-newsletters. If you want a quick look at all the creativity bubbling around the world, all you have to do is take a look at some of the fun and highly original animated shows being introduced at Cartoon Forum and MIP Junior. Make sure you check out the previews for both shows as well as our spotlight on Pixelatl Festival, which is truly a labor of love for festival director José Iñesta and his dedicated team. Our hats off to all the passionate lovers of animation who are continuing to fight all of this year’s crazy challenges to keep the art form and related businesses alive and thriving.

Ramin Zahed Editor in Chief ramin@animationmagazine.net

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Frame-By-Frame

Stuff We Love

Stuff to Read

The Art of Invader Zim [Abrams Books, $35] Take a nice, long break from singing “The Doom Song” and get cozy in your invasion base to enjoy this welcome revisitation of one of the strangest, most rabidly enjoyed Nickelodeon cartoons of all time. Chris McDonnell (Steven Universe: Art & Origins, BoJack Horseman: The Art Before the Horse) is our guide through the history of indie comics artist Jhonen Vasquez’s big animated break. From the inception of the original 2001 series to last year’s Netflix movie Enter the Florpus, this all-access compendium delivers never-before-published artwork, photos and ephemera, along with exclusive interviews with Vasquez and key members of the crew across 240 beautiful designed pages. A must-have for any turn of the millennium “kid!” The Garden of Words [Yen Press, $20] Acclaimed director Makoto Shinkai delves deeper into the story of his award-winning 2013 animated feature in this novelization, full of additional scenes and perspectives that reveal a whole new side to many of the film’s characters. The story centers on teenager Takao, who prefers to spend rainy mornings in the beautiful Shinjuku Gyoen gardens rather than in class. One day, he meets a mysterious woman named Yukino skipping work in his peaceful haven, and an unlikely friendship blooms. A touching — but not sugar-coated — reflection on the struggle to find one’s path in life, which explores the dynamics of private connections and public expectations.

They Drew as They Pleased Vol 6: The Hidden Art of Disney’s New Golden Age [Chronicle Books, $50] Animation historian Didier Ghez’s landmark series chronologically retracing the creative evolution and great eras of Disney Animation wraps up with this final volume, covering the 1990s through the 2010s. Ghez’s extensive research into the Animation Research Library, Walt Disney Archives and private collections bring never-before-published artwork and behind-the-scenes stories to the page. The latest book, published in August, profiles artists Joe Grant, Hans Bacher, Mike Gabriel and Michael Giaimo, enriching our appreciation of blockbuster hits from The Little Mermaid to Moana and chronicling the studio’s dramatic shift from 2D to CG.

Stuff to Watch

Ghost in the Shell 4K UHD Combo Pack [Lionsgate, $23] Celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of the most critically acclaimed anime features of all time with this stunning remaster in Dolby Vision / Atmos. Mamoru Oshii’s award-winning cyberpunk thriller is accompanied by full-length audio commentary with English-language writer Mary Claypool, Eric Calderon (producer/writer, Afro Samurai), Richard Epcar (voice of “Batou”) and animation historian Charles Solomon, plus brand-new featurettes Accessing Section 9: 25 Years into the Future and Landscapes & Dreamscapes — The Art and Architecture of Ghost in the Shell, all wrapped up with beautiful new box art by illustrator Martin Ansin. [Sept. 8]

Rick and M o r t y Season 4

Superman: Man of Tomorrow

[WBHE, $25 DVD | $30 BD] Buckle in and blast off on more wildly irresponsible adventures through the multiverse with Adult Swim’s favorite mad scientist and his feckless grandson. All 10 episodes from the 20192020 season (including Primetime Emmy-nominated “The Vat of Acid Episode”) are tastefully complimented by a flight of bonus features: A Day at Rick and Morty: Inside Season 4, Creating Snake Jazz, Directing Rick and Morty, Samurai and Shogun, Prop Process, Character Creation, Animation Challenges and Inside the Episode for every adventure. [Sept. 22]

[WBHE, $25 BD | $40 4K] Daily Planet intern Clark Kent takes learning-on-thejob to new extremes when Lobo and Parasite set their sights on Metropolis in the latest DC Universe Movie. Representing a fresh style shift in the 40+ film series, overseen by DC animation veteran Butch Lukic as supervising producer, Man of Tomorrow is directed by Chris Palmer from a script by Tim Sheridan and stars Darren Criss and Zachary Quinto as Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. The set boasts new featurettes on Lobo and Martian Manhunter, two new DCUM “Look Backs”, two Superman: TAS episodes from the vault, trailers and sneak peek at the next title. Pick up the Best Buy exclusive LE Gift Set and snag a figurine as well! [Sept. 8]

Weathering With You [Shout! Factory, $25 DVD | $30 BD | $35 LE SteelBook] Makoto Shinkai’s worthy follow up to global smash hit Your Name. tells the remarkable story of a teenage runaway to Tokyo who one day meets a bright, strong-willed girl with a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky. Bonsu features include “Weather Front” Featurette, Exploring Makoto Shinkai’s Filmography, Trailers & TV Spots, Talk Show: Makoto Shinkai and Yumiko Udo (BD only) and Interview with Makoto Shinkai (SteelBook only). (Also! Make a note on your holiday shopping list that a special Collector’s Edition 4K combo pack is due in November.) [Sept. 15] ◆ — Mercedes Milligan

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Frame-By-Frame

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F eatures

Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen

Ode to a Latvian Childhood Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen discusses the inspirations for and challenges of her award-winning animated feature My Favorite War. By Ramin Zahed

ver the past decade, fans of world cinema have seen several creative auteurs use animation to tell stories that deal with serious issues and explore tough socio-political themes. This year, Latvian-Norwegian director Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen continues that tradition with My Favorite War, a powerful look at her own experience growing up under Soviet rule and how that political climate impacted her own coming of age. During a recent interview, Burkovska Jacobsen talked to us about the making of her movie, which took home the prestigious Contrechamp prize at Annecy in June. The title is also selected as one of the features in competition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival this month. “Two of my key cinematic sources of inspiration are Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir,” says Burkovska Jacobsen. “Both films tell about history, use animation and still are classified as documentaries. My inspiration art-wise was Frida Kahlo. In the beginning, when I started to raise money www.animationmagazine.net

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for my film, I was kind of embarrassed that I was using myself in the story. But then I thought of Frida Kahlo and thought, well, we see images of her face and body in her paintings, but she tells the larger story anyway. We see pain, longing, love, accusation and a statement of female strength in her paintings, not the self-satisfied face of the painter. So I decided then that it was

possible to use yourself in a film even though it felt very uncomfortable at times.” She adds, “Of course, in terms of the film’s storyline, I was inspired by the tremendously dramatic history of my homeland Latvia, with all the

tragic twists during the last century and the ‘happy ending’ from our perspective of the Cold War.”

Mixing Reality with Animation The filmmaker says there were various reasons she decided to combine animation with live-action and archival footage and photos. “That was the only way for me to visualize the story the way I wanted to tell it,” she explains. “To make a live-action fiction movie would be too expensive. There are also no archives or photos of the situations or happenings of what I wanted to show in my film.” Burkovska Jacobsen began her work on the movie’s script about nine years ago. The film’s concept artist began contributing drawings for the film that same year. However, actual development didn’t start until 2014, and production began late in 2016. The team used cut-out animation in combination with some 3D and a little bit of hand-drawn animation for the opening scene of the movie. According to the director, the team had five september|october 20

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F eatures Look Back in Wonder: My Favorite War offers a personal, animated look at the director’s coming of age in Latvia, which was part of the Soviet Union until 1990.

animators overall: Krish Ābols, Kerija Arne, Toms Burāns, Neil Hammer and Arnis Zemītis. Also contributing to the movie were background artist Laima Puntule, additional character artist Harry Grundmann and storyboard artists Margarita Turauska and Roberts Cinkuss. Looking back at the making of her movie, Burkovska Jacobsen says the most challenging aspect was figuring out her father’s storyline. “He was a member of the Communist Party because that was the only way to get something done as a leader for a community,” she explains. “He was energetic and charismatic and he accomplished so much. I still

is perhaps my favorite of his films.” Burkovska Jacobsen points out that Latvian animation was at an early stage when she was young. “We are very romantic people, and I would call our national animation in the 20th century romantic, too,” she recalls. “The Russian films were funny and very well made, but I remember specifically the feature-length Soviet version of Mowgli (The Jungle Book). When I moved to Norway, as a young student at the age of 19, I skipped lectures in university to go to the movie theaters and watch the morning screenings for children in Stavanger.” She says she will never forget seeing Disney’s Snow White in a theater packed with

‘Don’t be just a spectator in your life. Think about ways you can make a change for the better — even if they’re very small steps. Not all of us can be [Swedish activist] Greta Thunberg. But every tribute or support for a better world matters.’ — Writer-director Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen

miss him, so it’s hard to explain today why he joined that Party. Still, my parents’ stories are the stories of millions of other people, who were members of the Communist Party without personally seeing themselves as Communists. The historical and political circumstances didn’t leave them any choice. That was the reality. As my mother was told, ‘Become a member or you will lose your job.’”

Hedgehog, Snow White and Other Faves Growing up, the filmmaker was deeply inspired by Yuri Norstein’s Hedgehog in the Fog. “He is still working on his upcoming project, The Cape, and the pieces I have seen are just beautiful,” she says. “I also think it is impossible to fly with your animation dreams without the wings given by Hayao Miyazaki. Spirited Away september|october 20

screaming kindergarten kids. “I was so hungry to see more of this world that was forbidden for me as a kid,” says the director. “American animated programs were rare on Soviet TV. I do remember that every New Year, we would get a special gift on TV: an hour of Tom and Jerry cartoons. We all loved that.” The filmmaker says she didn’t learn much about art from her mother’s father, who was a painter. “I didn’t inherit his skills, neither in understanding color or in drawing,” says Burkovska Jacobsen. “The main thing I learned from him was to be critical to your own work, not to run to the public too early before you have looked at it by yourself again and again. My father’s dad was a talented oral storyteller. He was so eager to entertain people in any family gatherings with his funny stories. So I guess my need to tell other people something from

my heart actually comes from him.” Of course, like everyone else around the world, Burkovska Jacobsen’s life and career have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. “What a year!” she says. “I do believe that humans are able to communicate. We have to. We have to realize that the crisis with the virus is not only a pandemic crisis, but also a sign that we have to solve the problems of an unequal society. I’m still worried over human greed and the destructive relation to nature’s resources on our planet. To quote Fight Club, ‘We do jobs we don’t like to buy things that we don’t need.’ We need to calm down and think about what we really need.” The director says she was very happy to read the positive reviews of the movie after its debut at Annecy in June. “I feel that the audience understood my message and were able to follow all the several storylines in the film. It was a relief to read in several European languages the similar positive response, with a deep engagement in the story.” She also hopes that My Favorite War will have a positive influence on audiences whether they see it in theaters or at home “Don’t be just a spectator in your life,” she advises. “Think about ways you can make a change for the better — even if it’s very small steps. Not all of us can be [Swedish activist] Greta Thunberg. But every tribute or support for a better world matters. Do think about some other aspects of society building. Authoritarianism is possible only if people let themselves adapt to undemocratic changes step by step. It doesn’t always start with a big radicalism in the beginning. So, be aware of those smaller changes when democracy is threatened.” ◆ My Favorite War is part of this year’s feature lineup at the Ottawa Intl. Animation Festival. For more info, visit myfavoritewar.com. www.animationmagazine.net

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S hortS

Senior Moments Director Kaspar Jancis takes us along on an aging Cosmonaut’s journey.

nimation veteran Kaspar Jancis is best known for directing short festival favorites such as Frank & Wendy, Crocodile, Marathon and the 2018 stop-motion animated feature Captain Morten and the Spider Queen. The talented Estonian director and composer is back in the spotlight this year with a new short titled Cosmonaut, which was a Cristal nominee at Annecy and is part of the offi‘It’s important to find strength to go on when it feels like cial selection at Ottavomiting on your drawings. That’s a normal reaction if wa this month. This you have worked with something for so long.’ time around, he was inspired to tell the — Director Kaspar Jancis story of his parents’ generation in a short project. Getting a Graphic Look “I was witnessing how they are getting older The director used 2D animation combined and the kind of problems aging brings along,” with 3D backgrounds to tell his story. says Jancis. “It hurts a little to see them running “We redrew the 3D backgrounds by hand to out of power. The film talks about the genera- give it a more hand-drawn, graphic look. Everytion of people who spent most of their life in a thing was colored on the computer. Later we country which is wiped out of history, the USSR. added some textures to reduce the look of the I wanted to tell the story of a hero and the her- computer coloring. For the long shot in which oism of being old. It is also a social satire about the Cosmonaut’s apartment becomes weightour treatment of the elderly — how heroes be- less, we animated the floating objects in 3D and added few 2D animated elements.” come forgotten as the world is changing.” Jancis has received very positive responses Jancis began his work on Cosmonaut in the summer of 2018, and it took him a year to finish from the short’s audiences thus far. “For me, it it. The short’s premiere was held in Budapest was a big compliment when some older people during Anilogue last year. When asked about the budget, he laughs. “Well, to be honest, I don’t really know the exact budget,” he replies. “I need to call the producer, but he is not picking up the phone at the moment. I just made an agreement with my studio (Joonisfilm) and the rest, I left for the producer and the bookkeeper to deal with. We were working with a very small team. I didn’t get rich! That’s for sure.”

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came to me after the screening to thank me for the film. The most heartwarming of all was the fact that it became a part of a social program for the elderly, and that many old people were moved by the story. So I switched my target audience from a six-plus feature film (Captain Morten) to a 70-plus short!” The filmmaker says after working on a feature, making a short feels like “a Sunday walk in a sunny meadow!” He adds, “It feels like spending time with your hobby. The stress level is incomparable. I also enjoyed being the only cook in the kitchen and having less people to deal with. On the other hand, the rollercoaster of making a movie gives you more adrenaline.” When asked about his favorite movies, Jancis says he’s very bad at comparing things he likes. “On Monday, I might like something different than on Wednesday,” he says. “I’ve been repeatedly watching the films of Emma de Swaef and Marc Roels, as well as Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs. Of course, Jan Svankmajer, Priit Parn and other masters.” The talented Mr. Jancis leaves us with this piece of advice: “It’s important to find strength to go on when you feel like vomiting on your drawings. That’s a normal reaction if you have worked with something for so long. Sometimes, things don’t work just because you have seen them too many times. So, take a break and come back to your work with a fresh eye. Spending more time with your script always pays back in the longer run!” ◆ You can follow Kaspar Jancis on Vimeo or visit joonisfilm.ee for more info.

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ream

Extinct No More! DreamWorks Animation puts the giant dinos back to work in Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous. By Tom McLean

urassic Park and its digital dinosaurs first gether at Nickelodeon on projects such as the features, Kreamer says. ”We knew what we were trying to do and wowed audiences in 1993, establishing Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness beitself as a generational milestone — just fore moving over to DreamWorks — Kreamer how difficult it would be to achieve,” says as Star Wars had done 16 years earlier — for to work on Cleopatra in Space and Hammers- Kreamer. “But the first thing was to nail down millions of young moviegoers. The franchise ley reporting for Camp after a stint on Disney’s these kids as far as who these characters were since has had its ups and downs, with the Star vs. The Forces of Evil. Coming on in mid- and to get a pilot into shape.” That’s where 2015 smash hit feature Jurassic World reviving 2018, Kreamer took over a premise and pilot Hammersley came in, starting work on the piinterest in the series and leading to its first script developed by X-Men: First Class and Thor lot script around the start of 2019 with an eye toward developing the TV iteration in Jurassic characters. World: Camp Cretaceous, ‘The big challenge for any franchise like this is, you just can’t The series follows an eight-episode aniplease everyone. We’re really doing our best to try to six teens who are the mated series produced inaugural group atby DreamWorks Telehonor the franchise and retain so much of what we love.’ tending the titular vision Animation and — Exec producer/showrunner Aaron Hammersley camp on Isla Nubdebuting September 18 lar, home to Jurassic worldwide on Netflix. World: Darius Bowman, voiced by Paul-Mikél screenwriter Zack Stentz, and some early deShowrunning the new series are executive Williams, a Black teen who shared an obsesproducers Scott Kreamer and Aaron Hammer- sign artwork. sive love of dinosaurs with his recently desley, both proud members of the Jurassic genceased father; Brooklynn (Jenna Ortega), a eration. ”I watched it in the movie theater and Not a ‘Kiddie’ Version then immediately snuck into another screening Expectations were high and there were no social media influencer who broadcasts her of it,” says Kreamer. ”It had such a big impact on guarantees since previous attempts at Jurassic life to a large following; Kenji Kon (Ryan Potme as a kid — I think I watched it six or seven TV series had failed to make it into production. ter), who projects a self-centered and cool imtimes in the movie theater,” adds Hammersley. And no less an authority than original feature age via vast family wealth and access to park The producers had experience with both director Steven Spielberg said the show had secrets; Sammy Gutierrez (Raini Rodriguez), a DreamWorks and Netflix, having worked to- to avoid being a sanitized, “kiddie” version of cowgirl at heart whose ranching family prowww.animationmagazine.net

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ream

Thrill Ride: The serialized nature of the show makes it feel like a four-hour visit back to the world first imagined by late author Michael Crichton.

‘We knew what we were trying to do and how difficult it would be to achieve. But the first thing was to nail down these kids as far as who these characters were and to get a pilot into shape.’ — Exec producer/showrunner Scott Kreamer

vides food for the island's resorts; Ben Pincus (Sean Giambrone), a bookish nerd who's afraid of his own shadow; and Yaz Fadoula (Kausar Mohammed), a stoic athlete. Overseeing the campers - and trying to keep up with them are counselors Roxie (Jameela Jamil) and Dave (Glen Powell). Establishing a less-cartoony, more grounded tone was a huge challenge, and Hammersley says he dove right into finding moments in which the characters could breathe and come to life. “My big focus when I started on the show was just making sure that … you knew what they were thinking, that you understood what they were feeling,” he says.

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Characters Take Center Stage Taking influence from Spielberg-influenced films such as The Goonies and E.T., the characters are at the heart of the series and required many elements to come together in the right way to work. Establishing the characters and their relationships in a way that was grounded and believable was tricky, Kreamer says. “We want all the kids to start off — ‘at odds’ is the wrong word — but it’s like the first day of school,” he says. “Are the kids presenting themselves as who they actually are? Or who they want to seem to be?” Among the trickier characters were Darius, who is the audience’s entry into the show and needed to be an underdog without being

too much of a “sad sack”; and Brooklynn, who needed to avoid the stereotype of a vapid social media star. It sometimes took multiple tries, Kreamer says, citing the need to re-record an early scene in which a dino attacks the observation tower. “There’s a difference between cartoon screaming and fear-for-your-life screaming,” he says. “And I think there was an adjustment period. We’re really trying to ground this show and ground these characters and avoid cliche cartoon poses.” Both showrunners praised CG animation director Daniel Godinez’s efforts to go above and beyond the call of duty. “Dan would go through our writers room notes —just the raw notes— for just any kind of clues to who these characters are and how they would move and how they would behave,” says Kreamer. That ethos extended through the production, which was split between the team at DreamWorks Animation and CGCG in Taiwan. As Hammersley points out, “The CG team has been pushing themselves really far and they’ve found a lot of creative solutions on how to achieve a more expensive look on a TV budget.” The production had access to the features’ digital assets of the dinos and sets, both of which were simplified for the TV animation pipeline. But to match even the simplified dinosaurs and environments, the character designs had to be closer to real life, Hammersley says. “The focus was maintaining some of those proportions, but then also exaggerating it just enough to set the characters apart from a live-action design,” he says. “So it was enlarging eyes, enlarging ears and hands and feet and things of that nature to just give it a bit of caricature and a bit of exaggeration.” With all eight episodes of the series set to drop at once, the show’s serialized elements help it play like a four-hour movie, one with an ending open for additional seasons. But for now, the showrunners are excited to see how fans react. “The big challenge for any franchise like this is, you just can’t please everyone,” says Hammersley. “We’re really doing our best to try to honor the franchise and retain so much of what we love about Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, and make sure kids walk away from this show feeling very similar to how we all felt when we all watched Jurassic Park. And I think it’s really exciting that we get to introduce a whole new generation to the Jurassic franchise.” ◆ Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous premieres on Netflix on September 18. www.animationmagazine.net

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This Show Really Grows on You! Creator Stephen P. Neary gives us the scoop on his wonderful new HBO Max series The Fungies!

hen Stephen Neary was a kid growing up in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, he didn’t know that working in animation was a realistic goal. He loved cartoons, drew a lot and made little stop-motion movies in iMovie. After high school, he started taking animation classes at New York University, and that’s when he fell in love with the medium all over again. “Every time I watched a storyboard pitch from a movie’s DVD extras, I thought that would be my dream job!” he says. This summer, the talented 35-yearold saw the launch of his own 2D-animated show on HBO Max. The colorful, imaginative series is called The Fungies! and is set on a mycological metropolis of Fungietown and follows the many quests of Seth, one of the town’s young mushroom inhabitants who loves scientific adventures. The idea for the show came to Neary as he was reading about prototaxites — ancient fungi that grew on our planet about 400 million years ago. “I had never even heard of them,” he tells us. “Thinking about the world in its ‘youth’ made me think about being a kid, and what it’s like to gradually become more aware of your feelings as your world grows larger and larger. There’s so much wonder, but the emotions can be new and overwhelming. I wanted to explore these ideas in a show that had a sincere www.animationmagazine.net

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tone but was still weird and funny, like how I remember ‘90s cartoons from my childhood.”

Creatures Rule Neary says he loved all those fun “creature” shows — toons like The Smurfs, The Wuzzles, Noozles, Popples and Fraggle Rock. “I think of The Fungies! almost like we’re rebooting a cartoon that never existed in the first place. It all sounds a little nuts, but a prehistoric setting was the perfect setting for all the stories we found ourselves wanting to tell,” he notes. “Fungies are weird little fungus people,

but they love each other,” he further explains. “The characters drive the story, so while they can pull apart their bodies to form a bicycle, we keep the show grounded in real emotions. We’ve got an amazing cast. Funny ad-libs and slice-of-life character moments are a big part of every episode. Art-wise, we draw all the backgrounds in pencil and paint them digitally. It gives the cartoon a rich storybook quality I love. It’s fun to see the line difference between the backgrounds and the digital characters and props. It’s like being a kid and knowing which door Scooby would open because you could

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Won’t You Take Me to Fungietown

talented artists, writers and production folks,” he says. “But if I’m awake, I’m probably thinking about the show on some level. I’m doing the dishes and bam, I remember we need to change something about Scene 141 in episode 26. I love distance running, and use that as an excuse to zone out and recharge!” Neary says he will watch anything with a solid tone and an immersive world. “I loved David the Gnome, it’s really soothing and sincere. Gumby was hypnotic. And Batman: The Animated Series was my after-school jam. I also love Fraggle Rock. Watching animation as a kid is a totally different experience, too. Everything felt so saturated and warm. Later, Cartoon Network shows like Dexter’s Lab and The Powerpuff Girls were a huge influence — subversive and weird while still checking off all the boxes for a kid’s cartoon!” When asked about his animation idol, Neary quickly picks Genndy Tartakovksy. “Genndy has been making amazing things since I was a kid,” he offers. “Original shows, adaptations, movies, everything. Primal was incredible, and it’s cool to see industry veterans continue to push the envelope through their careers. It makes me excited to keep learning.” Neary says he had different ideas about the business when he was younger. "I remember telling a recruiter when I was 18 that I 'wanted to be a director,'” he admits. "Very politely, they told me to never tell anyone that: 'A big studio isn't looking for an 18-year-old director!' First, I'd need to be able to understand one part of the process inside and out. After that, I tried to focus more on storyboarding and storytelling aspect of animation. This seems obvious now, but at the time, I was extremely naïve!" When it comes to bad pieces of advice, Neary says he gets confused every time he hears the direction “to just have fun” with an assignment! “Before I start, let’s make sure we have the same definition of ‘fun,’” he says. Now that his little fungi friends are making their debut this summer, Neary is ready to watch his little world grow. “For now, our team is putting everything we’ve got into The Fungies! But I would love to make a movie at some point in my life,” he says when asked about his plans for the future. “Oh! And a graphic novel, too. I started making more personal comics last year for Instagram and that’s something I want to keep doing. There are so many interesting avenues for artists and animators to explore right now and I just want to make more stuff with my friends!” ◆

The talented artist says seeing his series go from the idea stage to final delivery has been a dream come true. “I work with so many

The Fungies! is currently streaming on HBO Max.

‘The characters drive the story, so while they can pull apart their bodies to form a bicycle, we keep the show grounded in real emotions.’ — Series creator Stephen P. Neary

tell it was painted on a cel and wasn’t part of the background. It has a special charm.” Neary, who turned 35 in August, looks back fondly at his early years in animation. He recalls the day his professor Rob Marianetti asked him he could help on some cartoons for Saturday Night Live’s TV Funhouse shorts. “I was so bad at drawing, but helped composite and scan animation,” he admits. “Fueled by coffee and Jamba Juice, we’d stay up all Friday night to finish the cartoon for broadcast the next night. The studio was off of Times Square and the city was alive at all hours. It was insane, but Rob and his studio partner, Dave Wachtenheim, were very pragmatic and calm about september|october 20

surfing the waves of chaos.” After directing several award-winning shorts (Chicken Cowboy, Dr. Breakfast), Neary worked on various features as a story artist (including the two Rio pics, Epic, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, The Peanuts Movie and The Angry Birds Movie) and on Cartoon Network’s Clarence series as storyboard artist and supervising producer. He was also an animator on Wonder Pets and 3rd & Bird.

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A Sweet Farewell to Those Cuddly ‘Bros’ We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong opens up about the show’s hugely satisfying movie, which also served as a grand finale.

arly this month, fans of Daniel Chong’s hugely popular We Bare Bears got a big present in the form of a 70-minute-long movie that put a nice bow on the show, which debuted in July of 2015 and aired its final episode last April. We caught up with Chong to find out more about the charming movie and his plans for the future.

episodes for the first half of season four. There was a lot of overlap. In reality, we didn’t know that the movie was going to serve as the finale for the show when we wrote it. We just assumed that we were going to keep going, even after 140 episodes! But when it was determined that we were going to end the show, the movie achieved a nice bookend quality.

Animag: First of all, congrats ‘You can’t make 140 episodes of a show without on you very well-received We Bare Bears: The Movie. How digging into every aspect of your past and every did the idea for this movie movie and TV show that influenced you.’ come about? Daniel Chong: It started out — Creator Daniel Chong when Cartoon Network asked us to do a movie. Frankly, I had always want- How do you feel about the movie now that it ed to do a movie with these characters. We has finally landed on Cartoon Network, after had these compelling characters that could being available on digital download for a few easily exist in a long-form project since we months? always tried to give them emotional depth.I This show was based on the experience of behad a background in animated movies. [Chong ing a minority in America. So, I like that we worked as story artist on features such as Bolt, were able to end the series on this poetic Despicable Me, The Lorax and Inside Out, before note, which is about feeling acceptance and creating We Bare Bears for the cabler.] We felt quite confident that we could do it, although we had a lot less time to do it than your average Disney or Pixar movie. How long did it take you to make it? We spent about eight months on the script — and that’s while we were actually producing the series, too. We boarded the movie for over a year, while still finishing up the regular www.animationmagazine.net

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fitting in and finding your place in the world. I couldn’t have anticipated that this was the way we were going to go out, but I’m really happy that we ended with them helping others just like them and creating a utopia of sorts. Can you talk about the message of the movie and how it’s probably even more relevant now than when you wrote it? We wrote the movie when we were seeing all the news about ICE separating all these immigrant families. We’ve gone through a pandemic, witnessed the Black Lives Matter protests, and we know that racism is not going away. This is an ongoing battle that we have to fight. We wrote the script two years ago, but unfortunately, the themes are even more relevant now. Did you work with the same team that was on your series? Yes, more or less we had the same creative team. There were people coming in and out, but we had about eight or nine story artists boarding on the show. We had an extra editor on the movie. On the regular show, we clean up all the boards, then we edit it together and do all the small fixes. For the movie, we had lots of trial and error. Our board artists would do lots of roughs and story editors september|october 20

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OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL SEPTEMBER 23-OCTOBER 4, 2020 ONLINE OIAF2020.CA

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ream Three for the Road: Daniel Chong’s We Bare Bears series was based on his popular webcomics and originally debuted in the summer of 2015.

would do scratch dialog to see how it all held up. It was easier to troubleshoot that way. We then sent the movie to Rough Draft. They also did lots of CG vehicles, fires and crowds for the movie. This movie wasn’t TV friendly, but they did a fantastic job. It was a hefty job. Outside the CG stuff, they still hand animate and draw on paper with pencil and ink. They scan and composite in Toon Boom Harmony. Why do you think the show was such a hit with fans all over the world? You never know exactly what it is that people are connecting with, but I really wanted people to love the bears’ personalities from the start. The bears were flawed each in their own way: Grizz is fun-loving, Panda is a bit too selfish or Ice Bear is a bit too weird, etc. but they always had good intentions and tried to do the right thing. That’s what I wanted out of their personalities. Hopefully that was one of the aspects people were drawn to them. When I look back 10 years ago, I remember that I just wanted to make my own show. The industry was much smaller and there were very limited projects to work on. I just wasn’t connecting with a lot of the things that I was working on, so I wasn’t happy. I just didn’t think I could trust the industry to provide me with something that I would be excited about, so I had to make it myself. I had to go out there and pitch a show that I would be proud of.

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What are some of the most memorable reactions you have had to your work? You know, it’s funny, because a lot of us get removed from the process and the audience. The best way to get feedback is to go online. We don’t get to meet fans regularly. I’d say the times that I got to meet the show fans is when I travel overseas. The series does very well internationally, and it’s incredible to see how the show transcends cultural boundaries and language barriers. A few years ago, I was a guest of the Pixelatl Festival in Mexico, and these students came up to me, and they just said, “We Bare Bears” and pointed to their hearts. I could see the love in their eyes. The connection was deeply emotional. That was one of the most amazing experiences. It’s always wonderful to get these nice messages from the fans. In the past, you’ve talked about how much you were influenced by the work of Bristol’s Aardman Animations. Can you elaborate on that and your other inspirations? My entry into drawing and animation came from the world of comic-strips. I adored Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side and Garfield. I would go through all the Sunday comic pages, so I wasn’t hugely influenced by animation when I was growing up. Once I got into animation, I really loved stop-motion. Nick Park’s The Wrong Trousers and all the other Wallace & Gromit shorts were huge. I saw them at an ani-

mation festival, and they were like nothing I had seen before. I loved the British humor and the deadpan quality. Watching that short really opened my eyes to what animation could be. [We Bare Bears was based on a webcomic that Chong had created.] Any final words of advice for animation industry hopefuls who want to create their own shows? I think everyone will tell you that we live in a time that technology has given everyone the ability to make their own things and create exposure through the internet and social media. Those things weren’t available when I was starting out. So, without question, you should take advantage of those things. What everyone neglects to mention is the importance of personal growth and development. So much of what you create is shaped by your background and the things that shaped you. The better you understand your background, the sharper your voice will become. You can’t make 140 episodes of a show without digging into every aspect of your past and every movie and TV show that influenced you. Work on your voice, look inside and try to understand what makes you unique. We Bare Bears: The Movie premieres on Cartoon Network on September 12. A spinoff series featuring the baby versions of the bears is also in development at the studio. september|october 20

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10 Things to Know about Monster in My Pocket This month at the Cartoon Forum event in France, Cyber Group Studios will be presenting its new take on the popular ’90s franchise Monster in My Pocket. Studio co-founder and CEO Pierre Sissmann gave us the early buzz on this great-looking new show:

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10.

The new 52 x 11’ series is a reboot of the franchise first introduced as a toy by Matchbox in 1990 and targets kids 6-10. Co-produced by MEG (Morrison Entertainment Group), this contemporary CG-animated take on the show centers on a team of 12-year olds (Dash, Zandra and Cole), whose lives are turned upside down when they find themselves in charge of wrangling the most ferocious and mischievous monsters imaginable. The good news is that the monsters are so small they can fit inside their pockets! The kids have to fight alongside these pocket monsters to help save the world from an ancient evil force. However, they also have to confront something scarier than all the supernatural creatures — middle school! Pierre Sissmann tells us, “The show has excellent entertainment value definitely for a boys/ girls audience. It’s an action-comedy show based on a very famous property with not only great storytelling but also state-of-the art CGI animation and special effects. The series has a huge global potential because you can create endless adventures in creating endless armies of good and bad monsters.” How is it different from the previous animated versions? The concept has been revisited to create a pure action-comedy show and set in today’s high-tech environment.

Pierre Sissmann

In the new series, the kids will deal with a hyperactive werewolf with questionable hygiene, break curfew with a rebellious vampire and play videogames with the Algonquin Wendigo. According to Sissmann, Cartoon Forum is a great showcase for new projects as people from all over the world attend the event, and you can meet with buyers and executives from networks, cablers, streaming platforms and find possible co-production partners for your projects. Over the years, Cyber Group Studios has pitched many shows, and most of them have been produced. The animation will be produced in France and the ballpark budget is 8 million euros ($9.5 million USD). Cool trivia: In 1992, ABC aired an animated special based on the property, produced by Hanna-Barbera and directed by Don Lusk with a script by Glenn Leopold. In this project, Vampire (voiced by Rob Paulsen) became the leader of the villains, and Invisible Man (Paxton Whitehead) was in charge of the heroes. Monsters included Swamp Beast (Frank Welker), Wolf-Man (Stuart Robinson), Big Ed (also Welker), Mummy (Marvin Kaplan) and Medusa (B.J. Ward). Projected delivery date for the show is 2022.

For more info, visit www.cybergoupstudios.com. www.animationmagazine.net

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Embracing New Global Opportunities Despite a challenging year, Toonz Media Group forges ahead with strong slate of creative-driven projects.

espite all its challenges, the year 2020 is shaping up to be quite an eventful one for Toonz Media Group, the Trivandrum, Indiabased animation powerhouse which produces numerous hours of 2D and CG animated projects through its studios in Turkey, New Zealand, Spain and Ireland. As studio CEO P. Jayakumar tells us in an exclusive interview, “This past year has been quite strange and challenging for everyone across the world,” he notes. “It’s been no different for Toonz Media Group, yet what we like to see as the highlight of the year is the amazing collaborations we were able to forge this year.” Jayakumar points out, “Starting with our partnership with creators like Keith Chapman, Jean-Marie Olivier and Janet Hubert, with whom we are co-producing very interesting, value-oriented shows. We also entered into partnerships for new shows with some great studios and production houses such as Italy’s Rainbow S.p.A and London-based Nucleus Media Rights. We are coproducing highly anticipated animation features with leading production houses like Highland Films, Exodus Film Group and Cinema Management Group. All in all, Toonz has been able to strengthen its global clientele in 2020, garnering opportunities to produce specialized, high quality content.”

Continuing to Meet Deadlines Of course, the COVID situation and the ensuing lockdown in India did have an impact on the studio, but Jayakumar says Toonz was able to tackle the situation to a large extent through meticulous planning and crisis management. “The lockdown meant that we could not commute to office, but there were production deadlines and other commitments to meet,” he notes. “So, we took up a massive asset transfer operation, to shift the machines of our artists from the studios to their homes. Around 500 machines were shifted as part of this, in a matter of two days. Most of these are workstations with high-end software for animation production. We are striving hard to ensure that none of our projects are affected by the situation. We have a well-formulated business continuity plan in place, so we are prepared to meet any further unforeseen disruption. So far, we haven’t had any major challenges with meeting deadlines.” Toonz is currently preparing for MIP Junior and MIPCOM events in October. “We are putting together our top titles to be showcased at MIPCOM. Besides our distribution wing Imira’s extensive catalogue, we will be showwww.animationmagazine.net

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The Canterville Ghost

casing many new projects at various stages of development, financing and production,” says the CEO. “On the production front, Toonz has several exciting projects. I am proud to say that all of them have extremely diverse and relevant content. Like I said earlier, we are collaborating with many renowned creators, like Keith Chapman with whom we are doing a pre-school project titled Paddypaws & Pals. Another one is JG & the BC Kids, in partnership with veteran American actress Janet Hubert. The project, which inspires kids to embrace differences, is entirely driven by a multi-cultural team.” The studio is also launching two major initiatives in the coming months. “The first one is likely to be a gamechanger and will essentially consolidate our position as a top kids’ content provider in the digital space,” maintains Jayakurar. “It is an exclusive kids’ OTT platform, showcasing the vast library of Toonz’s original productions, co-productions and licensed properties. The other initiative is on the animation education front. Toonz is already a pioneer in this field in India. We are now on the anvil of launching an online academy dedicated to not just animation but the whole gamut of creative arts. You will hear more about these initiatives in the coming days.”

Next Stop, Unreal Engine According to the studio head, Toonz currently employs 1000 artists and staff working directly for the outfit and around 2000 indirectly through its associate partners. “In terms of animation pipeline, we have a traditional 2D animation pipeline based on Harmony and Flash,” he notes. “For 3D animation we mostly use

Autodesk Maya, and VRay for textual rendering. Toonz is also the only Indian company to achieve real time rendering of 3D projects using Adobe’s P. Jayakumar Unity platform. We are planning to use Unreal Engine for high-scale projects. Toonz also has stopmotion and live-action production streams, which is primarily based in our Ireland studio Telegael. “Toonz has come a long way in the past 20 years, from its humble beginnings as a small startup in Technopark, Trivandrum, to a major studio spread across the world,” he adds. “When we started off, animation was not even a sector in India, so basically we built our business from scratch. Today we are a 360 degree studio, and we stand at the forefront of specialized content creation, production, distribution & rights exploitation, digital, gaming, AR/VR and other emerging technologies, as well as licensing & merchandising. Toonz Media Group has extended its global reach in various divisions over the years, adding Spanish production/distribution company Imira Entertainment under the group and then acquiring the Emmy Award-winning Irish production house Telegael. Toonz New Zealand and Toonz Turkey are the latest additions, allowing us to focus on production and distribution in the Australian and Middle Eastern markets.” The CEO also points out that Toonz’s digital enterprises as also faring quite well with vieweres around the world. “Toonz’s YouTube channel bouquet saw 70% increase in subscription, 50% increase in views and 51% increase in watch time last year,” he notes. “We have more than 14 million subscribers on YouTube and a monthly viewership rate of 350 million. Gummy Bear & Friends, which is co-owned by Toonz, crossed 6 million subscribers on YouTube, while Season 1 of the show crossed 2 billion views.” Jayakumar also points out that high on the studio’s list of priorities is giving back to the creative community and nurturing new talent. “We have launched several initiatives for this, like the Toonz Academy, one of the top animation schools in India, and sponsoring events like the Cocoon Concept Lab and Animation Masters Summit.” ◆ For more info, visit toonz.co.

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PRODUCER REEL

New Animated Show in Development: The Spoonys Target audience: Children, 6-10 Synopsis: This entertaining children’s animated series centers on the adventures of two spoon buddies Pete and Dan who live underground in a magical world called Spoonyland. The streets are made of crystal blue water and the houses are made up of modern and immaculate dishwashers, stoves and trash cans. Pete & Dan (Spoonys) travel across the globe making new friends, learning valuable life lessons and solving problems. Pete wears a special Life Watch that doubles as a compass. There are SpoonyLands all around the world and all of them have a Tree of Life which provides oxygen and protection for each city’s habitat. The Tree of Life is protected by the Silver Spoons of Wisdom which sends for Pete and Dan whenever they need help. The two friends have special powers that help them find the Tree of Life and save the day during each episode. Throughout their adventures, they make new friends and learn valuable life lessons about diversity, getting along and other important life skills.

A few words from the show creator, Sean DeGruy: “I’m an African American male who spent almost two decades of my life following a dream that I wasn’t sure would come true. It wasn’t until I decided to take a leap of faith and boldly forge my own path that I started making headway. The pursuit of happiness is real. My journey wasn’t pleasant. I’ve been homeless, jobless, carless and even contemplated suicide. I’ve been in sales, management, logistics, beginner chef, and I even have a Class A license (Truck Driver 36 States). I’ve had about 15 or more jobs over the past 18 years. It wasn’t because I wasn’t good at my job it: It was because my spirit wouldn’t let me get comfortable. I had something bigger I needed to accomplish. Fast forward to 2020, I’m still alive and well. And I’m still in pursuit of happiness. I am currently looking for representation. I hope this show helps entertain young viewers and offer valuable life lessons to its target audience.”

Contact: Seanesean10@yahoo.com Phone: 702.285.2009 www.spoonyland.com

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An Extraordinary Friendship WildBrain Exec VP Amir Nasrabadi gives us the scoop on his new co-pro with Cartoon Saloon, Dorg Van Dango.

normal kid named Dorg finds his life turned upside down when he befriends several paranormal characters (a cool unicorn, an ancient witch and an eerie ghost) and tries to disguise them as regular teenagers. That’s the clever premise of Dorg Van Dango, the hot new animated show based on an original idea by Fabian Erlinghäuser (Song of the Sea, Moone Boy) and Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner, The Secret of Kells) of Ireland’s acclaimed studio Cartoon Saloon. Canadian children’s content studio WildBrain will be taking Dorg to the new format MIPCOM Rendezvous Cannes hybrid market this fall. “Beyond the fantastic writing and quality animation, I love that we were able to work on a truly international series with a creative team spanning between Canada and Ireland – Matt Ferguson (series director) and James Brown (producer) in Canada, and Fabian Erlinghauser (creator) and the Cartoon Saloon team in Ireland," says WildBrain's exec VP and general manager, Amir Nasrabadi. "I also have to mention the geat partner support from Nickelodeon, Family Channel and RTÉ spanning the globe." Production on the show began in early 2019, and one season (52 x 11’) has been completed to date. The animation, voice-records, character and backgrounds builds were handled by WildBrain Studios in Vancouver, with writing, design, storyboards and post-production handled by Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon. Dorg Van Dango is animated in Toon Boom Harmony, and backgrounds are painted in Photoshop. Nasrabadi tells Animation Magazine that the animation style is a really interesting blend of the hand-drawn style that Cartoon Saloon is famous for (Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea), and WildBrain Studio’s influence of snappy, pose-to-pose, ‘cartoon-y’ animation. “Our characters really pop in Dorg Van Dango because they’re treated dimensionally, but they live in a flat, graphic environment,” he explains. “We also incorporated a very subtle ‘cell shadow’ layer to the characters to separate them from the background which contributes to the traditional hand-drawn feel we were striving for. Overall, this is www.animationmagazine.net

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Paranormal Pals: Dorg Van Dango follows the adventures of a regular kid and his magical friends Jet Lazor, Patronella, RD and Yooki, who all hide in the basement of a local mall.

‘Viewers are drawn in by the colorful and unique style of the show and sticking around for the funny, unpredictable storylines and characters. This really is a unique 2D animated comedy for kids.’ — Amir Nasrabadi, WildBrain Exec VP & General Manager

one of the most visually unique shows we’ve done.” Dorg Van Dango premiered in March on RTÉ 2 Ireland and in August on Family Channel Canada. It’s rolling out worldwide beginning this fall on Nickelodeon in the U.K., Australia, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Spain, Central Eastern Europe, Poland, Israel, Latin America, Asia (excluding China), India, the Middle East and North Africa. According to Nasrabadi, the reaction to the show has been great. “Viewers are drawn in by the colorful and unique style of the show and

sticking around for the funny, unpredictable storylines and characters. In Canada, Chance Hurstfield, voice of the main character Dorg, won the Leo award for Best Voice Performance in Animation. This really is a unique 2D animated comedy for kids.” In addition to Dorg, the WildBrain team is showcasing a great slate of content at MIP, including the just-announced Green Hornet, reimagined by renowned filmmaker, screenwriter and actor Kevin Smith. “We’re also excited about brand-new Johnny Test for Netflix, from creator Scott Fellows,” adds Nasrabadi. “Both series will be produced out of our Vancouver studio. We’re also working on some new seasons of muchloved Chip and Potato for Netflix, and classics like Fireman Sam and Polly Pocket with Mattel, and lots more new content soon-to-be announced!” ◆ To find out more, visit wildbrain.com and cartoonsaloon.ie.

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Double Treat Studio 100 brings two new animated shows, SeaBelievers and 100% Wolf—Legend of the Moonstone to the fall content markets.

unich-based Studio 100 Media, the global SeaBelievers entertainment outfit best known for titles such as Heidi, Arthur and the Minimoys, Maya the Bee and Wissper, will be offering several new shows at the fall markets, beginning with MIP Junior in October. Dorian Buehr, head of global distribution at Studio 100 Media GmbH, tells Animation Magazine that it will be showcasing two top-notch new shows at the Cannes market this fall. The first show is titled SeaBelievers, which is billed as one of the first children’s shows to fully explore the recently coined the Moonstone, a 26 x 22’ CG-animated “eco-tainment.” Each episode of the 52 x spin-off of the new feature which centers 11' CG-animated show will invite audienc- on Freddy Lupin, heir to a proud family line es on a thrilling eco-adventure. Whether in of werewolves, who discovers on his 13th the sea or on shore, the positive SeaBeliev- birthday that he has become a poodle! Eners characters, with their distinct seaweed rolled in the mysterious Howlington Acadhair, seashell noses, sea-colored eyes and emy, Freddy is going to try to prove that dewebbed hands and feet, problem-solve spite his appearance, he still has the heart and take action around key environmental of a werewolf! “100% Wolf – Legend of the Moonstone issues. Each SeaBeliever carries a Magic Sand Dollar which ignites his or her unique is special because of its mixture of hilarious superpowers – fueled by their self-belief! humor and the drama Freddy’s exceptional The series is targeted at children aged 4-7, situation brings along,” says Buehr. “He is a and the first season will be ready for delivery pink poodle in a world of werewolves. This guarantees a lot of laugh-out-loud humor – in 2021. “SeaBelievers is an outstanding TV se- not leaving out the difficulties our hero has. ries,” notes Buehr. “This genre created 100% Wolf – Legend of the Moonstone is a by Brien Arone, founder and SeaEO of SeaBelievers, combines the benefit of edutainment for children being informative and realistic about real-life issues affecting our ocean and encouraging kids to make a difference – because they can! And all of this in a fun and entertaining way as the show emanates as a stunning and engaging musical ecoadventure with original tunes to sing and dance along to.” 100% Wolf - Legend Studio 100’s other new offerof the Moonstone ing is 100% Wolf – Legend of www.animationmagazine.net

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Dorian Buehr

unique action-adventure best friend comedy with a very distinctive main character and a strong message with high social relevance: Heroes come in many forms!” Buehr says he and his team at Studio 100 have adjusted to the new expectations and special needs of both the audience and the entertainment landscape in this challenging year impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. “We are looking forward to presenting the first finished episode of SeaBelievers at this year’s MIP Junior to buyers. With many markets going virtual we expect to further adjust to the ‘new normal’ — hopefully meeting many of our clients digitally in the coming months. Due to the pandemic, some of the Group’s movie releases have been postponed to the second half of this year or early 2021, so there is a lot of content to watch out for out there!” “Even in these special times with extremely challenging conditions, we have adapted and learned that it is still possible to produce excellent animations — with some limitations of course,” he adds. “We think it is important especially now to bring forward and offer exceptional productions like SeaBelievers” or 100% Wolf – Legend of the Moonstone — shows that offer great entertainment and which also convey important and positive messages. Because the requisite for good entertainment and making people laugh is needed now more than ever.” ◆ For more info, visit studio100group.com. september|october 20

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CGI ANIMATION

52 x 11` KIDS 4-7

WHERE THE ENTERTAINMENT IS

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distribution@studio100media.com I www.studio100group.com 27

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A Star-Studded Mexican Connection Pixelatl Festival director José Iñesta says this year’s virtual edition will feature a record number of special guests and inspiring events.

othing can replace the magical ambiance and the beautiful backdrop of Cuernavaca, Mexico. But the organizers of this year’s online Pixelatl Festival have done their best to offer an amazing line-up of animation stars and visionaries from all over the world for this year’s virtual event. The online festival, which takes place September 1-5 this year, will offer audiences all over the world to learn more about the art and business of animation from some of the world’s most sought-after artists. “There is so much that’s happening at our virtual festival this year,” says the festival’s popular director

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José Iñesta

José Iñesta, who is now in his ninth year of planning the event. “First, I have to mention some of the people who are participating in our conference: Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe), Tristan Oliver (Isle of Dogs), Sofía Alexander (Mexican creator of Onyx Equinox), Jorge Gutiérrez (Mexican creator of Maya and the Three), Mike and Julie Scully (Duncanville), illustrator Lois Van Baarle (“Loish”), Julia Pott (Summer Camp Island), Simon Chong (Bob’s Burgers), Yingjue Chen (Wizards), Eisner-nominated Colombian comic-book artist Lorena Alvarez, Magdiela Duhamel (The Casagrandes), writer Taneka Stotts (Steven Universe), september|october 20

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Mike Hollingsworth (BoJack Horseman), Bento Box co-founder and producer Joel Kuwahara, Pete Michels (Family Guy, The Simpsons) and a long list of amazing talent that will participate in our event.” Iñesta says he and his team did a massive amount of research to see how other live events had made the transition to the virtual world to make Pixelatl stand out. “We also changed some of our activities and formats in order to create similar experiences online,” he says. “This last part was a major challenge because we needed to find out how we could make our audience feel that they are in an event that is going to change their lives, because this is what Pixelatl has been doing for the past eight years.” He adds, “The biggest challenge for me was to give up the possibility of doing the festival live in Cuernavaca. It took me and the team about a month to mourn that we weren’t going to be able to do the event on-site. After we moved on from that grief, our biggest challenge has been with technology. No matter how many times we rehearse or plan, when we go live something happens. We had to learn new tools and apps because we are trying to create an unforgettable user experience in addition to the challenges of organizing and producing the event. Of course, I’m sure part of the charm of Pixelatl was coming to Mexico to discover a beautiful city, eat Mexican food and meet face to face with the thriving Latin American community. However, I think we have the opportunity to reach more people interested in animation, comics and games around the world by being virtual this year.”

Among the other programming highlights: The creator of Crunchyroll’s Aztec anime series Onyx Equinox Sofia Alexander will be joined by supervising director Kuni Tomita and producer Marisa Balkus. The show centers on a young Aztec boy who is saved from death by the gods and chosen to act as “humanity’s champion.” Cartoon Network Latin America will present the world premiere of a secret show, which is inspired by Mexican culture. Marge Dean, president of Women in Animation, will lead a presentation of Women in the World of Animation, Mexico. september|october 20

Cartoon Network Latin American will also offer a showcase of original IP being developed in Mexico along with Cinema Fantasma, Azur Eneas (Mexico), Ricardo Scioville (Colombia) and Matisse Gonzalez (Bolivia). Gonzalez, the winner of the festival’s #GirlPower call for pitches with Cartoon Network, will present her acclaimed show pilot. Portland’s stop-motion powerhouse Laika will celebrate its 15th anniversary with five department heads in individual panels with students and stop-motion focused portfolio reviews. A panel featuring Latinx Talent in Animation organized by Bryan Dimas. Special panels featuring talent from Nickelodeon, Disney, ILM and others. A presentation of Pixelatl’s first Best Latin American Game of the Year Award. Despite all the challenges, Iñesta believes 2020 is a great moment for Latin American animation. “Most of the studios have been working from home even before the COVID-19 crisis, so they haven’t stopped working at all,” he notes. “The biggest studios gave computers to their employees so that they could work from home and don’t stop the production pipeline. Even during the pandemic crisis, animation work is on the rise — not only for Mexico, but for all of Latin America.” Iñesta leaves us with some excellent tips to get the best of the experience: “My first tip is to learn the program,” he offers. “There is a lot of content for a one-week event. Decide which activities are live and won’t be available in our library for the extra week and try to participate in those during the festival, save the others for a later time. Participate in the virtual ‘garden,’ where everybody will have tables or spaces to interact. See conferences or panels that you wouldn’t normally attend. Our content is very diverse, but you can learn about other disciplines to improve your artistry. Of course, I’ll miss seeing everyone in person. Part of Pixelatl’s magic was that you could find peers, friends, possible partners or bosses in a garden. This year, we will have a digital garden and can see each other through our computer screens!” ◆ For more info, visit pixelatl.com. www.animationmagazine.net

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Return of the Spanish Screen Pixelatl panels provide a healthy picture of animation produced in Spain.

panish animation and VFX studios will have a strong presence at this year’s virtual Pixelatl festival this month. “Spain is once again present at the event with a virtual stand that will include a Who’s Who of animation and VFX in Spain, promotional videos, information on news of tax incentives, as well as a directory of accredited studios and companies, such as Wise Blue Studios, Peekaboo Animation, El Ranchito, 3Doubles and Paramotion Films,” says Tito Rodríguez, director of marketing for Spain’s Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA). On September 2 at 10 a.m. Mexico City time (CST) / 5 p.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST), the ICAA in collaboration with Diboos, the Federation of Spanish Animation Associations, will offer the panel “Spain: Your Animated Mate … New Spanish Tax Incentives” in which the participants will discuss the benefits of the country’s latest new tax incentives. In addition, together with WEIRD - Animation, Video Games and New Media Market, the org will present short films by young animators in a panel titled “3 Projects by New Spanish Animation Emerging Talents” (Sept. 3 at 1 p.m. CST, 8 p.m. CEST). Last, but not least, the Quirino Awards will once again bridge the animation scene between Spain and Latin America, presenting a report on “Resilience in Ibero-American Animation” in the framework of the League of Ibero-American Animation (formed by Quirino, Animation! Ventana Sur and Pixelatl).

A Tax Haven for Toon Producers “Since May 2020, Spain has increased its tax incentives,” notes Rodríguez. “We have now a very competitive 25% to 30% tax rebate for international productions (5% more than in previous years), having lowered the minimum expenditure for animation and VFX projects to 200,000 euros, and raising the maximum amount of the deduction to a total of 10 million euros. Also, the Canary Islands, thanks to their special Economic and Tax Regime authorized by the E.U., offer several tax incentives for the animation and VFX industry that are 20 points higher than in the rest of Spain. Specifwww.animationmagazine.net

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ically, a 50% - 45% tax rebate for international productions and a 50% - 45% tax credit for Spanish productions or co-productions.” Among the many eagerly anticipated features coming out of Spain in the near future are Tad, The Lost Explorer 3 (Lightbox Studios Animation), Unicorn Wars (UniKo), and MiBots (Wise Blue Stu-

“Highlights also include Hero Dad (Wise Blue Studios), the first real-time animated show that begins now its worldwide distribution with WildMarina Donderis, Brain, and Cry Tito Rodríguez Núria Poveda & Babies (Hampa Marina Cortón’s Becarias Studios), currently a hit on Youtube, with a strong merchandising strategy,” adds Rodríguez. “And of course, Homeless Home by Alberto Vázquez, produced by UniKo and Autour de Minuit, which received the Jury Prize at Annecy earlier this year, which is also part of Pixelatl’s official program.” The director also points out that 2020 started on a very positive note for Spanish Alberto Vázquez’s Animation with Sergio Pablos Animation Homeless Home Studios receiving an Oscar nomination and seven Annie Awards for the feature Klaus. Despite the delicate pandemic situation, companies in the animation sector have continued to work and maintained jobs at a very high level. As Diboos presidentNico Matji stated earlier in the year, “The animation and visual effects industry in Spain, although affected by the global pandemic of COVID-19 like the rest of Génis Rigol’s He Ran the cultural sectors, has demonstrated its Towards His Comrades strength and capacity to recover in this crisis. We have been able to move to teleworking with relative ease because we are eminently digital companies, accustomed to constantly learning and innovating.” Rodríguez says Spanish studios are now experiencing a “new normal.” “Office work is combined with working remotely from home, ” he adds. “Productions have restarted, and dios). In addition, Clan, the children’s channel of Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, has selected international projects have been carried on unseven animated series in their 2020 call for der strict sanitary regulations. Festivals are comproject support. The projects are Get Along Gang ing back as physical or hybrid editions, cinemas (Tomavision), La Granja Feliz (Motion Pictures), I, are reopening and the box office is recovering, Elvis Riboldi (Peekaboo), Bumpy the Bear (Koji), slowly. Thanks to initiatives like improving the Sunny-Side Billy (Imira), Annie and Carola (MB tax incentives, for example, and increasing our and Mondo International) and the second sea- public grants, we are experiencing a bit of fresh son of Momonsters (Big Bang Box and 3Doubles). air and seeing more international investment These seven projects sum up a total of 326 ep- and national audiovisual productions.” ◆ isodes and more than 50 hours of top-quality, family-friendly Spanish animation. For more info, visit icaa.es.

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No Time for Hibernation: Guiseppe, a charming preschool co-pro between La Boîte Prod. (Belgium), Les Films du Nord (France) and Nadasdy Film (Switzerland) is one of 86 animated projects unspooling at Cartoon Forum this month.

Back in the Real World France’s Cartoon Forum is one of the first fall animation events that will not be virtual.

lthough we’re now accustomed to many of our favorite animation festivals and markets existing only in the virtual realm, France’s popular Cartoon Forum will become one of the first events to go back to a real-world format this month. The 31st edition will be showcasing 86 new animated series from 24 European countries in Toulouse, Sept. 14 thru 17. The organizers are promising that the event will be held under a strict biosafety protocol. Annick Maes, Cartoon Forum’s general director tells Animation Magazine, “Our decision follows the authorization of the French government to organize events with less than 5,000 participants and to open the borders within Europe. We will of course follow all health safety rules imposed by both the French government and by WHO to avoid any spread of the virus and any rebound of the epidemic. Participants are expected to follow social distancing rules, wear masks and clean their hands as often as necessary.” Maes says she hopes that the 2020 edition will embody the return to a world where in-person meetings are the norm. “The theme of this edition is ‘Business First,’ because it has been our anchor for making what we hope will be the right and appropriate decisions,” she explains. “At the Cartoon Forum, projects come first, since it’s around these presentations prepared with care and determination by the producers that our entire event revolves and must focus. A successful Cartoon Forum means new TV series will be created which have found financing or www.animationmagazine.net

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that are driven by strong European co- production. This success is the result of professionals meeting, working together, and producing the extraordinary creativity of the animation industry.”

Patterns of Growth The Forum will be spotlighting 86 animated projects from 24 European countries with a total budget of 381 million euros (and a proposed 521 hours of content). As Maes mentions, the overview reflects the growth of animation throughout Europe, with France continuing to

Cartoon Forum at a Glance 86

Number of Projects

Total Number of Participating Countries

357 Mil. €

Total Budget for All Projects

41%

Percentage of Shows for Children 6-11

66%

Percentage of 2D Shows

4.1 Mil. €

Average Cost of Show

12,240 €

Average Cost per Minute

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Pitches from the Pros

take the lead with 34 projects, followed by Ireland with eight, Denmark and Spain with six, the U.K. with four and Belgium, Finland and Germany with three shows each. She adds, “The projects selected tend to present more and more female protagonists (Finula Gilhooley, Goat Girl, Femmes and Fame, Princess Arabella, Gemma & The Defenders, for example). Also, an important number of projects promotes inclusiveness and the acceptance of differences and disabilities (See Baldies, Foreverly Friends, Moo and Roo Take the World). We also have five projects from previous Cartoon Springboard editions, which is an event organized for young talent.” According to the director, series targeting kids and families stay the main focus of European animation production. Among those, there are comedies and adventures that try to teach fundamental values such as inclusion, diversity, empathy, solidarity, the importance of friendship and family bonds, but there are also stories that, with humor and endearing characters, tackle more complex and sensitive issues like cancer, grief, bullying, ecology and the waste of natural resources.

Daisy and Dot (KEDD Animation, Hungary)

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Attendees will be able to sample new shows from some of Europe’s best-known animation companies, including France’s Folimage (Anuki), Xilam Animation (Gemma’s Quest), Millimages (The Springs), Dandelooo (The Upside Down River), Cyber Group Studios (Monster in My Pocket), Ellipsanime Productions (Wonder Waï), Vivement Lundi! (Super-Lucha) and Autour de Minuit (Two Little Birds), among others. The line-up also includes new series by Belgium’s Lunanime (Tommy Pepper), Denmark’s Copenhagen Bombay (Rabarbar), Ireland’s Dream Logic (The Ghastly Ghoul), Spain’s Motion Pictures (Agus & Monsters), U.K.’s Paper Owl Films (Mr. Dog) and Extra Earthlings (La Station Animation, France) Italy’s Gertie Production (Relè). Maes points out that new talent represented by producers and directors working on their first projects hold a special place in Cartoon Forum’s lineup. Some of these newcomers include Hanna & Nana (Jam Media, Ireland), Baldies (Cofilm, Czech Rep.), The Very Hairy Alphabet (Eagle Eye, Germany), Blue Figures (Laidak Films, France), and Felix! He Can Explain Everything (Sacrebleu Production, France). These projects were launched at Cartoon’s pitching event for young talent. As Maes and her team put the finishing touches to their annual gathering of European content creators, she says she is looking forward to spotlighting all these amazing new projects. “They are the real stars of the Cartoon Forum,” she believes. “European producers dare to innovate by incorporating modern and unusual graphic styles, and by creating intelligent, clever and entertaining content for children as well as reaching new older target groups. We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Forum in September.” ◆ To learn more, visit cartoon-media.eu.

Fram the Polar Bear (Duo Animation & Deveo Media, Romania)

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A Cartoon Forum Sampler A quick look at some of the new shows that will be pitched at the Forum this year:

Rabarbar

his charming 2D-animated series (26 x 11’) from Denmark’s Copenhagen Bombay studio follows the adventures of a young girl who moves with her barbarian parents to the ancient metropolis of Weinlos — home to a host of fantasy creatures (trolls, elves, etc.) who adhere to a strict social hierarchy. Studio founder Sarita Christensen tells us, “The show is created by the talented Rune Ryberg, who is a very strong comic-book artist and animator. He is super creative and able to create the most whimsical and crazy characters with his designs. Our well-regarded writer Stephanie Wahlstrom has also created very many shows for children in this target audience (six- to 11-year-olds). I believe that this team is very strong and together they have shown us a different way approaching relevant topics such as identity, friendship, family, bullying and the importance of standing up for yourself.”

Hey Fuzzy Yellow

his innovative preschool offering is billed as “a show like you haven’t seen before!” Produced by Germany’s Toon2Tango, Italy’s Mondo TV and Jungle Fruit in the U.S., the series uses an unconventional curriculum basis to equip children with 21st century skills and an approach that “mirrors the parenting values of Millennials,” per the official description. We love the colorful designs and the attractive visuals which support a hybrid magazine format showcasing the arts, academics, exploration and logic/emotion. As the producers point out, “Hey Fuzzy Yellow sits in a place where no other show sits: in spite of it being strongly curriculum driven, it has lots of music and is also the funniest preschool show you have seen in a long time!”

Goat Girl

reland’s Daily Madness is bringing a fun and hilarious show about a 13-year-old girl who is raised by mountain goats and has to attend a regular boarding school with regular humans. As producer Lindsay Adams tells us, “When I started Daily Madness, the first show I wanted to option was an animated comedy with a female lead. I was looking for the animated answer to The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt by Tina Fey! After two years of attending markets, we just realized that it didn’t exist anywhere as an option we could pick up... so we locked Shannon George and Kristina Yee in a room together for three days in August 2018 to come up with a bunch of concepts. They came up with a beautifully simple and hilarious idea: Goats are cool, what if a girl was raised as a goat?” Adams points out that Goat Girl is definitely not a show made for girls only. “Comedy is comedy and laughs are laughs,” she says. “Therefore, this is a gender-neutral series for a gender-neutral audience. However, we are all aware that when it comes to down-to-earth, slice-of-everydaylife comedy shows, they tend to lean towards boy lead characters (and majority male creators/writers). This is where Goat Girl stands out. Behind the scenes, having a series that is created by women, directed by women, produced by women and written by women also helps to ensure that we continue to move towards more equal representation in the comedy sections of the animation industry.”

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Belzebubs

n animated show about a family of Devil worshippers may definitely be a first! This offbeat 13 x 22’ series is based on a popular webcomic by JP Ahonen, who started drawing this family of metal cultists as a therapy project. As Finnish studio Pyjama Films CEO/producer Terhi Väänänen explains, “The comics quickly gained a half a million online readers. We originally joined the project by making two animated music videos for the band, but in the series we’ll be focusing on the horrendously adorable family life of the Belzebubs. Our aim is to flesh out the comic’s characters and their stories and use the comics’s slice-of-life glimpses as an inspiration for the series’ overarching storyline.” Väänänen says the 2D animated show is made for a young adult audience, but it stays away from the typical cynical outlook on life and relationships that similar shows have. “It’s breaking taboos, especially on religion and sex, but instead of mocking them, its approach is warmhearted banter. You can describe The Belzebubs as Addams Family meets Modern Family. The family and the band members worship the Devil, but their daily, even mundane struggles are relatable for anyone!”

The Olive Bunch

yprus-based animation studio Pixel Group is showcasing a beautiful 2D animated show about three friends living in a charming Mediterranean town. Amira, Stephano and Yani live in Cyprus and search for their place in the world through carefree and inventive play. They’re often guided by advice from Grandma Lola and her folk tales that connect her to the land of the olive grove. “We are a studio established in Cyprus and this is our second TV show to be pitched at the Forum,” says the show’s co-creator and producer Maria Pavlou. “The team developing The Olive Bunch has worked on animated series and short films for world-wide brands like Disney, Nickelodeon, Amazon Prime and Netflix and have also been nominated for BAFTA, Emmy and Annie awards!” In addition to Pavlou, the team includes Katerina Pantel (show co-creator and art director), Magnus Kravik (director and storyboard artist) and Michael Papanicolaou (lead character animator).

Zombillenium

wo of France’s top animation houses Maybe Movies and 2 Minutes will be back at the Forum this year with a really fun show based on the spooky comedy saga published by Le Journal de Spirou, which inspired the acclaimed 2018 movie by Arthur de Pins and Alexis Ducord. The 12 x 26’ show (2D/CG mix) centers on an amusement park run by a cheerful gang of quirky monsters, hired by the Devil himself! Co-producer Chrystel Poncet says, “Our goal is to develop and consolidate a meaningful European franchise that deals with our culture, our values, gives food for thought and entertains! We truly think that Arthur de Pins’ ground-breaking concept has all the right ingredients for that.” Poncet points out that the show’s serialized format, mix of comedy and suspense, high-quality cinematic look based on de Pins’ elegant graphic style and the fantastic soundtrack make the show a winning proposition. She and many of the series’ creative team, including showrunner de Pins and director Sabine Hitier will be attending the event in Toulouse. “Cartoon Forum is the first step for us to debut our show on the European scene,” Poncet says. “It’s a great opportunity to catch the attention of show buyers and potential partners.” ◆

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Virtually The Same The artistic director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival discusses this year’s unusual edition. By Chris Robinson

nitially, the pandemic didn’t change my life all that much. Normally, between February and late June, I am in a sort of self-imposed isolation as I go through the 2,000 or so film submissions to the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF). In fact, most of my work for the OIAF is done remotely, so my work life really didn’t change all that much. Even during April and May, I still carried hope that we’d be at least partially live. It was only near the end of the competition selection process in late June that I began to accept that we’d be online for 2020. Yes, it will be different this year. There’s no getting around that. But I think that’s okay. I see it as a year of experimentation. (Let’s face it, it might be two years at the rate things are going!) You can look at it as a wonderful and unique chance to break free of tried and true templates and try new approaches. We don’t really have a choice. We expanded the festival to two weeks, knowing that asking people to attend a virtual event in the same way they do a live one is too much. The two weeks affords a more relaxed opportunity for people to take the festival in at times and days that work best for them.

More Options and Filmmaker Intros Instead of our usual five short competition screenings at 75 minutes, we’ll be doing eight screenings at 45. Our “Meet the Filmmakers” talks will be pre-recorded. Now, personally, I will miss the audience interaction, but the plus side is that we will have insight from almost all the filmmakers, not just the ones in attendance. Also, the jury will likely start screening films in advance. They will have more time to digest the works and watch them a few times if they wish. They won’t be as rushed and overworked as they often are during a live festival. Also, with on-demand options, only select events like the short competition and awards ceremony will be scheduled, so people won’t have to do long crazy days to try to cram in every film and talk. I think what is potentially most exciting this year is that while we will reach the usual OIAF audience, I suspect we’ll also attract some virtual attendees who maybe wanted to attend before but didn’t have the opportunity. Beyond that, in terms of content, you’re going to see the same ol’ OIAF — except it’ll be more www.animationmagazine.net

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condensed, to a degree. Even then we are screening the same amount of competition, panorama and retrospective screenings. I think I’m most excited about the short competition structure. We’ve always followed a five-screenings template, but my OIAF colleague, Devin Hartley, proposed doing eight screenings at 45 minutes. I thought that was a great idea. Again, it reduces some of the strain of staring at a screen. It also allows each film to stand out a bit more. And I personally liked the challenge of sequencing the screenings a bit differently than I’m accustomed to. Our strength is programming: Online or live, you won’t see the same approach to film and talk selection that you see anywhere else — and no, I’m not dissing other events or pounding my chest with fierce pride. The OIAF has always had a bit of a more offbeat approach to film selection, and no pandemic is going to take that away, darn it! So, thumping nonsense aside, I think people can expect the same OIAF that they love. We will serve up carefully considered competition screenings, out of competition panorama screenings and a quartet of special screenings (tributes to Mikrofilm, Estonian pioneer Elbert Tuganov and Canadian animators Emily Pelstring and Terril Calder). And naturally there will be a whole other side focused more on studios and industry. The OIAF is about content, but also fun. We’re a festival that never takes things too seriously (and yes, even our fan-favorite host, Joel Frenzer, will be part of the online shenanigans). We tend to avoid all that pomp and pretension that some festivals succumb to. The OIAF is more easygoing. We work hard. We party hard (and yes, we will be having parties like the always popular NightOwl). We sleep poorly. We respect the filmmakers and our supporters, but we really try to avoid taking ourselves too seriously. Life’s too short for such nonsense, in reality or online! ◆

Chris Robinson

OIAF takes place September 23 to October 4. For more info about this year’s virtual festival, visit animationfestival.ca. Chris Robinson is an animation, film, literature and sports writer, author of numerous books and the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF). He also wrote the screenplay for the award-winning Lipsett Diaries, directed by Theodore Ushev. september|october 20

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Andreas Hykade’s Altötting

Patrick Smith’s Beyond Noh

Mike Scott’s Bru & Boegie, The Movie

Kazuki Yuhara’s Canaria Andrey Zhidkov’s Happiness

Shoko Hara’s Just A Guy Mariusz Wilczynski’s Kill It and Leave This Town

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10 Shows to Catch at MIP Junior The annual children’s content event MIP Junior is scheduled to take place October 12-14 at the famous Palais de Festival in Cannes, France and virtually during this year’s hybrid MIP Rendezvous Cannes. We reached out to several global animation producers and distributors to find out which new shows they will be bringing to this important market. Here are a few titles that caught our interest:

Big Blue

The Boo Inn

Pip and Posy

Package: 52 x 11’ Animation Type: 2D Created by: Gyimah Gariba Produced by: Guru Studio

Package: 52 x 11’ in development Animation Type: 2D Created by: Josh Selig, Celia Catunda and Kiko Mistrorigo

Package: 52 x 7’ Animation Type: CG Created by: Based on the hugely popular books by Axel Scheffler

Produced by: Pinguim Content and Little Airplane Productions Synopsis: The Boo Inn follows the comedic adventures of seven-year-old Oliver, his little sister Abigail and the haunted hotel’s resident ghost dog Salami as they try to keep all the inn owners (both past and present) happy, while also trying to keep the ghosts from being discovered. Stand-Out Qualities: Two of the world’s leading animation companies have joined forces to develop this spooktacular new comedy series for young children. Target Audience: Kids 4-8 Exec Quote: “We are delighted to team up with Little Airplane for this wonderful new show,” says Celia Catunda, co-founder of Pinguim Content. “Its lead characters – Oliver, a creative and imaginative problem-solver who believes in all things supernatural and otherworldly; Abigail, a sweet, spontaneous and joyful bundle of energy; and enthusiastic chatterbox Salami – are sure to appeal to kids everywhere, who love all things spooky!” Delivery Date: TBA www.pinguimcontent.com www.littleairplane.com

Produced by: Magic Light Pictures with animation from Blue Zoo. Exec produced by Michael Rose and Martin Pope and produced by Vici King for Magic Light. Magic Light showrunner is Jeroen Jaspaert and Blue Zoo’s director is Matthew Tea. Distributed by: Magic Light Pictures Synopsis: With a delightful cast of engaging, witty and lovable animals, the series follows the colorful adventures of forgetful rabbit Pip and impulsive mouse Posy, best friends who both love to use their imaginations to create a wonderful world of play. Stand-Out Qualities: The first ever preschool series from multiple Oscar nominated Magic Light Pictures, Pip and Posy is packed with warmth, humor and sympathetic understanding of the little dramas of young children’s lives. Target Audience: Preschool Exec Quote: “We’re really excited to be in production on our first-ever preschool series. Axel Scheffler creates truly enchanting worlds and we can’t wait for viewers to join Pip and Posy for their fun adventures,” says Michael Rose, co-founder of Magic Light Pictures. Delivery Date: First quarter 2021 magiclightpictures.com

Synopsis: Big Blue follows sibling underwater adventurers Lettie and Lemo ,who lead a quirky submarine crew, and a magical ocean fairy stowaway named Bacon Berry as they explore and protect the denizens of a vast ocean-covered planet. The series is packed with comedy and high stakes adventure and will inspire kids to make their world a better place as they dive deep into the mysteries of the ocean. Stand-Out Qualities: Adventurous, comedic, inspirational Target Audience: Kids 5-9 Exec Quote: “Get ready to jump into the Big Blue! We’re really excited to be unveiling this epic new adventure for kids of all ages. It’s the perfect time for a show like this. Together with their quirky misfit crew, Lettie and Lemo set out to explore, protect and bring together their underwater world that’s filled with creatures from all walks of life. The series shows the importance of discovering and caring for our environment, and how by working together we can make our world a better place,” says Jonathan Abraham, Guru’s VP of sales and business development. Delivery Date: 2021 gurustudio.com/shows/big-blue

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A VIRTUAL CELEBRATION OF THE GLOBAL LICENSING INDUSTRY 6-29 OCTOBER 2020 The Festival of Licensing is a 4-week large-scale digital gathering that will bring together the global brand licensing industry to connect, learn, strike deals and do business on an international stage. Get your free ticket today and meet with Hasbro, Natural History Museum, Penguin, NBA and many more.

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Royals Next Door Package: 52 x 11’ Animation: 2D with photographic backgrounds Created by: Veronica Lassenius

Produced by: Pikkukala (Helsinki/Barcelona), Lunanime (Belgium) and Ink and Light Films (Ireland) Distributed by: Dandelooo Synopsis: Crown Princess Stella has just received the best news ever! Due to water damage in the castle (King Bob forgot to turn the tap off) the royal family must move out. Queen Kat sees it as the perfect opportunity to modernize! In line with King Bob’s royal motto “closer to the people,” they decide to live in a normal house in an ordinary suburb. It’s time to show the people that the royals are just like everyone else, and Stella, who has her own Royal Vlog on YouTube, will also share anecdotes about her new life as a normal girl, review everyday objects, share amazing findings, and much more! Stand-Out Qualities: Original design, 2D with photographic backgrounds, strong female character. Target Audience: Kids 7-12 Executive Quote: “Loosely based on Veronica’s own preteen life of a Finn girl living abroad, this fun and sweet comedy will touch anyone who is trying to ‘fit in.’ The series illustrates the struggles of being ‘a little different’ and learning to adapt, learn and grow in new surroundings without losing one’s identity,” note Dandeloo co-founders, Jean-Baptiste Wéry and Emmanuèle Petry. Delivery Date: November 2020 to November 2021. www.dandelooo.com

Bobble the Little Witch Package: 26 x 11’ Animation Type: 2D Created & Produced by: Gutsy Animations Synopsis: After Bobble’s parents decide to downsize and leave the city for a tiny house on her eccentric Great Aunt Pearl’s land in the country, Bobble learns to communicate with nature and carries the stories of her www.animationmagazine.net

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adventures in her bright purple hair. Mentored by Great Aunt Pearl, Bobble learns a little magic, and uncovers the power and secrets of the natural world. With an unlimited resource

of imagination, Bobble creates stories of her own, sews clothes and builds beautiful structures – like a treehouse or an insect hotel – from natural and recycled materials. Stand-Out Qualities: The series combines exceptional visuals with stories inspired by Nordic nature, mythology and folklore, and a magical environment and creative outdoor play patterns to encourage kids to connect with the natural world around us all. Target Audience: Kids 6-9 Exec Quote: “We at Gutsy Animations want to make a positive impact on the world, people and the environment, and create gutsy content for global audiences. This is the starting point of our new green kids brand, at a time when it is needed more than ever. Bobble the Little Witch will be a celebration of nature, community and sustainable living,” says Reetta Ranta, head of brand & development at Gutsy Animations and the creator of the show. Delivery Date: TBC www.gutsy.fi

Oggy and the Cockroaches – Next Gen Package: 78 x 7’ Animation Type: 2D Created by: Jean-Yves Raimbaud Directed by: Khalil Ben Naamane Produced by: Marc du Pontavice (for Xilam Animation) Distributed by: Xilam Animation Synopsis: Following the 20th anniversary of its iconic and globally renowned slapstick comedy series Oggy and the Cockroaches, Xilam Animation is now gearing up to launch a rebooted version of the series. Oggy and the Cockroaches – Next Gen will see Oggy take on the responsibility of parenthood as his Indian friends’ daughter, a seven-year-old elephant named Piya, comes to stay. Piya is kind-hearted, happy-go-lucky, full of energy and completely derails Oggy’s daily grind, as the blue cat must learn how to become

a surrogate parent. This is a dream come true for the cockroaches, who see Piya as a new way of ruining Oggy’s life. With a refreshed look and feel, the new iteration of Oggy and the Cockroaches brings a focus on emotions, tenderness and friendship. Target Audience: Kids Exec Quote: Marc du Pontavice, Xilam Animation’s CEO, says, “We’re so excited to bring this refreshed version of our flagship series to the millions of fans of Oggy. While staying true to the DNA of the property, Oggy and the Cockroaches – Next Gen comes with more emotion and tenderness. We believe this will deepen the experience of the audience and enhance their attachment to our lovable characters.” Delivery Date: Fall 2021 www.xilam.com

Jade Armor Package: 26 x 26’ Animation Type: Full CG Created by: TeamTO and Chloe Miller Produced by: TeamTO Synopsis: An action comedy starring an unlikely teenage female hero with an even unlikelier set of powers — and one awesome high-tech armor suit! The last in a long line of strong and powerful women, Cho Yu’s life takes an unexpected turn when she puts on a mysterious bracelet sent anonymously through the mail. Like the legendary superhero of the same name, Cho is immediately encased in a suit of jade armor. With her kung fu talents suddenly levelled up, it’s now Cho’s turn to embody this epic september|october 20

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hero, with the help of her friends Theo and Lin, and the mystical Beasticons that accompany the Armor. Stand-Out Qualities: Comedy, Action and Adventure! Jade Armor is a character-based story with the added bonus of being part of the awesome world of kung fu, with entertaining villains that are both comedic and evil. Target Audience: Kids 6-10 Exec Quote: “With its bubbly and brave heroine who is descended from a long line of strong women, Jade Armor is a project very dear to my heart,” comments Executive Producer Corinne Kouper. “This modern girl role model is a fun and important one for the kids’ space and interestingly appeals to boy audiences as well.” Delivery Date: Fall 2021 www.teamto.com

Future Bros. Package: 52 x 11’ Animation Type: CG Created by: Chris Kowowski and Joe Wong Produced & Distributed by: One Animation (creators of twice Emmy-nominated Oddbods, Insectibles, Antiks and Rob the Robot). Executive produced by Richard Thomas and Michele Schofield. Synopsis: Future Bros. follows the life of sevenyear-old boy genius Andy who, by inventing a time machine, finds himself face-to-face with his 13-year-old self — and realizes he is sorely lacking. Andy7 is a self-motivated, energetic genius, while Andy13 is lazy, moody and celebrates everything dumb and average. Andy7 knows there is greatness in his future self and he’s going to mine it out of him, one nugget at a time. Andy7 is going to have to create mindblowing inventions, lead a group of kids who look to him for adventure, and turn his future self into the teenager he wants to be. This time-travel show, (without all that pesky timetravel) is about two people with very different perspectives, butting heads over the direction their life should go. Target Audience: Kids 6-11 Exec Quote: Michele Schofield, SVP content distribution at One Animation, says, “Future Bros.

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is charming and thoughtful, while also being highly entertaining, and we’re very excited to bring this series to the market for the first time. Through the eyes of seven-year-old Andy, the series takes a unique and refreshing look at the growing pains faced by children as they start thinking about what shape they want their life to take, and recognizing the control they have over their future self. We’re confident its core message that having persistence will lead to positive changes in your life, but that you can still have plenty of fun along the way, will resonate with audiences internationally.” Delivery Date: 18 months from greenlight oneanimation.com

Delivery Date: Sept. 30 www.futurumkids.com

Circle Square Format: 40 x 7’ Animation Type: 2D Digital Created by: The Brothers McLeod Produced by: Wyndley Animation Ltd. Synopsis: Circle Square is a show about a community of nine houses, each home to a distinctive character or family. There’s a helpful dragon, a shy yeti, a rambunctious family of humans, a blended family of wizards, some very particular owls, a morose dog, two groovy living instruments, an old active bear

Paddles Package: 52 x 11’ Animation Type: CGI Created by: Denise & Francis Fitzpatrick, creators of Jakers! Produced by: FuturumKids

Synopsis: Paddles tells the story of a polar bear cub accidentally delivered by the Stork to a frozen River Shannon in Ireland – and brought up by a pack of Irish wolfhounds. A charming, exciting and very witty series that, through the adventures of its funny and lovable star, shows its young audience that being different is something to be celebrated and enjoyed. Stand-Out Qualities: The show boasts all the invention, endearing characters and high production values that made Jakers! a hit across multiple regions, as well as a very successful licensed property. With a talented team behind it that includes not only Tim Harper but respected animator Somu Mohapatra and award-winning writers Hickey & McCoy from the U.S. and Danny Stack from the U.K., this is a show that looks set for ratings success. Target Audience: Preschool 4-7 Exec Quote: Brendan Kelly, FuturumKids head of sales, notes, “Following the sale to anchor broadcaster Cartoonito in the U.K., we are delighted with the keen interest from broadcasters around the world – Paddles is a special show and has all the qualities made famous by Jakers!”

and some walking, talking pine trees. “It’s not the usual mix of characters,” explains Myles McLeod. “We wanted each household to really pop out as distinctive because we have quite a few characters in the community.” Stand-Out Qualities: Big on comedy, Circle Square also has a big heart. Empathy, community and neighborliness are at its core. The quirky characters in its diverse cast reflect a real cross-section of a typical neighborhood – old, young, families, individuals, friends. All kinds of people, each household – and house! – very different from the next; yet all there for each other, always ready to help one another out, providing valuable lessons for young children on the importance of community, cooperation and collaboration. Warm and humorous with a unique visual aesthetic, Circle Square reflects a child’s first discovery of the wider world beyond their home, and their natural curiosity about what it is like and what they can do there. Target Audience: Preschool 3-6 Exec Quote: Helen Brunsdon, exec producer for Wyndley Animation, says, “We are really excited about our brand new show, which is currently in preproduction. At its heart is a show about community, helping each other and living next door to a fabulous range of neighbors — all strong themes which we think will have great international appeal.” Delivery Date: Dec. 2021 wyndleyanimation.uk ◆ september|october 20

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Made in Malaysia A snapshot of the animation and digital content in the region shows an industry that is thriving despite a challenging year.

ith 60 animation studios operating as both IP creators and producing worldclass service work for a global market, Malaysia boasts a strong pipeline of domestic and international projects that have helped the industry weather a tough period. “The total digital content industry in Malaysia stands at RM 7 billion ($1.68 billion) with exports doubling since 2014 to RM 1 billion ($240 million),” says Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, the VP of Digital Creative Content at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). “This stellar growth has been supported by a strong workforce, averaging over 10,000 jobs. Our homegrown animation studios that have produced more than 65 original IPs and seen their work travel to 120-plus countries, with an export value of RM 170 million ($40 million).” According to Samsudin, most animation studios in the country have maintained their workforce throughout the earliest months of the pandemic, through distributed work and management of the pipeline. “Through 1H2020, the industry is consolidating its momentum by keeping most the operations still active while navigating the Movement Control Order (MCO) enacted by the govern- measures will be implemented through pubment, initially as a pure work-from-home mod- lic-private partnership,” says Samsudin. “Specifel and later, with the latest version of the MCO ically for MDEC, we have received RM 35 million entering a recovery phase since the end of June, of funding under the Digital Content Grant with studios resuming normal operations and ready focus on animation and visual effects projects. to scale up their pipeline once again.” The grant can cover a broad range of activities He notes that the response of Malaysian such as development, production / co-producstudios has stayed very positive since the MCO tion and IP marketing & licensing.” period, with studios contributing dozens of MDEC is also offering multiple programs Public Service Announcements based on their to boost the local and regional ecosystem. As well-known IPs, running Digital VS COVID do- Samsudin mentions, “In addition, MDEC drives nations to assist healthcare workers and other IP development through the DC3 and DCG; upskilling the talent pool thus enfront-liners and mobilizing their artists, engineers and staff with suring a funnel for the studios to machines to be home based. grow via grassroot programs such The Government has allocatas Kre8tif!@schools, DICE UP and related development programs; ed RM 225 million to spur the and building scale in the industry growth of the creative industry through structured incubation prothrough programs and soft loans Hasnul Hadi under the National Economic gram to catalyze start-ups.” Samsudin Recovery Plan (PENJANA). “These The Government of Malaysia www.animationmagazine.net

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through MDEC has also been running a Virtual Buyer Fly-In Program where buyers get the opportunity to speak to the region’s top animation companies about a variety of solutions, including IP development and services. “The upcoming Kre8tif! Virtual Conference plays a unifying role in the Malaysian ecosystem growth, gathering the best of the industry within the region to facilitate business and networking opportunities,” says the VP. “Founded in 2009, this small gathering of industry, talent and partners has grown to be an exciting and vibrant part of the Southeast Asian animation and VFX scene.” Among the many benefits of working with Malaysian studios: Malaysian animation studios are committed to world-class production pipelines. Over the years the talent pool and studios have grown exponentially, which will eventually lead to many new IPs being created. They can handle multiple collaboration and co-production projects with international studios and broadcasters. Language is not a barrier, as English is widely spoken. “We are proud of our strong and diverse multicultural and multiracial heritage which also promotes good work ethic,” says Samsudin. “They can understand and blend various different cultures and languages across the region. On top of that, Malaysia offers a vast array of flora and fauna which inspire new stories that can travel the world!”

Success Stories In 2019, three well-crafted animated features were released on the big screen: Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal (Les Copaque), BoBoiBoy Movie 2 (Animonsta) and Ejen Ali: The Movie (WAU Animation). Upin & Ipin won the Best Feature Film at the Montreal International Animated Film Festival 2019 and was the first Malaysian animation to be shortlisted for nomination at the Oscars in 2020. BoBoiBoy received the Best Poster/Best september|october 20

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Teaser Trailer at the Laurus Film Festival and was a finalist at the Florence Film Awards and New York Animation Film Awards. Comedy web series AstroLOLogy (Lemon Sky Studios) has also been receiving acclaim worldwide. Another interesting IP which is a positive reflection of Malaysian culture is Batik Girl (The R&D Studio) — this animated short has picked up a number of nominations and five awards.

Future Attractions Among the numerous animated projects in the pipeline for 2020 and 2021 are: Lil Critter Workshop, a 2D animation studio in Malaysia, is currently working on productions for Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. One original IP in particular, slapstick non-dialogue series Buck and Buddy, has been gaining sales momentum since its launch in February on CITV in the U.K. Buck and Buddy has secured multiple broadcaster acquisitions, including Discovery Kids MENA. The R&D Studio is currently working with its partner Robot Playground Media (Singapore) to come out with several Asian stories through a Malaysian lens. Spectrum is an animated anthology film featuring seven shorts that celebrate family values and the shared culture and heritage. The R&D Studio is also behind the critically acclaimed short Batik Girl. Vision Animation is working on productions

for Australia, Canada and South Korea. It is an established Malaysian studio and currently working on multiple IPs, one of which is The Curious World of Linda, a co-production between Vision Animation and Tak Toon Enterprise (Korea). Giggle Garage has multiple productions spanning six different countries. The studio behind Fridgies is expanding its production through 2020, and is busy working on titles such as Space Nova, Time Traveller Luke, Dr. Panda and Kazoops. Animonsta Studios is working on several original IP expansions, including a Mechamato feature film. As Samsudin puts it, the country’s thriving animation scene has come a long way in the past few decades. “Malaysia’s animation industry began its humble roots as early as 1985 with our first animated series, known as Sang Kancil & Buaya. Fast forward to today, and we can see that Malaysian companies are playing an active role in markets all over the world,” he concludes. “They are able to understand industry trends that allow them to fulfill the demands of today’s viewers. With a mixed culture and different languages, the Malaysian animation scene will always remain friendly — to both buyers and audiences everywhere.”◆

Buck and Buddy

For more info, visit mdec.my.

A Few Words from Malaysian Studio Heads , Executive Producer/Owner, Lil Critter Workshop: “The fact that we have no language barrier,

Walid Omarenjoy a multicultural society, blessed with a strong experienced workforce and combined with accommodating and adaptive government support. Doing business in Malaysia is a very compelling proposition.”

, CEO, Vision Animation: “Malaysia has strong government support such as the Film

Low Huoi SeongIn Malaysia Incentive (FIMI) and similar programs to assist studios and creators. Doing business with us in Malaysia is easy with no language barrier, and we understand international pipelines and have created a name for ourselves in terms of experience and quality.”

, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, The R&D Studio: “The West is looking for some-

Irwan Junaidything different, stories that tell of different cultures with universal values that can resonate around the world. Malaysia has that.”

, Executive Director, Giggle Garage: “Government support in terms of funds, tax incentives,

Zeno Gabingrebates and infra has certainly helped. The Malaysian ecosystem has produced good talent and nurtured studios with world class production pipelines. We have excellent stories due to the multicultural Malaysia, vast flora and fauna that inspire new stories that can travel the world.”

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Autonomous Animator

O ppOrtunities

By Martin Grebing

Useful, Guerilla Rendering Tactics S

o you have a big animation submittal due but your server just went down. Or maybe you typically work in the cloud, but your internet connection is suddenly on the fritz. Or maybe you no longer have the luxury of utilizing your studio’s in-house render farm because a recent pandemic has forced everyone to work from home. Or maybe, just maybe, you have a rag-tag handful of workstations in your modest home studio, but you can’t afford a high-end network and server, but you still need to render multiple shots across multiple computers to make deadline. Whatever the case, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and create your own makeshift render farm!

network, so this is when those memory sticks will come in handy. Simply copy all the folders and subsequent files of your primary workstation to your memory stick(s) and then transfer said files and folders to each render machine.

Step 2: Portion out Your Shots Use a white board, simple spreadsheet or old fashioned pencil and paper to keep track of which frame range is being rendered on which computer.

Prepare for the Storm

neously, you’ll need to periodically check each machine to make sure they are rendering correctly and not stopping or freezing for some unforeseen reason. To do this, simply glance at the render status of each computer and if one of them has stopped or crashed, write down the last frame the computer rendered before crashing, reboot and restart the render where it left off. Be sure to update your whiteboard, spreadsheet or hand-written notes accordingly. As rendering can take many hours, days or even weeks to complete, now would be a great time to catch up on the latest movies, episodes and music that you’ve been wanting to check out but never had the chance.

Step 4: Wrangling

Chances are, no amount Now that all of your of last-minute heroics can machines have finally finsave the day if you are ished rendering and your ill-prepared. Therefore, in frames look outstanding, anticipation of emergentake your trusty memory stick around to each comcies popping up from Ready for Stormy Weather: Sometimes, you have to be prepared for animating without the help puter and copy the frames time to time, you should of your favorite cloud. (Peter Sohn’s 2009 short Partly Cloudy, courtesy of Pixar.) from the workstation to make preparations while the sky is clear. Here is a checklist of some of For example, if you have three computers, the memory stick. the basics you will need to successfully create respectively named Moe, Larry and Curly, with Do not, under any circumstances, cut and and operate your own guerilla render farm. Feel Moe being your primary workstation, and you paste, because if something happens while the free to piece-meal these things together as have a 1,000-frame sequence that needs to be files are in transit, you risk losing all your best you can: rendered as soon as possible, divvy up the se- frames to the ether. If this happens, you’ll need quence into three equal chunks based on each to re-render the entire sequence(s) all over Surge protectors / power backup As many computers are you can get your computer’s rendering speed. If Moe happens again from scratch. And when time is short, hands on — old, new and anywhere in between. to render twice as fast as Larry and Curly, then this could spell disaster for your submittal. An assortment of memory sticks, preferably Moe should be assigned frame range 1-500, Once all frames are copied to your primary Larry should get 501-750, and Curly should workstation, you can then composite, edit and high capacity and high speed Multiple mouse controllers and mouse pads get 751-1,000. export the final content as needed. Open the same scene file on all three comMultiple keyboards With some thoughtful preparation and puters, adjust the frame ranges accordingly, hands-on guerilla rendering techniques, even Multiple monitors and render. If you prefer to use command line when networks and the cloud may fail, you A good room fan or two rendering, then you would specify the frame still have a chance to deliver your animation Your animation software of choice range on each computer via the command on time and to spec, thereby keeping your cliline vs. batch rendering within the animation ents happy and you replete with much deStep 1: Standardize Your software. served cash. ◆ Workstations The first task is to make sure each computer Martin Grebing is the president you will be using to render has the exact same Step 3: Keep Your Eye on the of Funnybone Animation Stusoftware, updates, files and folders as your pri- Prize dios. He can be reached at www. mary animation workstation. For the sake of Being that time is of the essence and you funnyboneanimation.com. this article, you do not have the luxury of a have multiple computers rendering simultawww.animationmagazine.net

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Jed Fisher

Visualizing Indescribable Monsters The team at Framestore faced some unusual challenges as they created the monsters for HBO’s acclaimed new series Lovecraft Country.

ast month, horror fans got a nice treat in the form of Lovecraft Country, the new HBO series based on Matt Ruff’s novel about Jim Crow racism taking on supernatural forms and menacing Black residents of 1950s-era Chicago. To help bring to life the creatures in the show, showrunner Misha Green and exec producers Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams relied on the team at Framestore, which provided a wide range of VFX shots for the 10-part series. The creative studio was responsible for designing, asset building and animating the series’ Shoggoths, the supposedly ‘indescribable’ creatures from H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. They appear in two different forms as the series analyzes the horror writer’s cosmic, creature-filled world from a fresh new perspective. Framestore’s work was led by head of CG and project VFX supervisor Grant Walker, who sculpted the 3D model of the Shoggoths. The art department’s work on the series included creating several iterations of the Shoggoths, as well as an array of other-worldly creatures and ghosts. Each of these ghosts had a gruesome visual representation of their human forms’ death, work that allowed the www.animationmagazine.net

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team to really imagine the character behind their designs. Bringing to life creatures and ideas which might have a limited description in Lovecraft’s

creatures were said to be so hideous that they couldn’t be described. We had to bear in mind that ‘unfathomable’ nature but also think about the Shoggoths in a realistic way, not

‘While we had to bring to life something that’s so inherently unnatural, the laws that govern gravity, weight and timing all still applied so we used a lot of references from the animal kingdom in our animation.’ — Framestore’s VFX supervisor Grant Walker

initial work was one of the project’s biggest challenges for Framestore. For the Shoggoths in particular, work needed to be completed for two kinds; several white ones which appear in a number of frantic, vicious scenes and a black Shoggoth which is larger and more intimidating and ultimately seen in more detail in the series. The Shoggoths aren’t particularly beautiful creatures, with translucent skin through which you can see veins and muscles and eyes dotted all over their heads and backs, as well as several different appendages which it uses to grab and devour the target of its attacks. As Walker explains, “Many of Lovecraft’s

just making decisions about how it would look but how it moved, its behavior and how it interacted with its environment. I think we ended up with something of a departure from what was initially devised within Lovecraft’s september|october 20

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VFX mythos but the end result is a creature that I think will have a big impact; especially when audiences get up close and personal with it in certain sequences in the show.” Framestore had designed and built the Shoggoth’s 3D assets ahead of the shoot so it could provide details of its size and appearance to the show’s special effects department, who created a stuffy/ stand-in for the live-action production. Walker was on set to supervise the shoot, along with the project’s animation supervisor Jed Fisher and VFX producer Stephen Nixon.

Inspired by Real Beasts “The way we animated the Shoggoth was key to our work on this project,” says Fisher. “While we had to bring to life something that’s so inherently unnatural, the laws that govern gravity, weight and timing all still applied, so we used a lot of references from the animal kingdom in our animation. They prowl like a lion before attacking like a gorilla. It was all about animating in a way that felt right for the Shoggoth’s motivation in any given scene.” He adds, “I can remember way back in summer 2019 my VFX supervisor telling me about this cool creature project coming in. I started doing early previs and rig tests mid June, so I’ve been on the project for 14 months, that’s a record for me. For me, as animation supervisor on Lovecraft I set the tone for how the creature moves, its characteristics, its mannerisms, the things that bring it to life. I’m able to have time before anyone else joins the project to

play with ideas and movements and see what fits, build a library of motions from walks, attacks, roars — even down to subtle blinks and tongue motion.” Creating the Shoggoth was a big challenge for Fisher and his team. “The Shoggoth is a killing machine, designed so every part of its body is a weapon,” he explains. “Powerful back legs, clawed front paws, an extra set of meta-like insect arms used to stab, row and rows of teeth like a shark, inner and outer jaw, a mace-like tail, four-pronged tongue and 60 eyes. Getting all these elements to gel in a way that made the creature feel connected and keeping it consistent across all shots was a big challenge for the animation team.”

New Rules for a New Era Fisher points out that Framestore used Maya, with a variety of internal and external tools built for animations needs. “I used an external tool, animBot, extensively and I highly recommend it to any animators starting out,” he offers. He also says certain activities like screening the dailies were actually more efficient in the new work-from-home era. “We no longer

have to book a screening room, but are able to share a session online at any time and look over our work together and see live drawovers and annotations in real time,” Fisher says. “I think it has benefited the feedback process immensely. It’s a big positive to take away from what could be perceived as a negative situation.” As well as animating the Shoggoth itself, the team had to develop and animate several other assets which it interacts with, including environments, digital police cars and doubles of several actors that encounter the creature, all of which adds to the realism of the sequences. “One of the things I felt was important on this project was the detail we put into all our models,” adds Walker. “There are moments where the filmmakers have slowed down the action of the scenes so audiences get an upclose look at the creatures. And it’s those moments that show the difference between what we expected of television 15 years ago and what is being produced now.” Fisher also believes that the months ahead will prove to be an interesting time for companies that can think of more nimble and agile ways to continue their creative work. “We are beginning to see some interesting challenges now that some physical production has resumed. VFX and animation will play a big part as productions look to alternatives to live action shoots.” ◆ Lovecraft Country is currently airing on HBO worldwide. Creature Feature: The team at Framestore was tasked with creating Lovecraft’s famous Shoggoth monster, a killing machine designed in a way that every part of its body is a lethal weapon.

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Tech Reviews Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition

f all of the newer laptop/mobile workstations that have recently come out with the latest RTX card, the Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is the newest and visually the sexiest, in my opinion. The new model has an anodized finish on top of a body milled from a block of aluminum (which I found a little sharp on the edge) and an illuminated color keyboard which could be just glitzy glamor, but I found it practical to map specific colors to keys, similar to the Avid keyboards of long ago (I’m sure they are still around). But to move beyond the slick exterior: The first asset is the 4K touch display that extends to nearly the edge with a minimal bezel, with a 100% DCi-P3 color gamut — which is the standard that the American film industry has set for movie projectors. This means that you can be reasonably sure that what you see is what should be coming out when it’s projected. And for a laptop like this, that is extremely important. Because, while the Razer Blade Studio Edition runs the latest version of GTA very well, that is not what it’s made for. It’s designed to be a workhorse for creativity. Since this is an animation-centric publication, and I’m an animator, I’m going to say it was designed for us (even though that assuredly is only partially true). To further prove my point, the display and acceleration is driven by a Quadro RTX 5000 with Max-Q (meaning it is designed to fit within a very thin profile). The system I’m reviewing has a display card with 16GB of RAM, which is pretty robust. The RTX series of Nvidia cards is specifically designed for ray-tracing acceleration. Any software using the GPU has by now been updated to utilize this technology to speed up calculations. And for our purposes, this weighs heavily in 3D rendering from GPU accelerated renderers like V-Ray, Arnold, Redshift, RenderMan — you name it. But it also is important for real-time rendering in things like Unreal Engine. And with real-time technology jumping into lightspeed after the success of The Mandalorian, this kind of technology is no longer simply an option — it’s a necessity. So, if you have that in your 15” Razer Blade … I’ll let you fill in the conclusion. But, I digress! The Razer Blade has a lot of power packed inside of it, which means that it generates a lot of heat. The designers have mitigated that by using a copper vapor chamber that vaporizes deionized water and transfers the heat away from the components (a.k.a. science things), through its dual fans and out the bottom. Great for the hardware, bad for your legs. The souped-up model I was reviewing comes in at nearly $5K with the RTX, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, which is a healthy investment. But if you are on set providing real-time rendering for directors to look at, it might just be worth it. Website: Razer.com Price: Starts at $4,299.99 www.animationmagazine.net

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Foundry’s Flix 6.3

lix is Foundry’s online storyboard and animatic tool geared towards story development and pre-production on film, TV, gaming and animation projects — or whatever medium happens to be invented in the future. Story is story, right? But how is it different from, say, drawing storyboards and cutting them together in something like Avid, Premiere or Toon Boom’s StoryboardPro? The answer is that Flix acts as a central collaboration hub between team members and software. The key being collaboration — and, more critically in these pandemic times, remote collaboration. Flix is essentially located in the cloud with a server up and running for your account. You can set up your own server, but for this review, I’ll be talking about the Foundry’s cloud service. All of the people on the creative team have their own logins and permissions. And as people make changes to the project, everything is tracked within the database and stored as revisions. This is a little abstract, so let’s get into some detail. I have a project that has been storyboarded — probably through a digital source like Photoshop or Storyboard Pro, but it could be scanned from actual pencil-on-paper drawings (gasp!). I can import all these drawings into Flix, which stores them on the server. Flix brings them in as a set duration, and you can view the sequence of storyboards as an animatic. But that’s not so interesting out of the box. So, you can export the sequence into Avid, Premiere or Storyboard Pro, and the editor can fine-tune the cut, rearrange frames, add effects, add sound, etc., and then push it back to Flix so that everyone on the team can see it and weigh in. The director can go in and use annotation tools to mark up the frames indicating changes. Those are seen by the illustrators on the team who can open up the frame as a layered Photoshop file, which is dynamically linked to Flix, make the changes and push it back to Flix, where it updates — and retains access to the previous versions of the frame. Everything is non-destructive so nothing is lost. This is a 30,000-foot view of what Flix is about, but it was required to quickly discuss version 6.3, which was released this past spring and has had a few iterations since. Some of the larger changes aren’t sexy, but they are important: Import speeds for images have increased by more than 2x since v6.2 — which is crucial when you have hundreds of boards. Also, Flix can now run over HTTPS, which means your data is encrypted and safe. But Foundry has also added some functionality to the dialogue field, which will travel with Avid exports and be displayed as a SubCap. I found Flix’s interface clean and intuitive (although I would like to see a prettier UX in the Photoshop plugin). The workflow is clear and responsive. I was able to export and import out of both Photoshop and Premiere without problem. Even though I don’t generate as much material as a whole team, it was readily apparent that on larger projects, the tracking of versions and changes that Flix manages under the hood is essential, and lets you focus on the creative rather than the administrative. Website: foundry.com/products/flix Price: Available on enquiry

by Todd Sheridan Perry

Silhouette Paint for Nuke

arlier this year, I reviewed a number of recent tools from Boris FX, one of which was their paint and roto tool SihouetteFX, which is also a full compositing tool. A few months later, they released Silhouette Paint, which can be launched from within the host compositor of your choice: After Effects, Fusion, Flame and Nuke to name a few. But for this, I was using the version within Foundry’s Nuke 12.2. It’s a Silhouette Light version that is geared toward paint and roto while leaving out the more advanced stuff that the standalone version has. Here is the genius of this groundbreaking workflow: Boris FX had released a plugin for Mocha Pro that works in a similar way. The beauty of it all is that you are incorporating the tools into a dynamic, non-destructive way that doesn’t stall or disrupt the workflow. You see, in the past, you would export a sequence of files from the compositor, quite possibly after you’ve done a number of processes, and then import that sequence into Silhouette for painting. Then, you would export the result to a new sequence, that you then import back into the compositor. And off you go, back to the compositing work. This can add up to a huge amount of rendering time, and a lot of drive space. So within Nuke, you can bring in a Silhouette Paint node into your flow, and launch the interface from within Nuke. You do all of your paint work and exit back out to Nuke, and the paint calculates under the hood from Silhouette, feeding the painted footage to the rest of the Nuke script. I tested it out on some pretty heinous paintwork on a 500-frame shot and didn’t notice any significant slowdown in the workflow. While you could save out a pre-rendered sequence, I felt it was unnecessary, as calculations within Silhouette were responsive enough. If I noticed something that I had missed, I could simply go back into Silhouette through Nuke, make the changes, and it would propagate through the rest of the comp. What is also interesting and critical, is that the data is actually cross-platform, so the paint file can be shared between After Effects, Nuke, Premiere, Fusion, etc.— all while maintaining OCIO or ACES color profiles. You could even open it up in a standalone SilhouetteFX if you needed to use some of the more advanced tools. Bonus update: SilhouetteFX has a crazy cloning feature that allows it to blend between two different clone sources at the same time! So if you are painting something out that is dark on one side and bright on the other, you can interpolate between the two. This was a life-changing quick tip that I picked up from Boris FX guru Mary Poplin. Thank you! Website: Borisfx.com/products/silhouette-paint Annual Subscription Only ◆ Todd Sheridan Perry is an award-winning vfx supervisor and digital artist whose credits include Black Panther, Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Christmas Chronicles. You can reach him at todd@teaspoonvfx.com. september|october 20

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A D Ay I n T he L Ife

This month, we were very pleased to received some fun photos from Marika Makaroff, CEO and creative director at Finland’s Gutsy Animations (Moominvalley).

I have been doing meditation for years on and off, but this summer a friend asked me to join Deepak Chopra’s 21 Day Meditation Challenge. My cat Tarmo and I are continuing the practice together on a daily basis.

I’m going through emails at home: Most of our work is remote these days, so it’s not unusual to to sit in front of the computer 14 hours in a row!

Giving feedback on a Moominvalley animatic with our director Sara Barbas. I’m super proud of our talented team and how they’ve adapted to our current working constraints.

Google Hangouts meeting with our drama team. COVID-19 has forced us to get creative and develop this project in an online writers’ room.

Sometimes I come to the empty office just to use my standing desk and experience a more concrete transition ritual between work and free time.

An appointment with my miracle-worker osteopath who not only takes care of my body, but also my mind and soul.

I’m workshopping ideas with director Paavo Westerberg about a new series in development.

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Fact checking some details for our script. We use Tove Jansson’s original books, art and comic strips as the base of all our work.

I end the day in a nearby forest with my son Vertti. They say a forest is the church for a Finn, which is very true: A daily walk in nature keeps you grounded and connected to something bigger. september|october 20

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A D Ay I n T he L Ife

9 > 11 march 2021 Bordeaux Nouvelle-Aquitaine

CO-PRO & PITCHING EVENT FOR ANIMATED FEATURES

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september|october 20

Animation Magazine - MIPJR Issue

Articles inside

Autonomous Animator

Visualizing Indescribable Monsters

10 Shows to Catch at MIP Junior

Made in Malaysia

Marika Makaroff, CEO & creative

Tech Reviews

Virtually The Same

A Cartoon Forum Sampler

Stuff We Love

Ode to a Latvian Childhood

Back in the Real World

This Show Really Grows on You

A Sweet Farewell to Those Cuddly

A Star-Studded Mexican Connection

Return of the Spanish Screen

Extinct No More