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Look Back in Wonder Creator Jack Bennett talks about his new coming-of-age animated series Dodo.
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he charming new animated series Dodo centers on the everyday school life of an 11-year-old boy named Joe Connolly as he tries to navigate the crazy pitfalls of the first year of high school. Luckily, he has his friends Frisbo, Pete and Lily by his side to offer him support and keep him centered, entertained and sometimes even more confused than before! The 2D-animated show is created by Jack Bennett, based on a short he made when he was a student at the University of the West of England. “The short was called Not the End of the World, and it had loads of inspirations — from classic films like ‘Stand by Me, Scott Pilgrim, the books of Simon Rich and a lovely short film I love called In the Air Is Christopher Gray. All these helped shape the feel of the show, how I explored comedy and tried to create real, touching moments.” Bennett completed the short in 2017, and around the same time, the team at Bristolbased Wildseed Studios (founded by Miles Bullough and Jesse Cleverly), saw the short
‘I hope kids watching Dodo can see a bit of themselves in it, and adults will remember their younger years.’ — Series creator Jack Bennett
and decided to develop the show based on it. The writing for the show started in 2019. Wildseed handles all the pre-production, while Toonz in Kerala produces the animation and Telegael does the post-production. Overall, about 150 people work on the series, which is animated in Adobe Animate.
Building a Familiar World “The original look of the show was my crude drawings from Not the End of the World,” says Bennett. “Along with our art director Louis Neubert, we created the look of the series, aiming to develop it further but to uphold the original look’s charm.” Like many shows created during the COVID years, most of Dodo was produced remotely. “With so many people on the team work-
ing incredibly hard to make sure we tackled any obstacles this created,” says Bennett. “On a personal note, it was a big challenge for me to go from a one-man team to being part of this big team, where I wasn’t doing everything. We had to develop trust and creative relationships, which was challenging but so fulfilling. It took a little bit of time for me to figure out how the show would work, but with the guidance of my producers I think we really sorted out how Dodo works as episodes and as a show in total.” For Bennett, the show was a chance to look back at the world he grew up in and capture all the hilarious and crazy details about his adolescent years. “I like that we can deal with quieter, more introverted characters and delve into their innermost thoughts and fears and still go to cra-
www.animationmagazine.net 22
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may 22
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