ANIMATION

The making of animated short Intergalactic Ice Cream

When Triggerfish Animation launched the Story Lab writing contest in July 2015, Andrew Phillips put pen to paper and rose to the challenge.

“T wo weeks later, I found myself hunched over a keyboard at 02h00 in the dead of winter, working on my third story submission – about a Depression-era New York flea, who wants to be famous. I was cold, sleep-deprived, and slightly disturbed by newly-acquired and totally excessive knowledge of fleas. But I was deliriously happy. I’d never written for animation before that, and I haven’t stopped since,” shares the animation writer and creator from Punch Monkey Studios.

While the Depression-era New York flea didn’t win the judges over, for Phillips it was the start of his love affair with animation, which eventually led him and his equally creative buddy, Howard Fyvie, to open their very own Cape Town-based animation studio. Speaking about the partnership, Phillips says: “Whenever we got together, we’d come up with ridiculous characters and story ideas that made us laugh, so we created a legal entity to turn that childlike joy into cold hard cash.”

Since then, the pair has participated and excelled in several prestigious animation competitions including winning the Turner animation pitching competition at DISCOP 2016; getting their concept optioned by Turner APAC at Annecy 2017; and, more recently, seeing the Intergalactic Ice Cream pilot screen on Cartoon Network as part of Cartoon Network’s Creative Lab. Two months before the deadline for Cartoon Network’s Creative Lab 2018, Phillips entered his creative space-inspired short, Intergalactic Ice Cream. “It started with the title. I was throwing a bunch of ideas around, and one of the things I wrote down was ‘Intergalactic Ice Cream’. Something about that phrase just kind of hooked me,” shares Phillips.

“I used it to develop what’s become a really personal project based on my experiences growing up as a perpetual new kid, an upbeat outsider, desperate to fit in. And then I wrapped that gooey emotional centre in some fun stupid things I love. Space adventures? Yes, please! Weaponised ice cream? Hell yeah! A talking chicken leg?!”

Intergalactic Ice Cream is a three-minute animation short that follows Makhaya, a 13-year-old former cool kid whose after-school job is delivering ice cream across the galaxy with a gang of misfits – Sally, Milton and Chicken Leg. Their delivery job launches them into the craziest, danger-filled and dairy-fueled adventures this side of the Milky Way!

Intergalactic Ice Cream was one of the top ten projects pitched to Cartoon Network Africa’s content team in late 2018. The project made the final top three and underwent a year-long creative process assisted by the experts at Cartoon Network and Mind’s Eye in 2019.

Speaking about the experience, Philips had this to say: “Ariane Suveg, Nicolas Rostan and the rest of the Cartoon Network Creative Lab team always sought to protect the creative integrity of the project, while at the same time providing endless support and guidance to ensure the short met Cartoon Network’s high standards for animated awesomeness. That tightrope balancing act was amazing to see up close, and I learnt a lot from the experience.”

For the conceptual process, Phillips reworked some of his initial ideas with his business partner, Fyvie. The pair decided on four talented individuals, including Fyvie, to voice the various roles in the short.

Phillips expands: “Mak is played by Sanda Shandu, an actor best known for his roles in The Kissing Booth (2018) and Deadly Leaks 2 (2017). Michaela Richards, a radio presenter on Magic 828 AM, provides the voice of Sally, the rocket ship’s kickass captain. Milton, Chicken Leg, Robo Cow and Pie Hole are all played by the legendary Rob van Vuuren, whose long list of IMDb credits shouldn’t be surprising when he can squeeze four roles out of a three-minute short. And the bovine villain, Queen Lactavia, is voiced by Howard Fyvie, who’s hilarious when he’s angry.”

The Cartoon Network Africa team was involved throughout the journey to creatively supervise the development and production of Intergalactic Ice Cream. “We had briefings in January 2019 and wrapped around May 2019 after a lot of creative deliberation. So, three minutes took about five months,” shares Phillips.

Mind’s Eye Creative was involved in the production process and assigned more than 23 of their in-house artists, including animators, script editors, storyboard artists, animatic editors, riggers, concept artists, editors, design artists, compositors, VFX artists and production managers to the project. Furthermore, Mind’s Eye managed the creation of the short from end to end, coordinating with local composers, sound engineers, voice recording companies and editors. “The incredible team at Mind’s Eye Creative used industry standard digital technology, including interactive display screens, Toon Boom animation software, Adobe Creative Cloud production premium software, Cinema 4D, Frame.io and state-of-the-art workstations,” Phillips adds. Intergalactic Ice Cream had its premiere on Cartoon Network Africa on Saturday, 11 January 2020 at 17h15. A repeat of the pilot was shown the next day at 18h10.

Sharing his thoughts on seeing his pilot on-screen, Phillips said: “I know I’m supposed to say it was a childhood dream come true, that ever since I first watched Cartoon Network in the 90s, I hoped that one day I’d turn on that channel and see something I made. But that would be a lie because thoughts like that never once entered my boyish brain. I had zero ambition and never dreamed or hoped for anything more than making the under 13B hockey team. So I can honestly say the experience of seeing my short on Cartoon Network was beyond my wildest dreams.” Intergalactic Ice Cream is now owned by Warner Media, which will decide on the future prospects of the pilot. However, Phillips hopes for the pilot to one day be turned into a full series.

“Cartoon Network is committed to creating original African content produced in Africa. So you never know. I certainly don’t. But I’d be so pumped to take Intergalactic Ice Cream to series. Those ridiculous misfits need new adventures!” he concluded.

– Gezzy S Sibisi

KEY CREW KEY

CREW

Writers: Andrew Phillips and Howard Fyvie Director: Steve Cloete Editor: Nick Cloete Sound: Pete O’Donoghue

“It started with the title. I was throwing a bunch of ideas around, and one of the things I wrote down was ‘Intergalactic Ice Cream’. Something about that phrase just kind of hooked me. I used it to develop what’s become a really personal project based on my experiences growing up as a perpetual new kid, an upbeat outsider, desperate to fit in.” – Andrew Phillips