Four eclectic animated features have been selected as the nominees for this year’s European Film Awards. The winner will be presented at the 33rd European Film Awards ceremony, streamed live from Berlin on December 12.
The four eclectic nominees, which clearly reflect the wealth of storylines and sophisticated animation styles outside the U.S. are:
Rémy Chayé’s Calamity, A Childhood Of Martha Jane Cannary (France, Denmark)
Aurel’s Josep (France, Belgium, Spain)
Sergio Pablos’ Klaus (Spain)
Andrey Khrzhanovsky’s The Nose Or The Conspiracy Of Mavericks (Russia).
Calamity, A Childhood Of Martha Jane Cannary is a re-imagining of the early days of trail-blazing icon Calamity Jane in the American Wild West in 1863. The beautifully animated, 2D film won the Cristal for Best Feature at Annecy Animation Festival in June.
Written by Jean-Louis Milesi and directed by French cartoonist Aurel, Josep made its debut at the virtual Cannes Festival earlier this year and won the Audience Prize and Best Screenplay Award at the Athens Film Festival. The film centers on a dying gendarme who recalls his encounter with Catalan artist Josep Bartoli in a French concentration camp after the Spanish Civil War.
After winning a BAFTA and GOYA and being nominated for an Oscar and winning seven prizes at the Annie Awards earlier this year, Klaus, the acclaimed 2D-animated feature by Pablos and his team at SPA makes it way to the European Film Awards. Penned by Pablos, Jim Mahoney and Zach Lewis, the film was produced and distributed by Netflix.
Khrzhanovsky’s The Nose Or The Conspiracy Of Mavericks premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January, and won the special jury award at Annecy. The darkly comic film is inspired by Russian author Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 satirical short story The Nose and Dmitri Shostakovich’s 1928 opera of the same name. Produced by Studio Shar and written by Khrzhanovsky with Yury Arabov, the movie provides a heart-wrenching picture of the Russian Avant-Garde and the 20th Century. The film took home an Honorable Mention during last month’s Ottawa Intl. Animation Festival as well.
The nominations were chosen by a committee comprised of EFA board member Béatrice Thiriet, director Anca Damian, and producer Antonio Saura; and producers Diogo Carvalho and Camilla Deakin, and Norbert Laporte, representing Cartoon, the European Association of Animation Film. Previous winners of the European Film Awards include Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles, Another Day of Life, Loving Vincent, My Life as a Zucchini, and Song of the Sea.
For more info, visit europeanfilmawards.eu
The NoseKlausJosepCalamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary
Having recently announced two promotions within its International Business Division (IBD), Nippon TV, Japan’s leading multiplatform entertainment powerhouse, announced the creation of a new department within its Business Development division, in which IBD is included.
Effective immediately is the launch of the Anime Department which will be headed up by Kako Kuwahara, who has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Business Development, previously serving as Managing Director of IBD. The first international project announced as part of this new department is the anime based on the award-winning novel TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy- (12 x 30′) produced by C2C Studios (Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina), with Nippon TV serving as distributor with all international rights.
The announcement was made Tuesday by Keiichi Sawa, Operating Officer and President of Business Development for Nippon TV, to whom Kuwahara will report.
“For many years, anime has been a forte of Nippon TV and we have been producing hit anime series such as Lupin the 3rd, Death Note, HUNTER X HUNTER and many more. But now the time is ideal for us to create a department solely focused on anime as this genre is loved by so many around the world,” said Sawa. “We will be producing and distributing coveted anime series domestically, as well as internationally, and Kako Kuwahara is the ideal executive to head up this department”
“I am honored to be the first EVP of the first Anime Department in Nippon TV’s history. I am also proud to introduce TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy- as our first international anime distribution,” Kuwahara commented. “In addition to securing the international distribution rights to this award-winning series, we were also able to cast Japan’s top voice actors with credits including Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and My Hero Academia. We see young international generations looking up to anime heroes and the voice actors, with anime being a big part of their lives. It is my wish, along with Nippon TV’s dedication, to further strengthen our anime production, create new worldwide hits, enhance our global distribution of these series, and, ultimately, reach as many anime fans as possible for generations.”
TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy-
TSUKIMICH -Moonlit Fantasy-is an animation series based on the award-winning novel and manga with the same title, written by Kei Azumi. The story follows Makoto Misumi — just an ordinary high school student living a regular life, who all of a sudden gets summoned to the other world to become a “hero.”
The goddess of the other world, however, insults him for being different and strips his “hero” title, before casting him off to the wilderness at the edge of the world. As he wanders the wilderness, Makoto encounters dragons, spiders, orcs, dwarves and all sorts of non-human tribes. Because Makoto comes from a different world, he is able to unleash unimaginable magical powers and combat skills. But just how will he handle his encounters with various species and survive in his new environment? In this fantasy tale, Makoto tries to transform the other world into a better place despite the humans and gods having turned their backs on him.
Nippon TV is Japan’s leading multiplatform entertainment powerhouse and ratings champion broadcaster, as well as owner of streaming giant Hulu Japan. The nation’s finest producer of all genres of content has been producing animation programs since the 1950s and attracts fanatic anime fans with legendary series such as Lupin The 3rd , Anpanman, Monster, Death Note, Ouran High School Host Club, Claymore, HUNTER × HUNTER, Chihayafuru Series, Parasyte -the maxim-, Death Parade and, most recently, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, that are instantly distributed in almost 200 countries at the same time as its release in Japan.
Nippon TV strategically owns two major animation production companies, MADHOUSE Inc. and Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd., and with a long-term relationship with the Academy Award-winning animation studio Studio Ghibli and the Academy Award-nominated Studio Chizu, continues to lead the Japanese content industry with globally distributed fascinating animations.
Netflix has found a new preschool treasure in Trash Truck, an original CG-animated adventure from debut creator/showrunner Max Keane. The official trailer, debuted today, introduces little tow-headed Hank and his best friend, a trash truck … named Trash Truck! Joined by little Olive, even littler mouse Miss Mona, Donny the raccoon and Walter the bear, Hank and Trash Truck explore the world around them and embark on colorful flights of fancy.
Trash Truck premiers November 10 (www.netflix.com/trashtruck).
Trash Truck is an animated series from Max Keane (production designer for the Academy Award-winning short Dear Basketball). The series follows Hank, a free-range, dirt-covered, six-year-old boy with a big imagination and an even bigger best pal… a giant honking, snorting trash truck. From learning to fly to going to the dentist, there is no adventure too big or too small for these two best friends.
Animation veteran Glen Keane (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast; director, Dear Basketball, Over the Moon) and Gennie Rim (Dear Basketball, Over the Moon) serve as executive producers alongside Max Keane.
The voice cast features Brian Baumgartner (The Office) as Walter, Glen Keane as Grandpa / Trash Truck, Max Keane as Dad, Henry Keane as Hank, Megan Keane as Mom, Olive Keane as Olive, Lucas Neff as Donny and Jackie Loeb as Miss Mona.
VIEW Conference will once again present an exclusive group of sessions showcasing the very latest in “big-picture thinking” across the digital media industry in this year’s free, virtual edition.
Newly announced is the conference’s closing keynote on Friday, October 23: In a special Q&A, visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson will discuss his work on the mind-bending Christopher Nolan thriller Tenet with Carolyn Giardina of The Hollywood Reporter.
Tenet marks the second collaboration between Nolan and Jackson, who was visual effects supervisor on the director’s previous film, Dunkirk, for which he gained a BAFTA Award nomination. Renowned for his skill in seamlessly integrating digital effects with practical action, Jackson received an Academy Award nomination for his work as visual effects supervisor on George Miller’s post-apocalyptic epic Mad Max: Fury Road.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Andrew Jackson headlining the closing session at this year’s VIEW Conference,” says Conference Director Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez. “Like everyone attending the conference, I can’t wait for him to share his insights and experience of working on Christopher Nolan’s newest theatrical spectacle.”
In addition, VIEW Conference is delighted to announce that the recipient of its 2020 Visionary Award will be Industrial Light & Magic’s Dennis Muren, who will participate in his own keynote Q&A on the conference’s final day.
Part of the core visual effects team that worked on the original Star Wars, Muren was at the forefront of the digital effects revolution with his groundbreaking work on The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park. Now creative director and senior visual effects supervisor at ILM, Muren continues to steer the evolution of the company while championing new effects techniques and technologies. No stranger to thinking big, Muren has received a record-breaking nine Academy Awards.
“Dennis Muren is a force of nature and a real living legend,” says Dr. Gutierrez. “Throughout his career he has elevated his craft to the highest levels, and inspired young artists to follow him into the stratosphere. He is without question a worthy recipient of this year’s Visionary Award.”
Three 60-minute panels continue the “big picture” theme, beginning on Tuesday, October 20 with The Future of Cinema, which will be discussed by Tomm Moore, co-founder of Cartoon Saloon; Jorge R. Gutierrez, director of The Book of Life; and Tony Bancroft, director of Animal Crackers, with Steven Gaydos, executive VP of content at Variety, moderating.
Gaydos returns on Wednesday, October 21 to moderate a panel on The Future of Storytelling, which brings together Kyle Balda, director of Minions: The Rise of Gru; Kris Pearn, director at Sony Pictures Animation; Eric Darnell, chief creative director at Baobab Studios; and Ron Martin, creative and technical director of media and entertainment at Unity Technologies.
On Thursday, October 22 , the subject under discussion is Women in the Animation Industry. Mireille Soria, president of Paramount Animation, joins forces with Marge Dean, head of studio at Crunchyroll and president of Women in Animation; Osnat Shurer, producer of Moana and Raya and the Last Dragon; and Maureen Fan, CEO and co-founder of Baobab Studios, with Carolyn Giardina moderating.
“The best way to discuss big ideas is to surround yourself with true industry giants,” says Dr. Gutierrez. “I am so grateful that we have been able to do just that with our stellar line-up of directors and studio heads.”
VIEW Conference 2020 is taking place from October 18 to 23, 2020, with all sessions available online. Free registration is open and the entire program is available to view at the VIEW Conference website. Check out the sessions and send questions for the speakers through social media. Visit www.viewconference.it for more info and to register.
Spire Animation Studios, the newly formed feature animation studio co-founded by award-winning producer Brad Lewis and industry entrepreneur P.J. Gunsagar, is building its team with powerhouse creatives and announced today six new hires bringing a mix of first-class creative and technical talent to Spire’s boutique studio.
Spire Animation Studios has brought on Shawn Krause as Creative Director of Story and Animation; Michael Surrey as Creative Director of Animation and Story; David Smith as Senior Vice President of Digital Production and VFX; John Kreidman as Producer; Andrea Paul as Senior Vice President of Production; Philippe Brochu as Art Director of Conceptual Design and Environments; and J.J. Blumenkranz as Director of Creative and Pipeline Technologies.
“We’re humbled that this world-class group of diverse creative and technical talent have chosen Spire as their next animation family,” said Lewis. “We’re committed to building a lighter, next-generation approach where best-in-class and emerging artists are encouraged to flex their creative muscles.”
“The positive response we’ve received in support of our new approach to development and animation film production gives us confidence that our vision for Spire is not only relevant, but also much needed in the industry,” Gunsagar added. “Seeing such top talent rally behind us is inspiring.”
The new hires coincide with the studio’s first animation feature announcement — Century Goddess — and will provide valuable expertise on this film and future, yet to be announced projects.
New additions to the Spire Animation Studio team include:
Shawn Krause will serve as Creative Director, Animation and Story. He joins Spire after 26 years at Pixar Animation Studios, where he led animation for the films Up, Cars 2 and Inside Out. Krause brings a strong blend of technological fluency and effective storytelling skills needed to lead feature animation teams.
Michael Surrey will also serve as Creative Director, Story and Animation. An award-nominated animator, Surrey has more than two decades of experience in animation working on acclaimed films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King, and also spent 10+ years as a storyboard artist. In 1995, he was nominated for an Annie Award for his work in animation on The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
David Alexander Smith is Spire’s new Senior Vice President, Digital Production and VFX. Prior to joining the new studio, he served as VFX Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks where he worked on such films as Storks, Over The Moon and The Amazing Spider-Man.
John Kreidman joins Spire Studios as a Producer. Kreidman brings 25 years of experience working in film production across animation, VFX and live action. He most recently served as a co-producer on animated titles Over The Moon and The Emoji Movie and associate producer on Storks.
Andrea Paul comes on board as Senior Vice President, Production. She has more than three decades of experience in animation production and held positions at Disney, Dreamworks and Warner Bros. Among her many films, Paul worked on the productions of Aladdin, the How to Train Your Dragon series, Storks, and recently served as associate producer on UglyDolls.
Philippe Brochu is taking on the role of Art Director for Conceptual Design and Environments, and joins Spire as a visual effects expert specializing in 3D art and conceptual design. Brochu has more than 20 years’ expertise in the VFX and animation industry, where his exceptional work garnered multiple award nominations. His credits include Bolt, Trolls, The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
J.J. Blumenkranz joins as Director, Creative and Pipeline Technologies, bringing his expertise in feature animation and real-time processes to Spire. Blumenkranz has more than two decades of experience in visual effects and animation for film, television, video games and VR/AR. His credits include The Polar Express and Academy Award winners The ChubbChubbs! and Shrek.
Backed by Connect Ventures, an investment partnership between Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and global venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Spire Animation Studios is setting out to tell original, culturally relevant feature-length stories that resonate with audiences worldwide, partnering with both best-in-class talent and emerging creatives. Co-founders Lewis and Gunsagar aim to bring a new creative voice to feature animation and apply a lighter, next-generation approach to production combining A-list above the line talent and animators with cutting-edge technologies.
As cinemas struggle back to life, Japanese anime feature Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train (or Infinity Train) has handily conquered the global box office charts with a record-breaking $44 million debut through Toho. The three-day opening take makes Demon Slayer the weekend’s best performer of any film in release worldwide, and the biggest-ever opening in Japan. The pic also delivered the country’s biggest IMAX opening on record, earning $2.27M on 38 screens ($60K average).
The success followed a deluge of ticket pre-orders from fans for the October 16 release, which knocked out several theater websites in the country and saw ticketing queues reach more than 200,000 purchasers at one point. Audience enthusiasm led TOHO Cinemas, one of the largest theater chains in Japan, to lift COVID-19 seating restrictions in all of its theaters for Demon Slayer‘s opening weekend.
Mugen Train is directed by Haruo Sotozaki, who also steers the popular anime series which launched in 2019. The show follows Tanjiro Kamado as he sets off to become a Demon Slayer in order to turn his sister, Nezuko, back into a human. Anime fans worldwide responded to the show’s tragic mythical story, sword-swinging action and bright moments of comedy. In the new movie, Tanjiro and his companions have completed their rehabilitation training at the Butterfly Mansion and move on to solve the disappearance of 40 people aboard the Mugen Train, joining forces with one of the most powerful swordsmen in the Demon Slayer Corps to face down the train’s demon.
The movie is written and animated by studio Ufotable, which has worked on several Fate/Stay night and Garden of Sinners films, with character design and animation direction by Akira Matsushima (Eureka Seven, Naruto). LiSA, who performs the TV series theme “Gurenge.” has also recorded a new theme for the movie, “Homura.”The anime is based on the original manga by Koyoharu Gotoge.
Funimation is partnering with Aniplex of America to release Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train in the U.S. and Canada in 2021. The companies previously joined forces in 2019 to release Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl.
Actor & producer Michael B. Jordan (gen:LOCK, Raising Dion, Creed II) is powering up with Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment as a producer on their new big-screen comic-book adaptation Static Shock, announced during the recent DC FanDome virtual event. Jordan will produce through his WB-based Outlier Society.
Oscar nominee Reginald Hudlin (Django Unchained, The Boondocks, Blazing Samurai) is also producing.
“I’m proud to be a part of building a new universe centered around Black superheroes; our community deserves that,” Jordan told The Hollywood Reporter. “Outlier Society is committed to bringing to life diverse comic book content across all platforms and we are excited to partner with Reggie and Warner Bros on this initial step.”
The superhero Static was created in 1993 by Milestone Media, a now-defunct publisher founded by Black writers and comics distributed through DC, and the character eventually crossed into the DC Comics universe in 2008. DC announced during FanDome that the label is being resurrected, with Hudlin signed on as a partner in the label and writing a brand-new Static Shock digital comic series (launching in February) and a graphic novel with art by Kyle Baker.
An animated series about teenager Virgil Hawkins, who gains electromagnetic super powers after encountering a mysterious gas, was created by Milestone’s Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek Dingle and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Static Shock (starring Phil LaMarr) was a hit, lauded for both its contribution to representation in the superhero genre and for its relatable characters, bright visuals and commentary on social issues.
The series ran on Kids’ WB from 2000-2004, earning a Humanity Prize, a Music Direction & Composition Daytime Emmy Award (plus additional nominations) and an Annie Award nomination for director Dave Chlystek.
Disney Animation’s intrepid chipmunk brothers are the next beloved cartoons to get the “live-action” feature treatment, with news emerging that the hybrid adaptation of ’90s series Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers will begin filming next spring in L.A. The project is being produced as part of the Disney+ original film slate.
The new movie is being directed by The Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer (Popstar: Never Stop Stopping, The Watch, Hot Rod), written by Dan Gregor & Doug Mand (How I Met Your Mother), and produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman (The Muppets, Beauty and the Beast [2017]). The DisInsider, which reported the production update, says series voices Tress MacNeille (Chip, Gadget), Corey Burton (Dale, Zipper) and Jim Cummings (Monterey Jack) are expected to reprise their roles.
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers was created by Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove, produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, and ran on the Disney Channel from 1989 to 1990 (re-running through 1993 on Disney Afternoon). The show recast the popular cartoon duo who first appeared in 1943’s Private Pluto as 3 oz. detectives out to solve crimes “too small” for the police to handle. The Rescue Rangers agency also included mechanical wiz Gadget Hackwrench (a mouse), adventurer Monterey “Monty” Jack (also a mouse) and Zipper, Monty’s housefly sidekick.
You can watch the full series (presented as one season), remastered in HD, on Disney+.
Bejuba! Entertainment has acquired global distribution rights for The Curious World of Linda, created by South Korean studios TakToon Enterprises for KBS, SK Broadband and SBA. The 2D-animated preschool series follows young Linda, who loves to go to her aunt’s curiosity shop. The shop is filled with the most wonderful things that provide inspiration for Linda’s adventures. In Linda’s mind, everything is possible. She can be anyone and go anywhere in her imagination.
The first 26 episodes of the 78 x 7′ series are being delivered now, with the following 52 episodes delivering in 2021 and 2022. Created by TakToon, the series was written by both U.K. and Korean writers with Debbie Macdonald as the Head Writer. Vision Animation in Malaysia, who did most of the animation of Season 1, has become a co-production partner from Season 2 onwards.
Remy & Boo
Boat Rocker Studios (a division of Boat Rocker Media) announced a slew of new pals for Remy & Boo, with a multitude of international sales for the friendship-based CG animation for preschoolers. The 52 x 11′ series will now head to Australia on ABC Me and New Zealand on TVNZ; across Europe, to Tiny Pop in the U.K., France Télévisions, YLE in Finland, RTL in The Netherlands, DSmart in Turkey, TV2 in Hungary, Disney in Russia; to Cartoon Network in Korea; to the Middle East with Discovery Kids; and French Canada with SRC. The show launched in the U.S. on Universal Kids in May as one of the year’s top 3 premieres on the channel, and in Canada on CBC in September.
Remy & Boo tells of the unique friendship between an adventurous six-year-old girl, Remy, and an incredible squishy pink robot called Boo – whose enthusiasm sometimes goes awry! Fuelled by Remy’s indomitable spirit and Boo’s can-do attitude, and powered by two incredible imaginations, their days in Dolphin Bay are filled with adventures both big and small which demonstrate that there is no greater power than the power of friendship. Created by Matt Fernandes of Industrial Brothers and produced by Industrial Brothers and Boat Rocker Studios, in association with Universal Kids, CBC Kids and Radio-Canada.
L-R: Big Blue, Pikwik Pack, True and the Rainbow Kingdom
Toronto-based Guru Studio has signed a slew of new international broadcast deals for its newest preschool series Pikwik Pack and its hit Emmy-nominated True and the Rainbow Kingdom.
Pre-Sales for Pikwik Pack include Super RTL (Germany), Canal Panda (Portugal), HOP (Israel) and Minimini+ (Poland). The series has been previously acquired by Disney Junior (U.S., Australia/New Zealand, Korea and India), Hulu (U.S.) and Treehouse (Canada).
The strong lineup of new broadcast partners for True and the Rainbow Kingdom include TVP ABC (Poland), 9Go! (Australia) and AFN (U.S. Military). Having previously acquired True Seasons 1 and 2, HOP (Israel) and Star Channel (Greece) have quickly acquired Seasons 3 and 4, with HOP having also signed on as the L&M Agent in Israel for the series
Guru Studio’s line up of originals includes two-time Emmy nominated series Justin Time, and its newest original series Big Blue, which is debuting at MIPCOM’s virtual market this year. The new 52 x 11′ series for kids 5-9 follows underwater sibling adventurers Lettie and Lemo, leaders of a quirky submarine crew bound to protect a magical ocean fairy stowaway named Bacon Berry as they discover deep conflicts among 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.
Brave Bunnies
Multi award-winning animation studio Aardman and Ukranian creative production company Glowberry have announced deals with a number of international broadcasters to acquire the first season of Brave Bunnies — a 52 x 7′ 2D preschool series created by Olga Cherepanova, currently in production with Spanish animation studio Anima and distributed globally by Aardman.
Deals have been secured with Nick Jr (U.K.), Super RTL (Germany), ABC (Australia), YLE (Finland), HOP! (Israel), PlusPlus (Ukraine), Daekyo (South Korea) and Milkshake! (U.K.).The series is due to launch autumn 2020.
Brave Bunnies follows a family of courageous and curious Bunnies as they seek adventure and exploration, travelling on the Bunny Bus. Every episode in the series, directed by Tim Fehrenbach starts with a Bunny Bus-ride. On each stop, brother and sister Bunnies, Bop and Boo discover different animals, creating new games to help build new friendships. Brave Bunnies shows children the diversity of the world, encouraging viewers to accept differences, no matter how big or small, with the tagline: “We might seem different at first, but we’ll find a way to be friends and play together.”
Vir: The Robot Boy (L) and Eena Meena Deeka
WOWKIDZ, the distribution arm of leading India and Singapore-based animation studio Cosmos-Maya, is expanding its reach in the global kids’ animation sector, securing significant business via multiple new international TV, streamer and OTT sales deals and international projects:
In North America and Latin America, U.S.-based streamer Olympusat Entertainment has picked up pay TV and digital rights for 221 half-hours of catalogue titles including Vir: The Robot Boy, Eena Meena Deeka and Chacha Bhatija, along with new show Harry.
In India, Disney+Hotstar has acquired online rights for 130 half-hours of the same hit library shows. Upcoming English and Punjabi-language platform Heeroz OTT from Catrack Entertainment has acquired worldwide non-exclusive rights for Vir: The Robot Boy and Chacha Bhatija. And IN10 Media is launching a new channel titled Gubbare with 78 half-hours of Cosmos- Maya’s internationally co-produced shows such as Atchoo, Berry Bees and OPS.
Indonesian broadcasting and content distribution company, Spectrum Film has licensed 536 half hours of 10 of Cosmos-Maya’s original shows; while Dubai-based Dubuzz Entertainment has picked up non-exclusive AVOD rights for 208 half-hours of ratings winning Motu Patlu and Chacha Bhatija.
In further deals, Vietnam-based FPT Telecom has picked up 78 half-hours for its SVOD OTT platform FPT Play, and China-based Puxin and Zhong Lu have picked up non-exclusive digital rights for 335 half-hours of Motu Patlu, Vir: The Robot Boy, Eena Meena Deeka and Tik Tak Tail for digital streaming on government IPTVs.
Dragons Rescue Riders: Heroes of the Sky
Sky (U.K. & Europe) has inked a long-term content agreement for hundreds of hours of DreamWorks Animation Television series, granting the broadcaster exclusive access to new franchise-spinoff series Madagascar: A Little Wild, TrollsTopia and Dragons Rescue Riders: Heroes of the Sky, as well as familiar favorites like All Hail King Julien and Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh. Episodes will air on Sky One on weekends, and be available on-demand through Sky Kids Pack and the Sky Kids App. The deal with closed through NBCUniversal Global Distribution.
Pokemon Journeys
Mediaset España’s children’s channel Boing (Spain) exclusively premiered the 23rd season of the iconic Pokémon animation series,Pokémon Journeys, on Monday. The latest installment of the global hit series will air Monday to Thursday at 19:15. On its 10th anniversary, Boing is the most-watched children’s channel on commercial television in Spain for the seventh consecutive year — a record that it broke in September, when it beat Disney Channel in the 4-12 year old target (11.6% vs. 7.1%). This year, Boing shows a clear upward trend in this target, going from the 10.3% share recorded in January to the 11.6% recorded last month.
In Pokémon Journeys, Pokémon Trainer Ash Ketchum has a new plan: to travel the world. But first, he and his partner Pikachu will be heading to the opening of Cerise Laboratory, a research center dedicated to uncovering the mysteries of the Pokémon in each region. There they will meet Goh, another child with a boundless curiosity about Pokémon, and Professor Cerise will ask them to become official researchers. Ash, as determined as ever to become a Pokémon Master, and Goh, who aspires to capture one of every Pokémon, will set out to explore the vast regions of the Pokémon world, such as Kanto, Unova and Galar.
Cocomelon KT
Global digital media company Moonbug Entertainment Ltd. announced a new partnership with KT Corporation, South Korea’s largest IPTV operator, to bring the popular 3D preschool series CoComelon to S. Korea as the platform’s major English educational brand. Families in the country can now access episodes across all KT platforms, including Olleh TV and Seezn, with new content arriving throughout the year.
As the world’s most-viewed YouTube channel with over 92.8 million subscribers and 3.5 billion views per month, CoComelon teaches children how to take on everyday activities like chores with a sense of enthusiasm and infectious positivity. With its bright and bold colors, CoComelon attracts children aged one to four to sing and dance along with Baby JJ and his siblings as they learn letters, numbers, animal sounds, colors and more.
Dragon Force
Malaysia based kids entertainment specialist Animasia Studio has been named the sole global distributor by Hyper Dimension Entertainment (founded by Chinese theatrical film distributor Sublime Media) for the animated series Dragon Force. Animasia will handle distribution and licensing & merchandising outside of China. Continuing the show’s success in Season 1 & 2, Hyper Dimension will be launching Season 3 of Dragon Force in China this fall.The series is produced in collaboration with streaming platform Youku (where Dragon Force has 1.5 billion views) and animation studio Blue Arc.
Animasia has already secured multiple TV sales for Dragon Force S1 & S2 with RTV (Indonesia), Mediacorp Suria (Singapore) and TBA top kids channels in Israel & Middle East with the launch planned for 2021.
Aimed at kids ages 6-11, the core of Dragon Force is to let the kids experience how the protagonist Lucas grows up as a young hero through adventure and battle. In the new Monsters Rise season, all 26 Mech-monsters are based on the legendary ancient Chinese book Shan Hai Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas), and Dragon Force will have a new adventure in the virtual world of the oriental legend. Under the guidance of the Dragon Force, Lucas bravely meets the challenge and grows up in the process. The concept of ‘unity of knowledge and action’ is displayed through fascinating stories.
Oishinbo
Shin-Ei Animation and AlphaBoat have teamed up to create and operated an official YouTube channel for the immensely popular anime series Oishinbo, based on the original cuisine-themed manga by writer Tetsu Kariya and artist Akira Hanasaki. The new YT channel will make the past 121 episodes available to watch for free in their original order, with English subtitles. The first episode debuted Oct. 2, with new episodes each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. AlphaBoat will manage the channel and the official Twitter (@oishinbo_ch), as well as providing copyright management services.
Launched on Nippon TV in 1988, Oishinbo centers on culinary journalist Shirō Yamaoka and his partner (and later wife), Yūko Kurita. The story is about solving various people’s problems through food while aiming to create “the ultimate menu”. The manga was serialized in “Big Comic Spirits” published by Shogakukan and sold a total of 135 million copies, sparking Japan’s “gourmet manga” boom.
Azoomee
Safe & positive kids’ media company Azoomee has announced the U.K. launch of its Azoomee Kids TV Channel on rlaxx TV, a free ad-supported service that combines linear channels for a relaxing TV experience with the flexibility of VOD. rlaxx TV is available on smart TV devices such as Blaupunkt, Hisense, Hitachi, JVC, Medion, Metz, Sharp, Telefunken, Toshiba and Vestel. The Azoomee Kids TV Channel showcases hundreds of inspiring and imaginative TV shows that foster curiosity and wonder in kids. From family favourites to DIY arts & crafts, everything’s handpicked so kids are safe to explore freely.
By mid-2021, the Azoomee Kids TV Channel will also be available through rlaxx TV on all connected devices such as smart TVs (LGE, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sony), streaming sticks and boxes (Amazon Fire, Google Chromecast, Roku), mobile phones (Android, iOS), gaming consoles (Xbox, PlayStation) and all standard internet browsers.
Academy Award-nominated French animation studio Xilam Animation is partnering with Alibaba Group’s video streaming platform, Youku, to co-produce its new 2D and 3D animated preschool series Lupin’s Tales (78 x 7’), which is set to launch in 2021. To support the series, Xilam and Youku will also collaborate to develop a range of merchandise for the Chinese market, with an initial focus on educational products.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Alibaba’s Youku on our first ever French-Chinese co-production project,” said Xilam CEO Marc du Pontavice. “Lupin’s Tales has many values that will resonate with audiences in China, such as its encouragement to create your own path in life and using your imagination to explore a variety of cultures. Alibaba’s outstanding expertise across content and e-commerce make them the ideal partner to launch the brand in the market, and we look forward to seeing the series and consumer products range come to life.”
Targeting a preschool audience, Lupin’s Tales follows a wolf-cub who dreams of being like the storybook heroes he admires, and goes from one tale to another to live out their adventures through all continents and ages. But the impetuous Lupin is far from perfect, and it is not always easy for him to get to that “happily ever after” — luckily, he can count on the narrator’s help and on his good heart to learn from his mistakes.
Alibaba will hold all distribution and merchandising rights to Lupin’s Tales in mainland China, and Xilam will handle the rest of the world.
Apple TV+ has teamed up with WildBrain, along with Peanuts Worldwide and Lee Mendelson Film Productions, to become the home for all things Peanuts, bringing together new original series and specials, along with the iconic, beloved specials to fans around the world, all in one place.
New animated Peanuts originals coming to Apple TV+ include a second season of the Daytime Emmy-nominated Snoopy in Space, and a slate of brand-new specials that will find the Peanuts gang marking Mother’s Day, Earth Day, New Year’s Eve and Back to School – all to be produced by WildBrain’s animation studio. The new series and specials join the previously announcedThe Snoopy Show, a brand-new Peanuts 70th anniversary documentary film from Imagine Documentaries and WildBrain; and the Daytime Emmy Award-winning Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10.
The original programs and new specials will also soon stream globally alongside iconic Peanuts specials, including A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
The Halloween special will begin streaming globally on Apple TV+ on October 19, and will be available for free from October 30 until November 1 as a special treat on Apple TV+.
Just in time for Thanksgiving, Apple TV+ will launch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on November 18, and the special will be available for free from November 25 until November 27.
The Peanuts gang will also deck the halls with the premiere of A Charlie Brown Christmas, streaming exclusively on Apple TV+ on December 4. The holiday special will be available to enjoy for free from December 11 until December 13.
The challenging, creative 24 HOURS Animation Competition for Students ran young artists from around the world through the event’s first ever all-virtual gauntlet this month. Remote-working teams of five students each were charged with creating a fully realized half-minute short within the infamous 24 hours based on this year’s theme: “How this pandemic has affected you.”
Scrub by team Rat Den
Now in its 18th year, the 24 HOURS Animation Contest for Students is hosted by animation professor Aubry Mintz, at California State University, Long Beach. The 2020 virtual contest was busy with official updates and behind-the-scenes snaps and videos from the 197 participating teams on the contest’s Facebook page. Competitors represented 64 schools (colleges and high schools) 11 different countries — Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.K. and the U.S.
Only 99.99% of Germs by team The Lactose Tolerants
Mintz also announced on social media that the event set a sponsorship record this year, receiving nearly $170,000 worth of prize donations from 23 companies. He wrote: “We have been able to achieve great new things this year, including awarding incredible prizes to six teams of college students and one team of high school students, purchasing equipment for students in need so that they are able to participate in the contest and also use their new tools for future online learning, hire a small staff to help bring this contest to the next professional level and more!”
Hostile Headlines by team PeePo Pain
In addition to the six winning films, which were determined by point score assigned by this year’s jury of working artists and creative execs — Galen Chu, Alessandra Sorrentino, Karina Gazizova, Mark Ackland, Lesley Headrick, Eric Calderon and Alison Mann — the contest also awarded a special prize for the best Behind the Scenes material, which went to team L̸̋̇Ẽ̸̎S̵͗̕O̶̊̉Ú̴̓E̴͛͒F̵͊̈́D̷͑̈́U̸͂̄R̶̂̅S̶̏̉ from Columbus College of Art and Design (Ohio). Their project, which reflected on the important role pets play in our lives, especially during times of upheaval, was titled Essen-tails.
Essen-Tail by team LESOUEFDURS
The 2020 winners are:
1st Place: Au Revoir Hands | Sheridan College, Ontario; A Ray of Hope
2nd Place: Rat Den | Sheridan College, Ontario;Scrub
3rd Place: The Lactose Tolerants | San Jose State University, California; Only 99.99% of Germs
4th Place: The Five da Vinkys | Sheridan College, Ontario; Quarantine Blues
Finnish animation production company Haruworks has welcomed Rabbit Films as a new investor into its development slate of animated properties. Rabbit Films, one of Finland’s leading independent production companies, is now a minority stakeholder in the slate and CEO Olli Suominen has taken a board seat.
The move is a strategic one for both companies, providing each with access to the other’s know-how and networks, and giving Rabbit Films a foothold in a new genre: children’s content. For Haruworks, this is the second round of investment raised for its first development slate. Two of the slate’s projects, 1001 Animals and Worst Best Friends were pitched at Cartoon Forum in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
“We see this investment as proof of the strength of our slate,” says Haruworks Producer and CEO Nick Dorra. “Even in the challenging circumstances of a global pandemic, great content always carries potential, and with this new partnership we’ll be well positioned to exploit it.”
”Haruworks has a creative and original slate of projects, all with great values and artistic ambition,” said Suominen. “We believe this investment will benefit both parties in the future. I look forward to our work together and see great opportunities in the future.”
Haruworks is based in Helsinki, Finland, with a mission to create positive social and behavioral change through high-quality children’s content. Founded by Dorra, formerly Rovio’s Head of Animation, and creative director Maija Arponen, the company approaches properties with a multi-platform strategy. The team has a deep understanding of apps, games and digital distribution and a commitment to engage audiences wherever they are.
Rabbit Films is a leading Finnish independent production company. The multi-award-winning producer of non-scripted entertainment with a strong slate of drama and feature films in the making is run by Suominen. On top of production, Rabbit is also a distribution company handling international sales of its original formats, with its shows having aired in over 200 territories.
WonderfulSubs LLC — the blog and entertainment co. catering to fans of anime, manga and Japanese culture — announced that they are launching a social networking platform geared towards fans of anime, along with initiatives to support artists and the anime industry. The brand currently has over 70,000 Facebook fans and a growing audience on other platforms.
“Anime means the world to us and millions out there, but surprisingly there’s a lack of a definitive place on the web for fans of the medium to congregate,” the company said in a blog post. “While there are some platforms out there that come close, many of them don’t have a central focus on anime, lack specific tool sets that fans use all the time, or just provide buggy incomplete experiences. We think we can do better, because we want to do better. And in order to do that, we are going to utilize feedback from those who know best; the community itself.”
WonderfulSubs quoted Jun Sugawara’s Animator Dormitory Project and Love Hina creator Ken Akamatsu’s Manga Library Z as some of their favorite projects that are making a positive impact in the anime industry, and that they would be donating half of their revenue to initiatives like these.
“We deeply believe in these initiatives so instead of reinventing the wheel, we want to support them in any and every we that we can. That’s why we are announcing that 50% of all WonderfulSubs LLC’s revenue will be donated to these types of projects that keep the anime industry pumping and the people that make our little large-eyed friends comfortable. This includes ad revenue, subscriptions, and any other form of funding that we may receive.”
The company’s social networking platform is set to include standard social media features as well anime enthusiast-specific ones. This includes user lists for tracking anime/manga and the ability to view series information, trailers and reviews.
“Supporter”, “Verified” and — novelly — “Artist” are special user badges that will be available to users who meet specific requirements: “While many other non-niche focused sites highlight notable users such as musicians and gamers, there seems to be a stunning lack of recognition for illustrators. We want to change that, and have committed to creating a special badge to highlight the artists of our community, regardless of art style.”
Users can obtain the Supporter badge by signing up for a $2 monthly subscription plan, which unlocks exclusive features for their account such as the ability to set a GIF image for their avatar and cover photos, exclusive emotes, access to a private community for supporters, and more. Half of all proceeds will go to initiatives such as those mentioned above.
WonderfulSubs expects to fully launch their social networking platform on November 20. User registration is set to open up sometime in the first half of November. More details will be revealed in the coming weeks via their social media accounts. You can follow them on Twitter (@WonderfulSubs), Facebook (/WonderfulSubs) and Instagram (@wonderful.subs) for updates, as well as join their Discord server to follow their progress and beta test new features.
Read more about WonderfulSubs’ new initatives here.
That’s right: Adult Swim Festival is back! This year, the celebration of comedy, music and animation is going fully online with a free, two-day, global event live-streaming never-before-seen performances and engagements with fan-favorite Adult Swim shows — right to your couch! The Fest will be streaming exclusively on YouTube on November 13 & 14.
Confirmed with the announcement are spankin’ new performances from Robyn Presents Club Domo and Mastodon, plus exclusive live streams for fans of Rick and Morty and The Eric Andre Show, a special edition of Toonami and music video premiere from Run the Jewels X Cyberpunk 2077.
Rick and Morty panel
Adult Swim Festival is planning over 20 performances and live streams for the virtual 2020 edition, so keep checking in at adultswimfestival.com — where you can also pre-order your fest merch, including tees, sweats, socks, a nalgene water bottle and, of course, face masks.
Animation fans won’t want to pass up the Space Ghost “Nobody cares, Moby” tee or cool Rick and Morty licensed partner products, be it the lasered denim jacket from Wrangler, a character-themed Rubik’s cube or a tube of Pringles.
How to be prepared for your next Zoom meeting with a development exec.
Think you have the next great idea for an animated feature? If so, you’ll need to develop and deliver an amazing pitch to stand even the slightest chance of landing a production or distribution deal.
Movie executives typically don’t deal with mere mortals, especially when financing or a co-production deal is being sought, so you’ll need to hire an entertainment attorney, producer, or agent that believes in your project to get you in the door.
In the meantime, you’ll need to perfect your pitch. Keep in mind, the same things that make a great pitch in person are the same things that make a great pitch remotely. In fact, remote pitches are nothing new. Many a movie pitch has been made “live via satellite” or through the net. High-speed internet has made it more convenient and effective than ever to pitch a project to a potential client out of state or even overseas.
Do Your Homework
Whether pitching your idea remotely or in person, you’ll need to do plenty of research before identifying appropriate candidates. Dive deep into the entire catalog of the studio you are interested in and make sure your idea is on topic. Requesting to pitch an over the top zombie gore fest to a company that focuses on children’s educational content will more than likely result in you being placed on the “auto-ignore” list.
Find a company that has produced successful titles in the same genre as your idea, as this establishes your intention of aligning with and adding to their more successful work. Additionally, you will be expected to have intrinsic knowledge of their existing content, so brush up on their full body of work. This shows respect, passion, a genuine interest in their company and that you’ve done your homework.
Best-Laid Plans
After scheduling a date for your presentation, work with your agent to establish the best approach for your pitch.
Some companies make their decisions based exclusively on financials, while others may be better wooed by a great story. This being the case, you need to come prepared for all occasions but will probably be best served by polishing your story and passionate delivery to a mirror-like shine, as some successful pitches of yore consisted of little more than a sole presenter explaining and acting out the entire movie from start to finish.
The Three Ps of Pitching
Practice, practice, practice! You’ll need to rehearse your pitch over and over again until it becomes second nature. And after a hundred tries, when you finally have it perfected, rehearse at least 10 more times.
You’ll need to repeatedly record yourself, start to finish, then watch with an unflinching eye. Judge and critique your performance to the standard of a movie created by the greatest director and most legendary cast ever assembled. Redline any area where the pacing drags or passion lags, and refine these areas so each round is better than the last.
Whatever your approach may be, it’s crucial to get to the point quickly. Establish the need or benefit of this particular idea as it pertains to their company — and even mention fierce competitors and how this idea will help them beat said competition.
Icing on the Cake
While some agents may tell you not to bury the lead (i.e., save the best for last), if you’re able to keep your audience riveted and the execs interested throughout your pitch, sometimes a powerful image or quick animation sample at the very end can really help push you over the proverbial edge. The visuals need to be compelling and strike a strong emotional chord in your audience, so spend plenty of time producing a very short and very powerful sample of your movie and present this as the grand finale.
And always remember to treat your pitch as if it’s a multi-million dollar blockbuster movie because, if all goes well, it just might turn into one.
Martin Grebing is the president of Funnybone Animation Studios. He can be reached at www.funnyboneanimation.com.
Sometimes, it’s not the big pieces of software that bring me the most joy. Sometimes, it’s simply a little tool that solves a problem and makes life just a little bit easier. PolyCloth ClothBrush is a sweet plugin for Autodesk’s 3ds Max, and it is used to sculpt wrinkles and folds into a surface.
Now, you may be thinking, why do I need that? Max has a cloth simulation. So do Maya, Houdini, Cinema 4D, etc. And if you wanted to get fancy, you could dive into Marvelous Designer. But all those solutions are expensive, and cloth simulations are not necessarily easy to control or learn. In fact, visions of killing a fly with a sledgehammer come to mind.
ClothBrush is an elegant tool that uses physics to calculate the wrinkles and folds as you push, pull and pinch the surface around with your brush. You can also modify the parameters of the cloth like damping, plasticity, bendiness and deformation. It’s really that simple. However, the utility is deep. For architecture projects, sets in virtual production, still sculptures, 3D printing, etc., you don’t need the overhead of a cloth simulation, and you may not want to jump into ZBrush to sculpt in folds. You can pop open ClothBrush, activate the surface and begin pulling it around to get just the right folds. Or, if you are going to do a simulation, you can manipulate the surface to your starting look, or your target look as a guide for the simulation.
The plugin is only 60 bucks, developed by someone out there who saw a problem that needed fixing, and took care of it. So support your 3D artists out there — especially the ones who are delivering value to the community.
Back a few months ago when I was part of the Unreal Fellowship, I got to try out some stuff that was in beta at the time. One of those was Atoms Crowd, which was almost ready for prime time when I was writing the initial set of Unreal reviews, but needed some time for one more polish.
Atoms Crowd is a stand-alone skeleton-based crowd simulation framework. While it stands alone, it has been integrated into Maya, Houdini, Clarisse, Blender, Katana and Gaffer, and it can be rendered in V-Ray, RenderMan, Arnold and Redshift. You could say that it’s pretty ubiquitous — unless you want to render in Mental Ray or something. Which … why?
It hasn’t been around forever, but it’s been around for a good three or four years and has been picked up by numerous VFX houses including Cinesite. Also, Tool Chefs has been awarded an Epic MegaGrant to continue development of Atoms Realtime — the Atoms Crowd for Unreal.
Creating crowds through Atoms Realtime is pretty straightforward once you go through the process a couple times. It’s faster if you are already familiar with setting up characters and skeletons in UE. It comes with its own set of agents to get started, but that doesn’t mean you can’t set up your characters in Maya or Houdini and port them over.
Since it is skeleton based, and that skeleton can be used over many characters, once you bring them into your level, the Atoms Realtime layout tool provides numerous ways to distribute the crowd members. This includes manually placing them over a grid, within a polygon area, along curved paths, in clusters or simply scattered across a terrain. These agents are driven by animation clips or caches that have been exported out of either Atoms Crowds or Atoms Realtime.
The upside of caches is that you can use them within the Engine without an Atoms license (but, they can’t be modified). These clips are then played via a state engine to tell them when to do which action. Complex terrain is respected, and the agents can look to the gravity vector to determine how to stay upright on slopes. They understand collisions and avoidance. And all of that can be broken and the agents turned into ragdolls if they “die.” Even pieces of agents can be broken off.
All of these variables can be randomized to provide a sense of “chaos.” Agent sizes, orientations, geometry accessories, material colors can have variations. Even clusters of groups can have different agents within them. For those you do have the bravery and smarts to dive deeper into the functionality of the crowds, they are fully customizable and extendable not only through the Blueprint system within UE, but also from C++ and python.
Todd Sheridan Perry is a VFX supervisor and digital artist who has worked on many acclaimed features such as Black Panther, The Christmas Chronicles,The Lord of the Rings and Avengers: Age of Ultron. You can reach him at todd@teaspoonvfx.com.
Ever since it was founded in 1997, Canadian animation house Mercury Filmworks has been a hotbed of artistic and commercial activity. Working on shows as diverse as Disney’s Mickey Mouse, Stars vs. The Forces of Evil, Tangled: The Series, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Guardians of the Galaxy, the studio has expanded its reach and currently employees about 340 employees at its Ottawa home base, as well as partnering with Cartoon Saloon to form Lighthouse Studios in Kilkenny, Ireland. Studio founder and CEO Clint Eland was kind enough to answer a few of our questions in time for the arrival of the new fall market season.
Clint Eland
Animag: Can you tell us how Mercury Filmworks is faring during this most unusual year?
Clint Eland: 2020 has been a great year for the animation industry overall. At Mercury Filmworks, our slate comprises a strategic balance of original series from our talented in-house creators and external projects that we collaborate on with our partners. Both strategies continue to work well for us as we attempt to broaden the genres of shows we work on while focusing on our creative process.
In the work-for-hire arena, the larger entertainment studios have doubled down on animation, resulting in an abundance of new and exciting opportunities. We came into the year strong and continue to be so while navigating the current pandemic. Some of our current work for hire projects include Kid Cosmic for Netflix and Hilda season two with our good friends at Silvergate Media.
Hilda
You were recently quoted in an article about studio productivity and how it has slowed down during this work-from-home era. Can you elaborate on that?
Navigating production in the COVID-19 landscape resulted in a slow-down in our output in the short term — until recently we averaged approximately 70% efficiency overall with some departments doing very well, while others struggled a little more. We’ve been very good at applying innovation and supporting our teams, so we’re seeing that number lift. The silver lining is that this emergency transition has created opportunities to re-think how our business operates and the technologies we can leverage to enable the workforce to have more options and achieve a healthier work/life balance in a post-COVID workplace. We have proven that working from home does work in a state of emergency, and now we are looking ahead to how it can be effective post-COVID.
There are three key areas that we are focused on – communication, personal development, and the business of animation. I’ll expand a little here:
Communication Is King: There is nothing more powerful than putting people in a room to communicate — it underpins learning, ideation and teamwork. Face-to-face communication builds trust and drives participation. Technology has been a game-changer and enabled the work-from-home option, but we all lose out on the opportunity to connect on a human level with our team members. Technology to make work-from-home viable is fundamentally about trying to close the gap between communicating in person and communicating remotely. The very need for a solution highlights the problem.
Developing People: Our employees are our most important asset. How do we continue our history of innovation and performance if our ability to invest and develop our team is severely mitigated by diluted communication and the loss of the human connection? I worry about artists missing the opportunities to connect meaningfully with colleagues and mentors. How do we get better? How do our careers progress?
The Business of Animation: As a studio, yes, we have been operating at more or less 70% efficiency since we transitioned to work-from-home. It is important to know that a large part of our organization is production, which has a fundamentally different scale in terms of team size, communication and organizational requirements than pre-production. Depending on each studio’s unique makeup, one might fare better or worse than another in the current situation. Here at Mercury, some people and departments are doing really well. Others are not, and the reasons for that are unique to each situation and often not about any one thing. What we do know is that we need to continue to learn and adapt.
Surviving and maintaining our competitive advantage are not just a management problem to solve. The foundation of every solution comes from our employees and artists. Their teamwork, work ethic, organization, and their drive to be better tomorrow than they were today is what will make WFH a viable tool with a permanent place in the creative process.
Pangors of Puddle Peak
What are some of the projects you are currently working on?
We are currently working on several projects with our partners at Disney, Netflix, Amazon and Apple. In addition to the projects already mentioned, Kid Cosmic and Hilda season two, some of our other current projects include The Pangors of Puddle Peak, featuring eight-year-old best friends who discover fantastical creatures hidden in plain sight, and Bloopy Merps,< about a rules-loving robot and a soft-hearted alien on a mission to terraform a lifeless planet. There are more amazing shows in various stages of development and production but, unfortunately, we are unable to talk about them because they are at a more sensitive stage with partners attached.
Bloopy Merps
What do you see as your biggest challenges for the rest of the year and 2021?
The continuing challenge, of course, is adjusting to a full or partial work-from-home model because of COVID-19. This hurdle has required us to rethink how to communicate with and continue investing in our employee’s growth and development. Both of which are key to providing the level of work our partners expect of us.
Another good challenge to have is that we are busy and have a lot of opportunities across the board for Directors, Art Directors, Animation Directors, 2D animators, FX artists, Compositors, Layout and Background Artists and more. Fortunately, with college career fairs going virtual, remote hiring is working well for us.
With so many productions in development and production, and each project with needs, wants and personalities of their own, we are grateful to have the combined experience of Chantal Ling (VP of Originals and Co-Productions), Travis Williams (Director of Development), Jefferson Allen (VP, Studio Operations), Tyler Platt (Director of Production), Cate Elliott (Producer) and Heath Kenny (Chief Content Officer) to keep the plates spinning!
Which animation tools do you use to produce your shows?
We work in Toon Boom Harmony and support that pipeline with Adobe Photoshop, Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, Miro Board in development, lots of Excel and, as often as we can, good old-fashioned pencil and paper — even if it’s just to thumbnail out ideas.
How many full-time employees do you have at Mercury these days?
We have around 340 employees at Mercury Filmworks, not including the interns and students that join our team in the summer and fall. We are also actively recruiting across all divisions, with about 40 positions that we are looking to fill in the near future.
[wdw-mickey-and-minnies-runaway-railway.jpg] cap: Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, a new attraction featuring 2D cartoons opening in Disneyland in 2022.
What do you love about working in animation in 2020?
It seems like we are living in a Golden Age of animation. 2020 brought us new mandates from broadcasters and streamers and an amplified need for new ideas. As a result, we have been provided with opportunities to tackle new projects and styles that we might not have otherwise.
One of the things we love most about animation this year is how important the collaborative process feels. We are a community of passionate people who have come together to create and build stories that have meaning and reach a global audience, but when it comes down to it, we are all fans of animation, and that is the glue that holds us together. When you walk through our studio (or experience it remotely), you can see the quality of work that comes from our teams. You feel in awe of the magic of animation and a genuine respect for those that make it.
***This article originally appeared in the November ’20 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 304)***
A few years ago, director Ben Stassen’s Belgian-French movie House of Magic introduced worldwide audiences to the adventures of a special cat who finds refuge in the house of a kindly magician. This year, a CG-animated new spinoff series based on the nWave and StudioCanal movie will be introduced in international TV markets. Produced by TeamTO in co-production with Belgian partners Panache Productions and La Compagnie Cinématographique, Presto! School of Magic has also secured partnerships with French broadcasters M6 and Canal+. The series is currently being produced and animated by TeamTO in Paris and Valence.
“We know that magic is timeless, mesmerizing and especially intriguing for kids,” says Monica Levy, head of sales for Federation Kids & Family, which is distributing the 52 x 11-minute series globally. “Produced by our partners TeamTO, this light and fun series will introduce children to what lies behind the curtain through the eyes of our heroes. And like in Glee and other shows that allow young people to discover their hidden talents, Presto! School of Magic shows what it takes to become a great magician.”
Monica Levy
The series features a group of talented and curious kids who dream of becoming magicians. “Star students Dylan and Lisa cannot believe how lucky they are to be part of this new school,” notes Levy. “Lorenzo — a retired magician of international renown — and his nephew have turned their old mansion into Presto! School of Magic, where Lisa, Dylan and fellow aspiring magicians Nica, Violet and Vincent learn the tricks of the trade. They all have a different reason for attending the school – but they have one thing in common: a passion for illusion, conjuring and the art of magic!”
According to the show’s director, David Lopez, the production took the risk of imitating 2D concepts as closely as possible, both with the characters and the settings. “The backgrounds are presented in a unified, tone-on-tone manner in order to make the characters stand out better,” explains Levy. “The character design was inspired by current films and series such as Trollhunters, Hotel Transylvania and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with an added dose of cartoonishness and some manga, particularly in the expressions. In terms of the animation style, TeamTO also tried to mimic 2D squash-and-stretchas much as possible, with efficient poses, pithy and dynamic movements, some extreme expressions and elasticity.”
Squish
In addition, Federation continues to offer the 52 x 11’ animated show Squish to content buyers around the world. Produced by sister company Cottonwood Media, the show follows the adventures of single-celled organisms as they face the usual trials and tribulations of kids everywhere. Levy points out, “Coincidentally, the series provides a light-hearted platform to potentially create conversations for children about viruses, bacteria and more, so they are also reassured that not all viruses, bacteria etc are bad.”
Levy says she and the rest of the team at Federation were able to quickly adapt and work efficiently through the lockdown period in France. “The fact that the whole world was also working to a new rhythm via Zoom, Teams and other similar platforms meant there was a strong element of solidarity and mutual understanding on the business front, which was incredibly bonding,” she notes. “The challenge we found was the initial return to the office post lockdown. For example, when we had meetings with some staff in conference rooms while others were working from home, it created some technical and audio hitches — especially as wearing a mask and socially distancing around a desk while trying to speak to others via a computer screen was not as easy as we had thought. We have now found a great middle ground. A few days a week we are all back in the office (with masks of course) and other days we are all working remotely. This is a nice balance, and it’s lovely to be back in the office and to see each other.”
To find out more about Presto! and the company’s other shows, visit www.fedent.com.
Disney+ will be adding warnings to several classic films from the Walt Disney Animation and live-action catalog, shining a light on some of the problematic characters and racist depictions that have not aged well in the animation vault. The Aristocats, Dumbo, The Jungle Book, Lady and the Tramp and Peter Pan, as well as live-action adaptation Swiss Family Robinson, have all been tagged.
As part of The Walt Disney Company’s “Stories Matter” initiative, the studio is in the process of reviewing its film library and adding content advisories acknowledging “negative depictions or mistreatment of people or cultures.” Last year, Disney+ received backlash ahead of launch for its plan to simply remove controversial scenes from its loveable old movies — such as “Jim Crow” in Dumbo (1941). Critics accused the studio of trying to whitewash its past, while others were in favor of resigning the distasteful scenes to history’s cutting room floor. Films in question then received slightly vague pre-viewing warnings instead: “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”
Dumbo
It’s not the first time Disney Animation has had to address vintage content that “became” too offensive for audiences. The original version of Fantasia‘s (1940) “Pastoral Symphony” segment went to screens with a young Black centaurette character who served the others, had a donkey’s body instead of a horse’s and resembled racist caricatures of the time. (The Hays office did, however, force the animators to cover the other centaurette’s breasts.) The character, dubbed “Sunflower,” was abruptly cut out for the 1969 re-release.
The new Disney+ advisory reads:
“This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.
“Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe.”
Aristocats
The Stories Matter website breaks down examples of the films receiving advisories and the negative depictions therein. In short:
The Aristocats(1970) tags the Siamese cat (voiced by a white actor affecting an accent) depicted as a racist caricature of East Asian peoples who plays the piano with chopsticks.
Lady and the Tramp (1955) has the same problem with Siamese cats Si and Am (voiced by Peggy Lee), as well as other canine characters depicting exaggerated ethnic stereotypes.
Dumbo‘s crows and their minstrel show homage to the age of vaudeville blackface and the fact that their leader is named after racial segregation laws in the Southern United States are addressed in detail this time.
The Jungle Book (1967) is singled out for the jazz-singing ape character King Louie (voiced by Louis Prima), considered an offensive caricature built on racist stereotypes of Black/African American people.
Peter Pan (1953) is flagged for its mocking and appropriative, stereotypical depiction of Native people and Peter’s repeated use of a racial slur against them.
Peter Pan
New content warnings are applied with the help of the African American FIlm Critics Association, Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, GLAAD, IllumiNative, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, RespectAbility and other organizations serving as an advisory council to Disney.
