Monday, June 28, 2010

Meet....the animator (Tessa Comrie)


"I'm inspired by good stories, trees, conversations over wine with interesting people, the backs of cereal boxes and this general mad journey of life."

Tessa never trained formally in 3D animation but this talented, young animator has managed to learn a lot on the fly. Before joining the team working on Zambezia, Tessa worked at Anamazing on the 3D production Liewe Heksie. She studied Fine Art at Rhodes University majoring in photography and video, where she "baked, created and burnt" her own dark fairytale stop-frame animations. Stop-frame animated films like those made by Tim Burton are her first love but Ratatouille and Triplets of Belleville have also been an inspiration. At the moment she feels a bit like Rapunzel locked in a tower creating mad amounts of animation, but the fictional character she most identifies with is Alice in Wonderland: "Like her, I get to live and invent in a fantasy world that is very real to me.  She also has a flawed sense of direction and rarely follows her own advice."

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World Cup Fever

As you can see, even though Bafana Bafana is out of the World Cup we still have the fever!



Cathy even had us doing the World Cup official dance.....anyone for a diski?

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

'Not all is black or white'


Given that our next feature film centers around a zebra called, Khumba, we were chuffed to find out that the The World for All Foundation has chosen the African Zebra as a symbol of reconciliation in South Africa's peaceful transition from apartheid into a democratic, multicultural society. As part of their Zebra Campaign, sculptures of all shapes, sizes and colours are now springing up all over Cape Town! Pin It

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Zambezia goes to Hollywood!

“Everyone contributed to some awesome new moments and jokes that weren't in the script. I love my job!” – Wayne Thornley (Director)
Photo (left to right): Todd Edwards, Wayne Thornley, Jim Cummings, Stuart Forrest, Ned Lott.

Zambezia director, Wayne Thornley and producer, Stuart Forrest spent a whirlwind week in Hollywood with our US voice and casting director Ned Lott, drinking Starbucks coffee, recording voices, drinking Starbucks coffee with our sales agent, drinking Starbucks coffee….well, you get the picture. But they did put that coffee buzzzz to good use and returned home with voice recordings of all our major characters in the bag!

Todd Edwards (co-writer/director of Hoodwinked) who did a comedy pass on the script along with his brother Cory, was also in the recording studio so it was great to have another set of ears in the mix.

Photo: Jeremy Suarez as 'Kai'.


Photo: 'Like father, like son' - Jeremy Suarez and Phil Lamarr



Jeremy Suarez who starred as Koda in Disney’s ‘Brother Bear’ delivered a great performance playing the part of our hero Kai. We are thrilled to also have on board the extremely talented and experienced Jim Cummings voice the role of Budzo. Jim has a host of movies under his belt – most recently as the Cajun firefly, Ray in ‘The Princess and the Frog’. Phil Lamarr whose voice acting skills have landed him roles in ‘Futurama’ and ‘Family Guy’ to name a few, voiced Kai's father, Tendai.

Photo: Jim Cummings transforms into the diabolical 'Budzo'.

Indonesian-born actress, Tania Gunadi who is the voice of a cute, weaver called Tini and British actor, David Shaughnessy who plays the part of Morton, a scavenging Marabou stork, both delivered fantastic performances.


Photo: Tania Gunadi as 'Tini'....how can you resist that smile?


Photo: David Shaughnessy as 'Morton', the scavenging Marabou stork.

Last but not least we recorded the larger-than-life, Jenifer Lewis who was Flo in ‘Cars’ and Madame Odie in ‘The Princess and The Frog’. And she is perfect for the role of Gogo, the loony old stork who comes crashing into Kai’s world!

 Photo: Jenifer Lewis as the irrepressible 'Gogo'! Pin It

Monday, June 14, 2010

Local animation goes global!

For most South Africans, 2010 is a landmark year because for the first time in soccer history, an African country is hosting the World Cup. But for those of us working in and building the South African animation industry, we hope that 2010 will also be remembered as the year that local animation entered the world stage. For the first time in the history of SA’s animation industry, a collection of local work will be presented to an international audience at the Animu Mundi festival in Brazil.

As representatives of Animation SA, Triggerfish has been responsible for selecting and putting the local program together. This collection of animation from South Africa is the first of its kind and highlights the growth of this fledgling industry which is producing a variety of cutting-edge and commercial work from music videos and short films, to advertisements and 3D feature films.
In addition to Triggerfish's stop-frame clip Chicken Soccer, this compilation of quirky music videos, diverse short films, and cutting-edge commercials showcases some of South Africa's finest animation and features the diversity in style and aesthetic of our home-grown industry. From the work of internationally acclaimed artist William Kentridge, to Mike Scott's wacky music video for jazz-electro duo Goldfish to Jacquie Trowell's reflective, Golden Bear-nominated 'Beyond Freedom', as well as the multiple award-winning Public Service Announcement, 'The Rubbish Monster' by Braam Jordaan. Pin It

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Meet.....the CG Generalist (Ivan van der Heever)


Before Ivan joined Triggerfish to work on Zambezia, he studied at The Animation School. As a CG generalist, he is our Can-Do-Man who, in his own words, “does a bit of everything”. Gaming got him interested in CG at a young age and since then he has continued to be inspired by animation and movies. Ivan says that the animated character he most identifies with is Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy because there is a lot more to him even though he may seem absent minded and random at times.
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Thursday, June 3, 2010

Meet.....the Technical Director (Sandy Sutherland)

“I guess I identify most with Wily E. Coyote from Road Runner as so many times plans have backfired on me!!”
Before Sandy joined the Zambezia team to head up the Technical and Rigging Department, he was the Lead Technical Director at Blackginger so it’s been a fantastic to have someone with his experience and knowledge on board. His department also doubles as the Effects team which means that in addition to dealing with the crucial issue of feathers, Sandy is also at the helm of the crew that will be creating all the water, rain and clouds in the film. Sandy studied Computer Science in Edinburgh and, as a dedicated H.O.D, aspires to be effective in providing his team of animators with the tools to perform at their best. “Most of my influences are the big animated/effects movies and the one I found most inspirational recently was 'How to Train your Dragon'.

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