International Animation Day

In celebration of International Animation Day on 28th October Touchvision, together with Animation SA is hosting an Animated Art Auction at this month's Film and Event Publishing monthly wrap. All the artworks, including a piece donated by Triggerfish, are on display at 15 On Orange Hotel where the auction will be held. Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to Animation SA for future events and projects. Pin It

3 Deeeee!

On Saturday morning, Chris organised a stereoscopic test-viewing of Zambezia for us at Nu-Metro cinema in Canal Walk. It was inspiring to get a taste of what the movie is going to look like on the big screen, in 3D! Pin It

Meet....the U.S. voice producer (Ned Lott)

Photo: Ned Lott (right) hard at work in the recording studio with director, Wayne Thornley (left)

While you were in SA you did a voice-acting workshop and directed local actors for Zambezia. Do you think that SA actors have what it takes to make it within the international arena?
It was a tremendous privilege to work with the SA actors that day and see how directable they were along with observing their strong acting skills. They indeed have the potential to make it internationally with some coaching, opportunity and experience. The key is how to be considered which is where Internet posting comes in handy, such as voicebank.net, voices.com and voice123.com.  Also there is the opportunity with more and more projects being cast with non-American accents.

You're a member of ASIFA, what is your role and do you see any links being forged between SA and the American animation community?
I work with ASIFA in producing the talent portion of the ANNIE AWARDS every year.  I’ve actually discussed forging the communities with the President of ASIFA and we look forward to seeing what can be put together. 

Do you think audiences are ready for animated films that feature voice-actors who do not have American accents?
We’re slowly getting there.  With the recent releases of How To Train Your Dragon, and currently The Legend of the Guardians, we’re seeing the box office responding positively to these types of animated films with less or no American accents.

You have been working in the industry since the 1980s, what has been your favourite film to work on and why?
The first Studio Ghibli film I worked on was called Porco Rosso.  It was a combination production with Ghibli, Disney and individuals from Pixar.  Knowing that it was one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most popular films was quite an honor, and our goal was to make the English language version as accessible as possible for a domestic audience. We worked with Michael Keaton as the lead who is a pilot cursed and becomes a pig.  During the sessions, he kept saying, “I just love being a pig.”  What a great experience!

Children are becoming more sophisticated with regards to story and scripts for animated feature films certainly have more depth and emotional complexity than they did 10 years ago. Do you think this has an effect on how you direct voice-actors?
The sophistication definitely has an effect on not only the voice direction, but on the casting in finding actors that can deliver. The voice direction needs to bring out variety and emotional depth from the actors whether it’s a dramatic or a comedic moment.  And the goal is to appeal to both children and adults with the more complex stories.   The fact that an animated film was nominated for best picture in the 2010 Academy Awards is a good sign that more complex animated features are receiving a broader audience appeal.

As animated films are so expensive to produce, most studios tend to produce sequels and now some studios are re-releasing films in 3D (for example, Ratatouille). Do you think we are in danger of the market becoming saturated with sequels/re-releases?
It all depends.  People are looking forward to seeing Star Wars in 3D.  The issue comes when the market gets saturated with poor quality sequels and poor 3D.  If they can keep the stories strong with good quality then we should be fine as there’s an audience longing for great entertainment of this sort.  But once the quality and stories drop, we’ll see a glut of poor films with eventual poor box office returns, which could affect the box office of a strong and quality story because our audience has lost trust in the medium.   With 3D ticket prices being more expensive, hopefully the care and craft of these films will stay the highest possible quality possible.

What stands out for you as an "I love my job" moment?
Coming to Cape Town and directing local actors for Zambezia and hearing them be just as solid next to the American actors, then in the evening directing local actors at Cape Town University and then going out with the team to celebrate the end of recording.  That was an “I love my job” day! Pin It

Meet....the Lead Animator (Quentin Vogel)

"I think when I saw Jurassic Park for the first time, I knew that is what I wanted to do...make awesome monsters and stuff!!!" 

Apart from monsters and stuff Quentin has always been intrigued by movement and characters, and has been drawing since the "age of zero". As a child his main inspirations were cartoons like He-man and Thundercats, as well as Disney films and early morning Loony Toons. Luckily for Triggerfish, Quentin graduated from drawing on everything he could get his hands on to becoming a talented animator who has worked on Jock of the Bushveld, and as an animator/3d generalist at Masters and Savant. He has directed (as well as animated) a series of short films for Animazing. The fictional character he most identifies with is 'Invader Zim': "I think its because we share the same dream - taking over humanity." Pin It

Zambezia featured in Animation Magazine

This article about Zambezia appeared in Animation Magazine. Woop! Woop! Pin It

Meet the...animator extraordinaire

"My inspirations are my family and friends. Subtle, dry humor. Being a music snob, snobbish music and Back to the Future."


Being an animator extraordinaire, Matt has had a life-long love affair with the medium. Before joining the Zambezia crew, Matt worked at Character Matters on The Lion of Judah. But in a previous incarnation, Matt has been an English teacher in South Korea, a security guard at a bakery and a student of Fine Art and Graphic Design. Before that he was a high school student. Before that he was a primary school student. Before that he was happy. Before that he was just swimming around. The character he most identifies with is Linguine from Ratatouille: "I have a big nose and I can't cook.... although I'm learning. You hear that world!? I'm learning!" Pin It

Majestic Zambezi in 3d

Screen Africa article - September issue 2010

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Khumba gets the green light

A huge thank-you to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) for providing much needed funding for our second feature in the slate, Khumba. This means that as from 1st October we are officially in production and it's all systems go! The support from financial partners such as the IDC and National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) plays a pivotal role not only in our projects but in building and sustaining the South African animation industry as a whole. Pin It

Re-animated animators

A little while ago we asked the crew working on Zambezia to illustrate or design a self-portrait. We've posted a few on the blog already...and here's two more!

Jako, who is one of our lead animators and Anthony who probably looks so wind-swept because of all the different hats he wears on the project!

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Blast off #3

Our next project has just been given the green light! A huge thanks to the National Film and Video Foundation who has agreed to fund the development of our next script and THIRD animated feature film in the slate at Triggerfish Animation Studios. Big up to the writing team! Pin It

It's a baby boom!

As if things weren't busy enough at Triggerfish, people are still finding the time to make babies. Congratulations to Mike and Kate who have a production baba on the way! To celebrate (and because we're always looking for a good excuse to indulge in some shenanigans) the studio held a baby shower for the parents-to-be. 

As part of the festivities, we had a competition for the best baby pic.......say no more. 

 

And while Mike and Kate opened presents, we kept ourselves busy sucking frozen jelly babies (trust us, you don't want to see the pictures) and making sure we didn't say the forbidden word 'baby' for fear of having to hand over our prize safety pins to the accuser.

 

Displaying a highly competitive streak, Pearl managed to collect 12 safety pins and then joined forces with Ivan to design some "safety" jewellery.

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Funky Chicken

Check out Zolani (who plays Zoe, a black-shouldered kite in Zambezia) in "Chicken to Change" the latest music video from her band Freshlyground:




Waka Waka, the song which Freshlyground sang with Shakira is officially the most successful world cup song of all time! Multi platinum with 2.2 million downloads and 4th most watched video on YOUTUBE ever!! Pin It