US studio chooses Cape Town for animated TV series

Triggerfish Animation has completed a 14-minute episode of an exciting new children's series entitled Me and Jessie D for Studio 125, a production company based in Alabama.The episode, entitled Fish Fry, is the second in the series which follows the antics of a group of animal friends living in the swamps of the deep South. Although the show is rich in idiosyncratic Southern culture, the US producers were delighted with the South African team's interpretation of the expressions and body language of the eleven different characters.

The decision to produce in South Africa is part of a growing trend as international producers recognise the coming-of-age of the fledgling SA animation industry. With the sliding Rand and high production values for low cost, South African animation companies are quickly becoming more attractive to overseas producers.

In 2007 Triggerfish produced 30-minutes of animation for the direct-to-DVD film The Rise and Fall of Tony the Frog, an episode in a successful children's animation franchise, Life at the Pond. The DVD has been widely seen in the US and has set a benchmark standard for South African low cost animation, which directly led to the commissioning of Me and Jessie D.

“Because we are the new kids on the block, we have a brand new way of managing our production pipeline which is unencumbered by traditional top-heavy production techniques,” says Stuart Forrest, producer at Triggerfish. “We’ve been able to concentrate most of the funding on the actual animation, and have stripped away layers of management and committee decision-making. We’ve also developed our own in-house management software which is specifically tailored to our workflow - so approvals, revisions and renders are smoothly handled with maximum efficiency.”

Triggerfish currently has a feature film in script development, and one set to go into production later this year. “Our long term strategy is to create our own content and export South African animated features to the world,” says Forrest. “We want to show the world a different side to South Africa filmmaking – one that is specifically child friendly and therefore has universal appeal.”

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Life at the Pond - The Rise and Fall of Tony the Frog

Triggerfish has just finished production on the longest internationally commissioned CG animation made in South Africa. The producers expect the 30-minute direct-to-DVD video will make the international community start taking notice of South Africa as a viable destination for low-cost animation with high production value and a reliable delivery ethic.

The global animation industry is worth US$60 billion a year*, and it is growing steadily as demand for family entertainment increases. "The US client has been extremely happy with the final product," says Triggerfish producer Stuart Forrest. "We're expecting this to open a lot of doors for South Africa to service other foreign programming."

Ambient Animation, the South African producers of the DVD, outbid US and New Zealand companies who had produced previous episodes of the series, Life at the Pond. Triggerfish Animation was then hired as a service provider to create the full episode. Triggerfish has a long history in servicing US animation, having produced animation for nearly a decade for preschool education giant, Sesame Street.

With large commissions like these, there is an increasing demand for experienced animators. With the support of the Cape Film Commission, who see animation as a key area of focus, Triggerfish put together a training program alongside the project to maximize the value of the film for the company and the local industry.

www.lifeatthepond.com

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Clay Characters are re-invented

After eight years of providing traditional clay animation for the global preschool programme, the Cape Town-based studio - Triggerfish Animation - have finally succumbed to the advances of computer technology. Their contract for this year's Sesame Street animation was generated entirely by computer, and the popular boy and dog duo were reborn as pixels representing their former plasticine selves. 

Red and Zed in the garden from Triggerfish Animation on Vimeo.

The decision to change from the beloved medium of clay animation was made reluctantly, but with good creative reasoning. Triggerfish Director Anthony Silverston says, "We love clay animation and the very specific look it has, but this year's scripts called for so many different elements that we decided to recreate the plasticine universe in computer."

Elements like Red riding a bicycle, a bubble bath fiasco, a family of ducks on pogo sticks, and a clip that takes place completely underwater were key in influencing the decision, which was embraced by New York-based Sesame Workshop, the worldwide headquarters of the Sesame franchise.

"We wanted to keep that rough look that plasticine has, so we modeled and textured the environment to look like plasticine," says Silverston. "This technique was used very successfully in Aardman's feature film Flushed Away, where even the fingerprints of the artist were generated by computer and included in the surface of the characters.
Recreating the plasticine world had its challenges. Head modeler Sam King adds, "We had to generate random bump maps that would try to mimic the properties of clay, which changes subtly with each frame. We also had to mimic the way that clay squashes when the characters blink or bend their joints." The result is a pleasingly tactile finish that maintains the charm of the handmade original.

Another key factor influencing the decision was the studio's vastly grown CG department. Earlier this year Triggerfish were commissioned to produce 30-minutes of animation for a children's DVD for Ambient Animation Studios on behalf of a client based in the United States. This is the longest internationally commissioned animation ever done in South Africa, and the company tripled in size during its execution. Recognizing the potential for the success of this project as a catalyst to grow the rest of the local animation industry, the Cape Film Commission generously donated computer resources to the project to ensure training could continue to happen throughout the production. The project entitled "The Pond: The rise and fall of Tony the Frog", has been very favourably received by the US producer, and is due for release in late August 2007.

This is a significant milestone in the history of South African animation. With this USA client, they have proved that South African companies can service international clients with world class long-form animation that is economically very competitive. Triggerfish has always been on the forefront of developing the local animation industry and it is projects like these that will help build the industry into a world player. In 2003 Triggerfish co-founded the national animation organisation and also started the first animationXchange - the first national forum which encourages and supports animation enthusiasts.

The South African animation industry is growing rapidly and there are a number of animated feature films in various stages of production in South Africa. Triggerfish's own feature film, Zambezia, is going into pre-production towards the end of the year - a massive R40 million project which will take nearly 2 years to complete. The huge demand for skilled technicians has led to an unprecedented boom amongst modelers, animators and visual effects artists - with animation studios often recruiting directly from the animation colleges.

"Computer generated animation has never been easier," says Triggerfish producer Stuart Forrest, "But animators need to constantly return to their traditional acting and cinematography skills to tell compelling and engaging stories. Whether the characters are made with clay or simulated to look like clay, it is still the up to the animator to bring them to life. And that is the magic of animation"

Learning to listen from Triggerfish Animation on Vimeo.

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Triggerfish Flies to Zambezia

Friday, April 13, 2007
By: Ryan Ball

Triggerfish Animation in Cape Town, South Africa is venturing into feature film production with Zambezia, a CG movie set in the Victoria Falls area of the Zambezi river. The family film revolves around the unique flora and fauna found in the lush river valley and promises plenty of high-speed chases and an exciting climactic aerial battle.

Zambezia centers on an independent young falcon named Aero, who leaves home to join the most famous aerobatics team in Africa. Having entered the prestigious Spring Race, he finds himself in the middle of a plot hatched by egg-eating giant monitor lizards that threatens the entire island sanctuary and the future of bird life in the entire valley. In his heroic quest to defeat his formidable foes, Aero eventually comes to realize that the most important journey of life is finding the way home.

Trigerfish has a history in stop-motion animation and recently branched out into 2D and CG production when the company was commissioned to handle all animation for Takalani Sesame, the South African version of Sesame Street. The company plans to have Zambezia ready for release in April of 2009. The pilot animation can be viewed at www.zambeziamovie.com.

taken from : http://www.animationmagazine.net/article/6719

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Triggerfish Expands into CG

 After ten years in the industry, Cape Town-based Triggerfish Animation launches a Computer Generated (CG) animation department with a project that is set to be South Africa’s first animated feature film.

The new CG department at Triggerfish has recently completed a 4-minute pilot animation, Welcome to Zambezia.  Over the last year, a core creative team has been working on characters, environments, and the various technical challenges of bringing feathered CG birds to life in a teeming bird-city.

 

Zambezia is a children’s adventure aimed at 5-11 year olds, with appeal to the broader family- values film market.  It tells the story of a young falcon who leaves his family to pursue his ambitions in the famed bird-city of Zambezia. As he investigates a series of mysterious thefts, he uncovers a plot that threatens the safety of the entire island.

 

The producers have placed a high level of emphasis on the story element of Zambezia, which has undergone extensive revisions during the year of development. Head scriptwriter Andrew Cook is working closely with Anthony Silverston, winner of the UK Council- and NFVF-funded “25 words or less” scriptwriting competition.

 

“The feedback we’ve received from the pilot so far has been overwhelmingly encouraging,” says producer Stuart Forrest, “People we’ve shown it to are impressed at the standard of the work produced and how well we’ve captured the African landscape. We believe that by getting a warm, feel-good kid’s film from South Africa out into the international marketplace, we might positively influence people’s perceptions of South Africa, and audiences can get a glimpse of the tremendous creative talent this country has to offer.”

 

The animation industry is taking off in South Africa and the sudden emergence of long-form animation comes as an exciting development. South Africa has never produced an animated feature film before, and Zambezia is in the running to be the first, and the first totally computer-generated feature film made in Africa.  

 

“Our primary challenge has been training, as there simply aren’t enough experienced character animators in the country,” says Animation Director Mike Buckland. “We’ve developed an in-house training system, partnering a junior animator with each experienced animator and it’s working extremely well.  When we go into full production, we’ll bring in some highly experienced animators from overseas, making the most of the skills transference to ensure that the local industry benefits.”

 

Triggerfish Animation is a long-standing animation studio, best known for its work for Sesame Workshop, NY.  “We have always had a strong reputation in stop-frame animation,” says owner Stuart Forrest, “With the addition of a CG department, we are now able to take on a much more diverse range of work.” Triggerfish has also been instrumental in setting up the South African animation association, Animation SA, which now has over a thousand members, and for initiating AnimationXchange, the animator’s forum which meet monthly in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

 

Zambezia is set to go into full production in June 2007, to be released mid-2008. Until then, Triggerfish is working on a number of other projects.

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Triggerfish finish zambezia pilot

Zambezia from Triggerfish Animation on Vimeo.

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25 words or less

Funded by the UK Film council and NFVF, the six winning scriptwriters underwent a week-long intensive training session with script editors from South Africa and UK. 

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South African Filmmakers to Develop Four New films through UK-South Africa Project

Johannesburg / London:  Four and two-legged heroes, a horrific virus and a farmer turned hairdresser win film funding through UK Film Council partnership with the National Film and Video Foundation.

Six South African writers have been awarded funding to develop their feature film ideas into screenplays through the '25 Words or Less' pilot project announced by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the UK Film Council's Development Fund.

Run as a competition, the filmmakers will receive R100,000/£10,000 each to develop a first draft of their project and will be helped by a script editor assigned by the Development Fund and the NFVF.  Each of these drafts will then be jointly produced by a UK and South African producer.  

The winning writers who were challenged to pitch their idea in not more than 25 words within three chosen genres - teen horror, comedy 'fish out of water' and zero to hero are:

• Zero to hero - Khumba by Anthony Silverston andRaffaella Delle Donne:   in a daring search for his missing stripes, an outcast zebra discovers his true self, revealing a lost legacy that saves his entire herd.
• Zero to hero - Another Brother Moses by Uzanenkosi Motha:  three losers plan a simple break-in but a slip lands them in Brother Moses' house with 20 million bored viewers who want them to stay
• Teen horror - Judgement Day by Sharlto Copley and Simon Hansen: a mystery virus causes national panic when it takes hold of a sleepy town; the origin of the virus is 'unimaginable'.
• Comedy 'fish out of water' Jimmy in Pink by Hanneke Schutte: a bankrupt Limpopo farmer is elated when he inherits a hairdressing empire; but is horrified to discover he'll have to air-kiss and bare his midriff.

The UK Film Council's Development Fund has run a number of 25 Words or Less funding rounds in the UK but the South African programme is first to be run with an international partner.   The pitching concept has kick-started the careers of emerging British writers and seen scripts snapped up by major production companies in the UK and the US.  The South African programme is designed to help writers find a way of fast-tracking high concept screenplays which are aimed at the international market and have commercial appeal. In the process, British and South African script editors will work together on the projects, bringing an additional development dimension to the programme.

Jenny Borgars, Head of the Development Fund at the UK Film Council says: "Developing opportunities for the UK to work with international film talent, exploring different approaches to storytelling and finding new voices is vital to creating exciting new films.  South Africa is a rich source of writing and creative talent and this partnership with the National Film and Video Foundation has attracted exciting talent to develop their ideas as film projects and opened the door to future co-productions."

Ryan Haidarian, Head of Development and Production at the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa says: "We were overjoyed at the calibre of pitches. It was a proud moment for us having to mill over the shortlist of fantastic story ideas wondering which one was the best. Ultimately we had to add a fourth project due to the stiff competition."

Comments from the winners:

Hanneke Schutte, writer of Jimmy in Pink has worked in advertising as a copywriter and lectures in copywriting in Sandton.  "The idea for Jimmy in Pink originated from my fascination with hairdressers and women's professional and emotional relationships with them. Men speak to barmen (or maybe those are drunken monologues) women speak to their hairdressers. I come from a long line of mielie farmers, so I thought, what would happen if you take a farmer ('n stoere boer) who's never set foot in a hair salon, you dress him up, you teach him to say "doll" after every sentence and you make sure he services his customers' hair and hearts?"

Raffaella Delle Donne and Anthony Silverston writers of Khumba are both Cape Town-based writers who have teamed up to write their first feature-length script. "We believe that our story is universal yet uniquely South African and will resonate with anyone who has ever experienced what it feels like not to fit in. We wanted to tell a personal story that addresses sensitive issues such as the search for identity and self-acceptance in an entertaining way; and the great thing about animation is that it's the perfect medium to do this. The animation industry in SA is still in its early stages and this is an amazing opportunity for international exposure for us and the local industry as a whole. After working on this story for about 3 years, to say that winning this competition is a dream come true, is an understatement."

Uzanenkosi Motha writer of Another Brother Moses is a producer/writer/director. "9/11 and Big Brother Africa inspired Another Brother Moses. First and foremost, I was searching for a commercial film for a first time black filmmaker. I also understood that the project, once realised, had to establish me as a bankable film producer/writer/director. So, I asked myself what would happen if terrorists, instead of hijacking planes, dropped in the Big Brother House. Since terrorism was and is not really true for South Africa, I ended up with housebreaking."

Simon Hansen and Sharlto Copley, writers of Judgement Day, are co-directors of the two most popular South African short films of all time, both of which were screened last year in the Cinema du Monde section of the Cannes Film Festival.  "We are extremely thrilled and grateful to be one of the "25 words or less" winners. The collaboration between the UK Film Council and NFVF is an exciting step forward for us as South African's into the international film making arena and we look forward to the development process."   Simon and Sharlto are currently in production on the NFVF funded feature film Spoon.

taken from: http://www.ukfilmcouncil.co.uk/news?show=12202&page=21&step=10

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Trigger happy

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Long-form animation takes off

With a new animated commercial on TV seemingly every week, the increase in South African animation is clearly evident. Together with this current boom in the commercials sector, word of long-format work abounds, and it appears the local animation industry is flourishing.

There are a number of established companies based throughout South Africa, all offering excellent services across the board, covering every field of animation, be it 2-D or 3-D, traditional or computer. Those mentioned here only give a taste of the variety available. One need simply look at advertising campaigns currently on TV to see more of the vastly differing styles of animation on offer.

Gauteng-based company Depth animation believe they have pushed boundaries in terms of technology in a number of recent character animation ads, including those for ZamBuk and Playboy deodorant. Their work is, however, not limited to the local market. Amongst others, Depth have done a 60-second TetraPak commercial for Switzerland and have three more for the same client in development, along with a number of other commercials lined up.

Based in Cape Town, Atomic Visual Effects have proven how effective super-real animation can be. Objects are integrated into live action so seamlessly that the audience is barely aware of the hours of work and rendering that have, for example, gone into updating the Guinness bottle in an existing ad, or making a dinosaur walk casually through a local suburb for Telkom broadband.

Another Cape Town company, but one keeping the traditional form of 2-D animation alive is Capechino, whose recent work includes a spot for the perfume Hoity Toity by Lentheric. Capechino are currently working on an exciting campaign for Panarotti�s, consisting of three 60-second spots for cinema, each with its own storyline.

Although on the increase, commercials have always been around, and it is the appearance of more series and features on the scene that hint to the fact that our potential is finally being realised. Depth have an American animated series in development, a series in co-production with The Refinery, and one other long-format in development. Atomic VFX worked on 80 shots for What the Bleep? and are already in pre-production for their own special effects feature, Spoon. Videolab in Gauteng created a 12 minute, 2-D animated short, Ummemo, as part of Animated Tales of the World. This film won the Special Jury award at the HIAFF Animation Festival in Japan. Character Matters, who are originally from Zimbabwe, but are now based in Cape Town, produced a 24 minute 3-D CGI children's Christmas programme, Once Upon A Stable, which won Best Animation at the NRB conference in Texas. Since then, they have also completed two 5-minute episodes for a children's series. In addition, they are in initial stages of pre-production for a long format animated project scheduled to start in January 2006. The primary focus of Character Matters is to produce long format 3-D animation and they say they would love to see a 3-D feature coming out of South Africa in the near future.

But it is not only computer animation that is breaking out of the constraints of short-form advertising. The niche market of stop-motion is also something that can be produced locally at a world-class quality for international clients. XYZOO completed The Velveteen Rabbit, a 22 minute claymation film that won two major international awards, and Triggerfish Animation has just completed 5 and a half minutes of stop-motion inserts commissioned for the acclaimed series, Sesame Street. Long-format animation has even entered the independent film scene with Beyond Freedom � a 13 minute animated documentary directed by Jacquie Trowell � which has just had it�s international premiere in Washington.

As most people are aware, the local feature-film industry has also grown immensely in the last couple years, and Videolab has worked on vfx for 28 features and Digital Intermediates for 9. The most recent was for local production, Tsotsi. The film has already won a number of awards and is our official Foreign Film submission for the 78th Academy Awards. On the international production Duma, Videolab also completed 75 visual effects for Warner Brothers. Up next is the new Leon Schuster movie Mama Jack, and the next Darryl Roodt/Videovision film, The Prey.

As Riccardo Capecchi of Capechino says, �animation is a collective effort, combining like-minded people with the same vision. Everything takes time but what is important is that we all push in the same direction.� With the local database of animation companies and freelancers (as listed at www.animationSA.org) doubling in size over the last six months, it seems that the training and experience brought about by the increasing international work is helping to build the infrastructure required to accommodate even more work. So keep it coming!

by Anthony Silverston

Article courtesy of The Callsheet Vol 2 Issue 10.

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Return of stop-motion

With the eagerly anticipated international release of two major stop-frame animation features (both with rave reviews), the world’s oldest and most magical form of filmmaking is set to make a comeback.

So what is stop-motion? In a nutshell, it is a process whereby images of a model, usually made from clay, plasticine, wire, or even Lego, are played back at such a speed that the human brain interprets the series of static images as one continuous stream of action. When Spielberg decided to use computer animation instead of traditional stop-motion for the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, it could have been the beginning of the end for commercial stop-motion. However, the release of two important animation pieces that same year demonstrated the charming and magical niche that is stop-motion. The Nightmare Before Christmas was a musical feast for the eyes with a wonderful story and design from Tim Burton, while the second Wallace and Gromit piece, The Wrong Trousers, won an Oscar and made their creator Nick Park a household name in the UK and created a buzz of activity at Aardman animation studios  that has continued ever since. 

Now, 12 years later, and a few more projects under their belts, the two creators return with new offerings for big screens across the world that are sure to bring with them a renewed surge of interest in the medium.

From the wonderfully quirky mind of Tim Burton comes The Corpse Bride, which, judging from box office figures as well as critic reviews, promises to deliver on all levels. Wonderful characters that look like Burton’s sketches in 3D are set in his typically dark world, and voiced by his muses Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Fittingly, the film is due for local release October 28th – just round the time of Halloween.

Fans of Wallace and Gromit or Chicken Run will also be happy to hear of the imminent release of the next Aardman feature, Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The story seems to promise the usual adventurous fare for the cheese-loving inventor, Wallace and his ever-faithful (and often more clever) dog Gromit. With only days to go before the Giant Vegetable competition, business is booming for Wallace and Gromit’s Anti-Pesto pest-control unit. However, as their own home overflows with rabbits, the duo must also deal with a mysterious veg-ravaging beast and the snobbish suitor of the competition hostess. This is Wallace and Gromit’s first full-length feature film after 3 shorts (resulting in one nomination and two Oscar wins) and opened at the number one spot at the US box Office, proving that the plasticine due are not just limited to critical acclaim, but are commercially viable too.

 

But the success and interest in stop-motion is only highlighted with these two major motion pictures. There have been more and more examples of stop-motion hitting the mainstream audience over the last few years. An Australian stop-motion short called Harvey Krumpet won the Oscar for best short animation in 2004. Stop-motion from Henry Selick, the director of Nightmare Before Christmas was featured in Bill Murray’s last film, Life Aquatic. Another stop-motion feature The Legend of Santa Claus is also in the works from a Utah-based company called Lumenas. The story depicts the life of the well-known Christmas figure from his childhood, before he became so famous. They seem to be approaching the animation in an inventive way, by combining stop-motion with computer in-betweens to blur the movement and reduce the jerkiness. 

Computers entered the realm of traditional 2D along time ago, speeding up the process immensely, so perhaps they can be used to overcome this single drawback of stop-motion – the time involved. Computers do already play a big part in stop-motion – painting out props, or animating against a blue screen allows characters to jump and fly and extra special effects can always be added to elaborate on an affect. Computer animatics are often used to stage out a complicated scene or try different camera angles, but this was used a lot in Chicken Run and in the end it almost looked so perfect that some say it might as well have been done in CG.

The wonder of stop-motion is often in those small imperfections that might not even be visible to the eye – who, besides an animator would notice a single frame out of hundreds with a mistake? It is these ‘faults’, these human fingerprints (sometimes literally) that give stop-motion the quality that cannot be obtained with a computer. Stop-motion is more hands on and the feat created with a finished piece is more apparent to the audience who is subconsciously aware of the fact that each frame of movement was physically carried out by a person….and at 25 frames per second, that’s a lot of miniscule movements to create one feature-length animation. 

I can personally testify to this, as I was fortunate enough to work on another stop-motion film, 

which has been in production in Berlin for the last 5 years and should be ready for release next year. Entitled Memory Hotel, the project is still largely unknown, but when it is completed, will undoubtedly make waves in the animation world due to the unique vision of its director Heinrich Sabl who has shocked festival audiences before with his confrontational and cinematic style of animation. The story is set in a Russian-occupied Hotel in post-war Germany and clearly the main goal of the movie is not to entertain children, which demonstrates another recent trend to include an adult audience who also appreciate the art form of animation. 

Less arty, but on the more adult (or arguably juvenile) level of MTV’s popular Celebrity Death Match has come a new series called Robot Chicken aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Creators actor/producer Seth Green and Matthew Senreich spare no one and run through many toys as they bring slightly mean-spirited pop-culture parodies to life in the 15-minute weekly series. They use legions of action figures to spoof everything from Quentin Tarantino’s blood-spattered epics to MTV’s The Real World, in which a cast of superheroes takes the place of drunken 20-somethings. Green and a number of other celebrities provide voices, including Scarlett Johannson, Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Macauley Culkin. 

The recent string of feature-length animated hits have proven that animation did not die with Disney’s classics but has entered a new era of inventiveness both in visual style and technique. After Disney’s one feature a year, we are almost spoilt for choice now. There are enough releases to warrant a “best animation feature” category at the Academy Awards with 3 major companies vying for the accolade each year. Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks, and now Blue Sky, all create 3D CG features, Nickelodean aims at younger audiences with 2D spin- offs from TV series, and there are a number of smaller independent studios who can also deliver brilliant product as demonstrated with Spirited Away in 2003 and Bellville Rendezvous in 2004. Although CG has dominated at the awards until now, perhaps this year will be stop-motion’s turn. It might very well end up being a head-on competition between The Corpse Bride or Wallace and Gromit. Any bets? 

The South African Stop-Motion Scene

Locally, stop-frame is still relatively active, and animation in general does appear to be used more in commercials after a bit of a lull. 

Triggerfish’s claymation advert for SABAT batteries still airs on Super Sport 2, and shows an array of sports cars morphing from one to the next. Their delightful inserts using wire chameleons, and dancing plastic chickens can still be seen on Takalane Sesame and a recent piece for the New York branch of Sesame was accepted into competition at Annecy Animation Festival. More recently, Triggerfish has completed a title sequence for the television show Mantswe a bonono using a graphic visual approach, combining stop-motion with digital.

Sabat commercial

Another stop-motion title sequence delving into the digital is for the series, Helping Nature Help You, animated by Bernie Roux of Lovebomb who’s brilliant stop-motion ad for Childline won a Vuka and a Silver Lion. With limited time, and budget, the team, including Paul Hanrahan and Carlos Carvahos, decided to move away from characters and rather use colours, textures and real-life objects that would allude to each episode. Using digital technology to capture the images helped speed up and streamline the process. 

Director Jacquie Trowell, who is now working independently, completed an advert for Film South Africa in which animated curios come to life through the lens of a tourist’s camera. The advert is one of 5 which was given the go-ahead after a “director’s challenge” in an initiative to promote filming in SA and was showcased at Cannes this year. 

Souvenir commercial

XYZoo’s most recent claymation short The Velveteen Rabbit won 2 major international awards. Within two months, it won the 2005 Cine Special Jury award for best children’s film in the broadcast category and was awarded the Booklist ‘Top of the List’ editor’s choice for best DVD of 2004. Booklist is a review magazine that goes out to public libraries, bookshops and DVD outlets across the USA. XYZoo is currently completing a claymation commercial for Dubai.

This year also saw the release of Africa’s first full-length animation feature and the world’s first “Junkmation” movie The Legend of the Sky Kingdom. It told the story of three orphans who escaped the Underground City and would stop at nothing to reach the Sky Kingdom. Formerly based in Zimbabwe, Sunrise productions have moved to Cape Town, where they continue to produce both CG and stop-motion. 

By Anthony Silverston

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US turns to SA for new children's TV series

Weekend Argus - Aug 27, 2005

Getting Back to the Nest from Triggerfish Animation on Vimeo.

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