Breaking into the African animation market

The use of animation in advertising is still rare in many African countries outside of South Africa. Two major African brands recently turned to Cape Town-based animation studio, Triggerfish, to produce their animated commercials.

Cape Town animation studios, Triggerfish, have just completed two spots for Tura, a major soap brand in Nigeria. Tura is the market leader in skin and hair care products throughout Africa. For the launch of their new brand of soap, a brave decision was made to create an MTV-style music video featuring a family of dancing soaps. One of the major challenges facing the Triggerfish animation team was to recreate the signature Yahoozee dance movements that Nigerian audiences would recognise and with which they would identify.

The first spot introduces the four distinct characters of the Tura Supremes as the soap family is known. Using their long-lasting freshness, they overcome other soap brands (portrayed here as deadly zombies). The second spot which will released in February, presents the Tura Supremes as the kings of their convenience store riding around in their bling-covered car, bopping their heads to the funky Nigerian beat.

Besides the animation challenges of bringing a family of dancing soaps to life (remaining true to the Nigerian Yahoozee style) there were a number of technical challenges too. These included the time consuming render of complex scenes featuring the 4 characters dancing on a reflective stage covered in bubbles, surrounded by exploding fireworks, cheering fans and a number of other elements.

This work for Nigeria comes after Triggerfish produced four spots for Safaricom, Kenya's leading cellular network last year. Safaricom is the fastest growing branch of the Vodaphone group and the initial commercials were so well received that Triggerfish was approached again - this time for a print campaign where a SMS envelope character had to be designed in various 3D poses.

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Triggerfish is hiring

Triggerfish is looking for 3 junior to mid-level animators for a 6-week contract starting end of July. The applicant should have experience in character animation – preferably in Messiah, although free cross-training from other animation packages will be provided from mid-June. Triggerfish is based in Bergvliet, Cape Town.

Please send CV and links to online showreels to animate@triggerfish.co.za. Pin It

US Studio chooses CT for Animated TV series

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We've just finished production on a 14-minute show for the US.

More to follow...

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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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