It finally hatched!

Directing a movie featuring an all-bird cast has taught Wayne a thing or two about the birds and the bees.

Congratulations to him and Monique on the birth of their baby girl on Friday 15th April. Whoop! Whoop! Pin It

Are you a storyboard supervisor?

Want to come and work at one of South Africa's leading animation studios? Want to sink your teeth into a 3D animated feature? Are you a storyboard supervisor with more than 2-3 years experience and has the va-va-voom to manage a project? Have you had enough of questions without answers? Well then click here for relief (and for more info on the job). Pin It

Khumba's got legs!

After 4 months of pre-prod, Khumba is officially in production and as you can see from the initial concept art, team-K have been hard at work.

It was inspiring to kick off the month with Anthony briefing the rest of the studio on his vision for the project. For Anthony, co-writing and directing this story is part of a personal journey that we are all now a part of.


But as we begin to realise that there are certain things about ourselves which we can change and other things which we need to accept – even embrace - that is when we come to realise that it is perhaps that very thing with which we struggled our whole lives which has helped shape us… in a positive way. (Director's note)

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Mexican Wrap!

With only Lighting & Comp left to go on Zambezia, we celebrated, toasted...and bid farewell (sniff) to some of the banditos and senoritas. As you can see it was a great afternoon of sombreros and moustache-soaked margaritas but we have no explanation for how the Russian spy made it into the photo. Russian (ahem) what Russian? Pin It

(Almost) done that, got the T-shirt

We're almost there so we couldn't resist getting the T-shirt!

Big UP to the Shot Finaling and Point Cache's for reaching their muchos grande deadline of 31 March. Watch this space...Lighting is about to strike next! Pin It

Triggerfish swims with the sharks

Triggerfish celebrates it's 15-year anniversary this year and was featured in the last issue of The Animation Magazine for its special issue on anniversaries.

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Animation conference held at Triggerfish

Partnering with Services SETA and CFC, Animation SA recently brought out  Kevin Geiger – a world renowned consultant to major studios across the globe, including The Walt Disney Company and Dreamworks - to host a special 5-day conference held at Triggerfish animation studios in Cape Town. 

The invaluable conference was offered free to members of Animation SA and was attended by over 50 members of the animation community from across the country. In addition to the many benefits of the conference itself, the event provided a wonderful opportunity to members of the local industry to network, discuss issues facing the industry and for companies from Joburg and Cape Town to mix in an informal setting. 

Kevin is considered internationally as an authority on the Business of Animation. He specializes in Pipeline Efficiency and Budget Management and offers invaluable advice on a project for project basis.

Kevin Geiger has over 15 years of technical, artistic and organizational experience in the animation and special effects industry, including 12 years with Walt Disney Feature Animation and Cal Arts. Mr. Geiger has supervised and consulted on successful animated feature film productions with budgets of more than $100 million USD to less than $10 million USD, and is a highly-regarded expert on production pipelines and workflow efficiencies.

Currently resident in mainland China, Kevin Geiger is the acting President & CEO of Magic Dumpling (Beijing) International Cultural Media Corporation Ltd., an original entertainment content development company. Kevin also serves as Chairman of the China Animation Business Association, and International Department Chairman of the Beijing Film Animation Association.

A huge thanks to Tim Argall, David Whitehouse and all the members of Animation SA who helped make the event possible. 

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Animation wraps

It's a wrap. Animation on Zambezia finished this week! Congrats to the whole team for reaching this massive milestone!

They are (Left to Right, back to front) : Jac Hamman, Roberto Pita, Kane Croudace, Nathan Brown, Francois Maree, director Wayne Thornley, Abigail Kwan, Gareth Thomas, Kevin van Kraayenburg, Matt Lowry, Jean-pierre Leroux, Keenan Manshon, Tessa Comrie, Tumelo Selamolela, Quentin Vogel, animation director Lindsay van Blerk, Jako Tromp, Hayley Smuts, Harold  Courchay, Aibe Elukpo. Absent: Remi Abrahams, Greg Murray, Maahir Pandie, Nur Dreyer, Ruaan Grobler, Sue-marie Sauer
(ten points for spotting the future animator... erm tree hugger... in the background).

Good luck to the rest of the team who's job it is to now finish lighting, rendering compositing... whose idea was it to make a feature anyway? Pin It

Soopadoopa heroes

For one day....and one day only, we revealed our true identities....

Step aside Ironman! This is the real deal.


Kaptein Kaas: 'There's no use crying over spilled milk'

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A sneak peak into Khumba's (pre-prod) world....

As the Director, Anthony has many important creative decisions to make every day.....

It's a fur test, can't you tell?


Meet Rick, storyboard artist extraordinaire! Unlike most of us, he is not easily distracted and very rarely turns around - even when we're making a racket.

Daniel and Matt are the formidable duo responsible for bringing Khumba's world to life.


Matt: What would happen if we made his ears this much bigger?
Dan: Mmmm....not too big!
Anthony: Arrrg!

What's wrong with loving pangolins? Pin It

Xmas Triggerfish styleeeee!

Big thanks to Cathy, Andiswa and Shune for organising a 'secret santa' Xmas party at the studio. As you can tell from the snaps, there were mixed reactions when it came to the opening of presents.








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The Wild Card

This week, the D.O.P. on Khumba, Joe de Kadt arrived from L.A. via the U.K. (yes, that's a lot of acronyms) and has been fearlessly immersing himself in the wilds of Africa.




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