Zambezia at Annecy

Next week, our first animated feature film will have its very first public screening as part of the prestigious Annecy animation festival! So if you happen to be in France, catch it on Tuesday at 6pm or Saturday at 4pm during the  Annecy Annecy 2012 Festival Programmes

Zambezia at Annecy

What's in a name?

I'm always happy when another stop-motion film is released, and besides the fantastic script and animation, the latest film from Aardman has raised the bar in terms of the incredible level of craftsmanship and artistry. 

But, as this post suggests, I'm writing more about the name card than the film itself. 

In South Africa (as with most of the world) we get to see it as "The Pirates! Band of Misfits". Interesting that even Aardman is not immune to the name-change US studios sometimes feel necessary for international audiences. I do wonder what was wrong with "In an Adventure with Scientists" though besides the fact that it's a little more wordy? 

Surely there is more value in aligning a title with the existing intellectual property on which it's based rather than saving a few letters?  Although if this were the case, "The Secret World of Arrietty" would probably have been called "The Borrowers" killing two birds with, well, two words.

Perhaps it marks the decline of the one or two-word title that has been common for most animated films since the first days of Disney starting with "Pinocchio". It is a real challenge to evoke the story of an entire film with just one word and I have been amazed by the ingenuity of some (I didn't think you could get much more clever than "Antz", but then along came "Up".)

For our own film I can understand why we had to change it to "Adventures in Zambezia": keeping it as the simpler "Zambezia" would have put us last on any alphabetical list, plus now anyone seeing the title for the first time immediately understands the potentially obscure, foreign word is actually a place. 

This does raise the question about our next film however. "Khumba" is another foreign word and it's likely that it would need a similar addendum. This time it's the name of the lead character and although there is a lot of precedent for this, it's usually based on a known character or IP ("Pocahontas", "Coraline"). 

If I do have to change it, I have yet to come up with an alternate that I'm happy with "Adventures with Khumba" would not exactly sit comfortably. It's more likely it will become "Khumba and the…." which might just make it sound like a Harry Potter movie or the first in a series which wouldn't be all bad. 

The colon also seems to be increasingly popular (yes, I'm talking about those other Pirates movies). The longer the title, the more it gets abbreviated though, especially with the attempt to keep most information below 140 characters nowadays - the latest Mission Impossible for example becomes MIGP. 

No matter what it's called, people often refer to a shortened version of the title anyway - I doubt anyone is actually going to say "Two for The Pirates! Band of Misfits" to the lady at the ticket counter. Either way, do yourself a favor and catch it on the big screen!

What's in a name?

Zambezia

We finished our first movie last year just in time for a screening at AFM in LA. I'm still amazed at the accomplishment of the incredibly hard-working team at Triggerfish and was proud to watch the finished result on a cinema screen. Now we are all holding thumbs for the ultimate reward - an international cinema release...

In the meantime, check out the trailer. 

Zambezia

Sketchtravel

I often prefer something that has a rough, unfinished look because the human hand behind the art is more present. This is a perfect example of a bold and effective illustrative style.

 Beautiful compositions.

SketchTravel from Curio on Vimeo.

Sketchtravel

ParaNorman

Laika does it again. I haven't seen anything in a long time which inspires me as much as this trailer. Stop motion has a look which cannot be beaten when done as well as this. 

ParaNorman

It's not all Black & White

I remember an early script meeting for Khumba where I was asked: "Are the zebras black or white?" 

The question put me into a bit of a spin, because - naively - I hadn't thought about it. Each had connotations and implications that would impact the characters, let alone the politics of it. I asked hopefully "Does it matter?" They are not human after all, they don't have to be any race, but this just prompted the next question "What about when you cast their voices?"

Foiled.

About 5 years later, as I now approach this casting stage in the production, the question once again rears its ugly head. 

Scientifically, it turns out zebras are in fact likely to be black with white stripes. And I did originally intend the herd to be more traditionally "African" with the other animals representing some of the different social groups of South Africa.  In the story, however, the zebras have closed themselves off from the outside, much like a gated community. It all sounds a bit paranoid white in our stereotypical view of South Africans. Plus, as a white South African, how could I really write an African film with a black lead? In any case, the voices (especially of the leads) are likely to be American so that throws yet another spanner in the works (the issue of South African vs American voices is a whole other issue I'll leave for another discussion...).

Khumba leaves his herd, goes on a mission to find his stripes, to change his skin. It is really a search for self-acceptance, a journey to discover and embrace his difference. Is this not a universal message? Surely I'd be limiting it by choosing a race? The film is about so much more than race. But now that I have to seriously think about casting the movie, the question of how they sound can no longer be put off. 

Are these characters black or white? 

Writing the screenplay for Khumba has been a bit like my own quest for stripes. Even though I might look the same on the outside (though slightly more balding), internally, I have changed and - like Khumba - grown into my own skin. And one of the things I've realized is that life seldom seems to be so cut and dried that the are only 2 options.

The answer has really been there all along, right in front of me. The reason I chose the zebra, the reason it's such a powerful symbol to tell this particular story. It's neither black nor white. It's not "or". It's "and". 

They are black AND white. 

It's not all Black & White

HaKhumba Matata

Pre-production for Khumba has been going surprisingly smoothly the last few months. Dan and Matt are doing a brilliant job and have already designed all the characters and most of the environments; we are already finishing up the second pass of the rough animatic; and Jacquie has been compiling everything together into an animation bible with the help of some great character poses by Jac.

Plus, we have finally attached a polish writer to give the screenplay a final (and American) once-over. More on this to follow once it is all 100% official, but it's exciting to say the least...

Yesterday the screening of the first Act went well which was a relief after the confusion of the first screening - zebras can really all look the same in 2d! Big up to the storyboarding team: Ric, Remi and Lorraine who are helping to bring pictures to the words.

As seen here, we got the go-ahead  for cinemascope which is great because the Karoo really needs to be seen in widescreen!

The last few months have helped me see what is and what isn't working and allowed us time to work out the most efficient process - including a simpler numbering system (so that we don't need 3 different numbers as seen above). Soon we go into the next pass of the animatic with the final, polished script - gotta get it all ready before the rest of the team start... shew.

One interesting issue came up with the animatic - can we show a dead mother? I really wanted to show that Khumba's mother is no longer a "character" but just an "animal" when she dies, but the particular poses and shots might be a bit disturbing for children, so I might have to tone it down a bit - even though Lion King didn't shy away much:

I don't know, maybe a dead mother on screen is much more traumatic than a dead father for kids?  

HaKhumba Matata