Above: Early compositional sketches for the Fox Sequence by Manu Arenas. Below: A schematic layout for one part of that sequence, also by Manu. (click on images to enlarge). See more from that sequence here and here.
THE GRUFFALO BROADCAST IN THE US TODAY
We interrupt our Christmas countdown for a moment to quickly say that THE GRUFFALO is being broadcast in the US today, Dec 9th, 07.00 pm on ABC Family ….and a then again in Canada week later!
– ABC TV (USA) details and trailer HERE
– TVO TV (Canada) details HERE
– in the UK, The BBC will roll out the Big G again on Christmas Day, Dec 25th, 04.30 pm…details HERE
-the just completed German version will premiere on ZDF, Dec 24th, 10.40 am…datails HERE
Frohe Weihnachten, everyone!
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Top three: Variations of the “bridge” on which Mouse first meets Owl, artwork by production designer Manu Arenas. Bottom: Colourkey of Manu’s final design by the great Neil Ross. More from that sequence here.
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Above: Max Lang’s initial turnaround, which first gave the Gruffalo (drawn exclusively from a side view in the childrens’ book) a threedimensional treatment. Below: Early preliminary sketches and a modelsheet based on Max’s turn-around, both by Jakob Schuh. Maquette by Klaus Morschheuser. See “The Gruffalo” on Dec. 24th, 10.40 am on ZDF.
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Some more preproduction from “Der Grüffelo”, which you can watch on ZDF this Christmas, December 24th at 10.40 am.
Different production stages from the film’s “swamp sequence”, from top to bottom: Initial location design by Manu Arenas, set dress and prop design by Jakob Schuh, sculpt by Helena Ebel, location supervisor Klaus Morschheuser putting final touches on the set, lighting reference for CG by Louis Tardivier.
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Manu Arenas’ wonderful, early b/w concepts (top and middle) inspired the “field of dandylions” sequence, which was later further visualized by the very talented Louis Tardivier (bottom).
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Gruffalo lower body – maquette by Klaus Morschheuser
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Here’s another piece of daily preproduction from “Der Grüffelo”, which you can watch on ZDF this Christmas, December 24th at 10.40 am.
Early colourconcepts by Louis Tardivier.
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We recently completed our über-lovely German version of Magic Light Pictures/Studio Soi’s Christmas Special. To celebrate the Umlaut we share a piece of the film’s preproduction each day until you can watch “Der Grüffelo” on ZDF, December 24 th at 10.40 in the morning.
Propdesign (detail) by Manu Arenas
Setdesign (click to view) by Manu Arenas
“THE BEAST” AWARDED AT ANIMATED ENCOUNTERS
We’re delighted to hear that Studio Soi’s “The Little Boy and The Beast” continues to find friends whereever it goes. The film, directed by Johannes Weiland and Uwe Heidschoetter, has recently been awarded the Grand Prix at the “Animated Encounters” festival in Bristol. Thank you, Bristol!
GRUFFALO & BEAST: TRIPLE VICTORY IN CHICAGO.
“The Gruffalo” and “The Little Boy and The Beast”, together with Soi’s Jakob Schuh, recently visited The Windy City to find that our films had won three awards at the wonderful “27th Chicago International Children’s Film Festival“. “The Gruffalo picked up “The Best of the Fest” and a Second Prize for “Best Animated Short”. “The Little Boy and The Beast” was awarded as “Best Animated Television Production”. We’re very happy, we had a great time there, thank you, fine people of CICFF.
GRUFFALO AWARDED IN OTTAWA
We are delighted to hear that “The Gruffalo” was awarded at this year’s Ottawa International Animation Festival as the 2010 Best Television Made for Children. Once again many thanks to the team with directors Jakob Schuh and Max Lang. Besides that, “The Gruffalo” has also won the CIFEJ-Prize at the Biennial of Animation in Bratislava where “The Little Boy and the Beast” was awarded with the UNICEF-Prize. Uwe Heidschötter’s and Johannes Weiland’s short “The Little Boy and the Beast” has also received the Award for the Best Short Film in the Minmest section of the Anim’est Festival in Romania. Many thanks to the juries!
SERVING SPOONS
Soi’s director Michael Sieber just has produced the follow-up ad for the Maggi campaign. Leading in and out of Germany’s classic daily soup “Marienhof” a family of spoons gets overexcited.