#3 ANIMATION AND STORYTELLING ON A BUDGET

Part three of our in-depth series on Blue Zoo focuses on animating for storytelling amidst the realities of production at an animation studio

The AdventuresOf Paddingtonis co-produced by StudioCanal and Heyday Films

Numberblocksis a BAFTA-winning h it TV series that teaches children h ow numbers work

Animation is storytelling, from character rigging to a simple walk cycle and the most explosive of action, everything in animation helps to tell a story. Nowhere is this more true than at Blue Zoo. If you’ve been following 3D World’s in-depth series on the UK animation studio you’ll know that story is at the heart of everything they do. In this third instalment of our Blue Zoo series, we’ll be diving into the animation process, with a focus on the studio’s long-form children’s series. We sat down with directors to find out how popular shows like Pip And Posy, The Adventures Of Paddington, Go Jetters and Digby Dragon are animated, as well as how the team overcomes the numerous hurdles involved in production.

THE ANIMATION PROCESS

Matt Tea is the series director of PipAndPosy, Blue Zoo’s animated series for three to five-year-olds based on the popular series of picture books by Axel Scheffler and Camilla Reid. Having joined Blue Zoo as an animator in 2007 and worked on shows like DigbyDragonand GoJetters, Tea is perfectly placed to discuss animation, storytelling and the various challenges they present. “My main role is a problem solver,” he explains to 3D World. “Everyone is so capable. They bring their skills and talents to every department they work in. My main job is to steer the show.”

Pip And Posy is a series for 3-5 year olds based on the popular picture books by Axel Scheffler and Camilla Reid

The Adventures Of Paddington follows a young Paddington as he writes letters to his Aunt Lucy celebrating things he discovers

Blue Zoo was entrusted by Dick Bruna’s family estate to launch the animated series of his children’s classic Miffy

Steering the show, of course, involves overseeing the animation process. “It all starts with an animatic,” says Tea. Whilst Blue Zoo’s 2D animation requires tighter storyboards with ironedout beats, 3D allows animators more room to iterate and put their own stamp on a project. “We want to make sure that it’s invoking the right emotions, it’s engaging, the timing, the pacing, everything we need needs to be there.” The storyboard is handed over to the animators who begin plotting out the performances and polishing the animatic. “If you’ve got a really tight automatic, you’re only going to make it better,” adds Tea.

PLAN OF ANIMATION

MATT TEA, DIRECTOR OF PIP AND POSY AND EXPERIENCED BLUE ZOO ANIMATOR, SHARES HIS ADVICE FOR ANIMATED STORYTELLING

When we tackle things in-house less is more. Don't overcomplicate things, don't try and do more than is necessary. It's very easy, especially in 3D when you can do crazy camera moves and duplicate rigs, but do you need to? Is this camera move adding anything? It’s very easy to get carried away and do stuff just because you can when it comes to animating. Do you need five poses? Can you do this in two poses? Can you do it in one really strong pose? The less you do the more polished you can make it, the more focused you can be and typically that's always going to make a better end result. You see a lot of animation reels where it's over complicated and in regards to storytelling and animation, if you've got the time to make it really complicated then fine, but my advice would be that less is more.

Know what you're trying to achieve as well. It's very easy to just jump in and try to do something out of nothing. I think it’s incredibly challenging if you don't know what it is you're trying to get out of it. You need a road map. Without that, I don't think you're ever going to get to that endpoint where you feel happy that you've achieved what you want.