Animax succeeds in a Flash: not just well drawn, these characters are well written, too

Post, Nov, 2004 by Ken McGorry

LOS ANGELES -- Like many a useful technology, Macromedia's Flash software is coming of age--thanks in large part to the dedication of users with the talent to get the most out of the program. For Animax, Flash isn't just for interactive Web sites anymore. It's for TV and feature films.

Animax, only about three years old, is all about media that can benefit from good, funny animation and character design: films, television, shorts, commercials, games, e-learning, medicine, branded entertainment, music videos and, of course. Web design. Animax keeps about 30 animators busy; a high headcount until you look at the company's diverse output and factor in their efforts on an unusual project. They're finishing up their own independent feature created in Flash.

Animax (www.animaxent.com) also recently completed a 15-minute short called Catching Kringle for client Jellyman Productions (www.jellyman.com) in which an over-militarized version of our society renders Santa's Christmas Eve attempts to deliver toys nearly impossible. In the ironic Kringle, the characters and settings evince a very strong sense of line as well as an unexpected level of depth, rich color and shading that almost suggests an animated airbrush technique.

On the serious side, a recently completed job for the Starlight Starbright Foundation includes six animated Webisodes titled Coping with Chemo--advice and information aimed at teens battling cancer that amounts to about 35 minutes of work.

GOOD COPY COMES FIRST

Besides Animax's special way with Flash, the company's not-so-secret weapon is the strong writing and comic sensibility of actor/writer/director Dave Thomas, a founding partner with Andrew Bain. Well known for his portrayal with Rick Moranis of the lovably provincial Canadians the McKenzie Brothers. Thomas has seen a resurgence of interest in the McKenzies after he and Moranis reversioned Bob & Doug as the moose voices in Disney's Brother Bear. And now the McKenzies are in an original Animax feature. "We're real close to putting together a McKenzie Brothers movie," says Thomas.

Thomas has a strong background as an ad agency writer for McCann in Canada and years of experience on the revered SCTV comedy series. For him, good writing and humor are essential ingredients in any good animation, "I have a love of animation with respect to the writing more than the actual animation," he says, "You can't deliver a message in animation unless the copy is good."

For the many diverse jobs Animax takes on, Thomas sees to it that he places the most appropriate writer with each job; in addition to his staff writers he has extensive contacts among sitcom writers.

MAKE FUN STUFF

Michael Bellavia, GM at Animax, is on the same page with Thomas. Their mission, he says, is "to make fun stuff." Some clients' businesses are intrinsically lively and fun, Bellavia says, while the occasional corporate client needs some help in energizing its image--and animation is the way to achieve that.

"We're looking for ways to tell the story of who you are and what you do," he says, prior to boiling down to the specifics of say, client Web site navigation. "We're trying to be entertaining while communicating the message." Animax's recent work for Starbright tackles a very tough subject by using "a perspective and a voice that will be most readily accepted and listened to."

So, why Flash? "Communicating our messages with Flash gives us a greater range and the ability to reach people interactively," says Bellavia. Flash also allows easy collaborative sharing among artists working at remote locations.

Tim Jones, VP of production, says they've been pushing Flash animation in Hollywood for TV and film entertainment since Animax's inception. With such a labor-intensive medium as animation, "we just use the technology available to do the job as quickly and efficiently as possible," including obviating the tedium of relentless hand copying of drawings.

Now the idea is taking hold. As a big-screen 35mm blow-up. Jellyman's Catching Kringle will first run on the film festival circuit, proving that Animax can do feature-quality animation. "We approached it as if it were a traditional cel movie--drawing with a pencil," Jones says, "but we said, 'When you clean it up, clean it up in Flash.' All animation, regardless if it's cel animated, gets scanned in at some point and becomes a digital image anyway. All the studios do digital ink and paint now, too." Animax used USAnimation's digital ink and paint service on Kringle and achieved a soft, shaded look. The upside with digital, Jones says, is, "I've just painted one cel; now the next 100 are almost exactly like this so the computer can go through and assign colors across. But it's still an artist who has to go through it and make sure it's right."

"We're going to be going into programming, too," says Thomas. "Animax will have significant roots in advertising and also have a couple of shows on the air--a marriage of Flash animation and good writing."

By KEN MCGORRY