Animax Asia presented their all-star creative team for the anime feature “LaMB“.
ANIMAX’s “LaMB” ALL STARS
Animax Asia is sparing no efforts in assembling the best creative talents for their first original anime production. Peach Blossom Media is on board as the production studio, putting together Ryosuke Tei (程亮弼) as director, Imaginary Friends Studios (IFS) for concept art and designs, and Yasufumi Soejima (ソエジマ ヤスフミ) on the storyboards. With Simple Plan and The Click Five on the soundtrack, “LaMB” is gonna rock!
The talents on this team couldn’t have been a better line up for this ground breaking production. These creators are trailblazers on their own right. They are the ones with the right set of skills, experience and tenacity to pick up the gauntlet. Currently, the project is in the heat of pre-production.
ANIMAX ASIA: A NEW HOPE FOR ASIAN YOUTHS
Flanked by Director Tei and Sung Lingun (Creative Director, Peach Blossom Studios), Greg Ho, the Vice President and General Manager of Animax Asia, shared his vision for “LaMB”. Through this project, Animax wants the youth in Asia to know that following one’s heart and passion, such as creating art for a living, is an achievable dream. The realisation of this project, from script to screen, is very much a story in itself.
Tei, Greg and Lingun
“LaMB” is set in the anti-Utopian world of Cerra, where rule-breakers are reintegrated back into society, but kept under bondage in a process known as ‘Lamination’. The laminated people, also known as LaMBs, in effect, became virtual slaves fit for exploitation by the free society. “LaMB” is a story about deviants challenging the status quo, the system that kept people bonded to their station in society. It’s about those who break the chains that keep them apart from their dreams.
Carmelio Juinio from the Philippines is a such guy that changed the status quo. His entry beat 3,000 others from around Asia to be made into an anime, under Animax’s script-writing competition.
With “LaMB”, Greg takes Animax from a media company that distributes anime, to one that creates original content. And it’s not just ‘anime’ that Animax is making, “LaMB” is going to be developed as a 360° experience – viewers will be able to experience the world of “LaMB” via multiple media platforms. The core of the project is the feature length animation, which will be beamed across 21 countries in Asia on Animax channel in February 2009. Leading up to the broadcast, Animax will be rolling out the web-manga, online light novel, online games, and a mobile platform RPG game as well as short-form episodes. Animax is also considering merchandising collectible figurines as well as apparels.
“LaMB” is a production made for digital natives. But how will Animax respond should fan-subbed versions of “LaMB” start appearing on P2P networks or on video-streaming sites?
“It is certainly a recognition of the quality of our work, when people want to make pirated editions of LaMB,” quipped Greg. Although Animax does not condone the breach of intellectual property rights, Greg recognises that fans want to access to content faster and in their vernacular. While the primary audio track for the anime is in English, the show will be dubbed into Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Hindi for regions where those language is spoken . If there is demand, Animax will consider making the anime available as purchasable download for those who do not have access to Animax channels. At the same time, Animax acknowledges the strength of user-generated content, and does encourage fan activities such as doujin art:
EVE – by Eddie of Collateral Damage Studios
Eddie (Evil_overlord) from Collateral Damage Studios (CDS) is quick to jump on that opportunity to paint his interpretation of EVE, the lead female character from “LaMB”.
Peach Blossom Media
There was skepticism when Peach Blossom Media was chosen as the production studio for “LaMB”. This Singapore-based animation studio is known better for its pre-school titles, and there are doubts if Peach Blossom Media is able to produce a dark, gritty, cyperpunk anime suited for mature audiences.
Lingun speaks
Lingun let Peach Blossom Media’s credits speak for itself. This understated gem of a studio from Singapore has produced several original animation series shown in US on Disney Playhouse, Jetix, Nickelodeon, Spike TV and Discovery Kids. “Growing Up Creepie“, a series animated by Peach Blossoms, was nominated for the Emmy Awards in 2007, and “I Got a Rocket” won the Emmy Award for children programme this year. Even if the current library of content may all be targeted at the pre-school audiences, that does not take away the fact that the team at Peach Blossom have the know-how for bringing an idea from concept to critical acclaim. And Peach Blossom isn’t in this alone – its working with other three other creative power houses:
Ryosuke Tei
Aiko, Tei and Greg
Ryosuke Tei (程亮弼), the director for the animation, is the founder of the creative studio Furi Furi. Tei is a known personality in the urban vinyl toys and fashion scene. Other than creating ‘cool’ with his quirky, oddball designs, Tei has also produced several short-form animation for commercials, such as Nike’s Monster 360. Check out his interview on the topic of urban vinyl toys.
“LaMB” is Tei’s first full-length animated feature. One of the challenges Tei faces is to make the style distinct from anime – influenced by anime, but not a clone of anime. Tei remarked that early anime was inspired by Disney cartoons, Tei wants “LaMB” to be done in a style inspired by Japanese animation. One thing’s for sure, you’re not going to get Moé style anime because that genre doesn’t quite agree with him.
With Yasufumi Soejima (ソエジマ ヤスフミ) working on the story boards and Imaginary Friends providing the concept art and designs (characters, mecha and environment), Tei has won more than half of the battle.
Yasufumi Soejima
Yasufumi Soejima formerly served with GONZO from 1999 to 2007 as its production director and 3D CGI director. While at GONZO, he has worked as 3D director on cult favourite OVA “ZAION: I WISH YOU WERE HERE” 「あなたがここにいてほしい」, “Last Exile” and Gankutsuou 「巌窟王」. He was supposed to be the director for “Mardock Scramble” 「 マルドゥック・スクランブル」 before the OVA series got mothballed. With Studio 4°C, Soejima worked on “The Second Rennaissance – Part II” – the second chapter of “Animatrix”, as well as the Linkin Park music video “Breaking the Habit“. He is the director for Dream Theatre’s animated music video “Forsaken“. Soejima knows not just the convention of anime, he knows how to make edgy animation for the discerning international audience.
Imaginary Friends Studios
Imaginary Friends Studios is the strategic asset on the production team. IFS is providing the visuals for “LaMB”; it is a heavy responsibility because their artwork makes the first contact with the audience.
IFS is a natural choice for this production – not just because these guys know how to do the dark, gritty and insane stuff for the cyberpunk future, they dwell in it. The artists at IFS are cultural products of both Western and Eastern style of animation and comic art – they are already creating in a syncretic style that blends the best of East and West.
Artgerm, putting his personal touch on EVE
Stanley aka Artgerm is leading the stable of artists as both studio head and creative director. Stanley mentioned that the artists at IFS grew up under the influence of Mickey Mouse and Dragonball, and when they put their stylus on the digital tablet, a unique style flows out from their subconsciousness.
Pre-Production Concept Art
From IFS, Kai and Fred Rambaud are the two key artists conceptualising Tei’s vision. The pair are now working on the designs for character, mechanics and the environment. Although “LaMB” is IFS’ first animation project, these two meisters have more than enough experience providing concept art and design for interactive animation i.e. computer games.
Fred Rambaud
Fred, the Frenchman at IFS, had worked as an art director on an animation project from IME’JI Productions before moving to to Norway. When he was in that Nordic country, he was with FUNCOM and had done concept art for Anarchy Online before becoming the senior concept artist for “Age of Conan” and the in-development MMO “Secret World“. His aspirations brought him to join IFS and move to Singapore.
Kai, KQ (the yummy guy in green, PBM’s Producer of “LaMB”), and doujin artists from CDS – Kwok and CO2
Kai, one of the founding partners of IFS, has designed for the Half Life 2 mod Nuclear Dawn, Zombie Studios on Shrapnel, WizKid on Mechwarrior. He is also concurrently working on a game with Bandai Namco.
IFS will also be producing the web manga, with artwork done by Chester Ocampo (Freedom Formula: Ghost of the Wasteland, Radical Comics) and Erufan (Pilot Season: Lady Pendragon, Top Cow Productions). [Speaking of Freedom Formula comics, CO2 (pictured above) is the letterer for the 5-issue limited series]
EVE Lolita Figure Study by CO2
The thing is, Tei doesn’t like Moé – but it’s hard to keep fanboys away from the Moé side of things. Such as CO2’s lolification of EVE…..
MADE IN SINGAPORE / MADE BY SINGAPORE
There’s a talk about the “Made in Singapore” or the “Made by Singapore” label attached to this project. Will “LaMB” be considered a ‘Singaporean anime’ given the number of non-resident, foreign hands involved in the production? Will the Singapore (or Singapore government) brand make a difference in the marketing? Especially since ministries and statutory boards aren’t exactly the arbiters of ‘cool‘ in popular culture. Even with EDB financing part of the production from the US$6million Asia Joint Production Fund in collaboration with SPE Network, does government facilitation make this production any more Singaporean?
Contemporary animation production makes good case study for the globalised value chain, even for Japanese animation productions. The higher-order pre-production work done in Japan, and the production jobs are farmed out to cost-efficient, offshore animation studios. Post-production is done either back in Japan or in countries with better expertise. While a product looks distinctly Japanese, it has passed through some other countries before being screened or broadcast in its domestic market. So, how just how ‘Japanese’ is a typical Japan anime production?
Animax Asia has its headquarters in Singapore. Peach Blossom Media and Imaginary Friends Studios are Singaporean companies.
Singapore, being a globalised city and economy, makes an ideal nexus for globalised production chains. For “LaMB”, it was possible because Singapore has the right infrastructure and superstructure to put together the talents from all over the world and make them work in cohesion. Singapore’s strategic position is no longer just geographical in the context of content creation – its at the confluence of Eastern and Western cultures. The creatives here are brought up on a diet of anime and cartoons, manga and comics. That ought to be an attractive consideration for studios wanting to create intellectual properties that feature a distinct Asian identity and at the same time marketable to the world wide audience.
“LaMB” is an idea that germinated in the Philippines, but conceived and delivered in Singapore. For the production of “LaMB”, the distinctive Singapore imprint is the ability to pull off a production staffed by the best talents from different cultures. There’s talents from Canada (Simple Plan), Japan (Tei, Soejima), and not counting the staff in Peach Blossom Media and Imaginary Friends Studio – which are like a mini-ASEANs. This is one of the strengths of an open, multi-cultural society. If Singapore or Singaporeans closed the doors to foreign talents, IFS, Peach Blossom or projects such as “LaMB” wouldn’t have been possible.
Perhaps, that’s just what it is about Singapore and the Singapore identity – Asian in essence, cosmopolitan in substance, and global in appeal.
CITY OF POSSIBILITIES
For aspiring creators wanting to break into the industry, “LaMB” ought to serve as a shining gem example of how you can make it happen.
Pick up your pen/stylus and start drawing; Launch your text editors and let your ideas fly.
There’s two events where you can get your artistic talents recognised by the professionals from the industry: the manga competition “GRAPHITE 2008” organised by the NUS Anime Club, and the doujinshi convention “KALEIDOSCOPE 2008” Both events are sponsored by Animax Asia and Imaginary Friends Studios.
No idea what to submit? Here’s my task for you: If you’re the one asked to do a manga, character design or illustration based on “LaMB”, how would you have done it?
