03Magazine

03Magazine

Erwin Gómez ViñalesMargarita Cid Lizondo

PamelaRiveros, Josefa Villaseca

Juan Manuel AurrecoecheaErwin Gómez Viñales

Nicolás BustamanteLaia Machado Prin

María Ignacia Pavez TravisanyCatalina Lavarello

Manuel Ortiz OssandónPortada

December 2014, Santiago. Chile

General Editor

Executive Producer

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Video Interview with Vivienne Barry

“Abuelo Com” de Marmota Estudio

canal@solomonos.cl

The most important market in Chile had a successful second version, and the presence of producers and professionals from all Latin America was a big highlight. With three days of presentations and master classes, MAI! consolidated itself as a place for training and networking.

MAI! NOVEMBER/28

Stop-motion pioneer in Chile. She has explored different methods and techniques that have helped her develop recognition-worthy pieces. Renowned animator that began her career in Germany and in Chile, she made a series that those who are adults today will never forget

VIVIENNE BARRY/42

Chilean production is awake, and during 2014 three animated series premiered on broadcast television. They developed different themes and techniques, showing that the studios in Chile are becoming more diverse. We talked with the creators of “Nano Adventures”, “Pachapulai”, and the second season of “Morrison Hostel”.

03Magazine

Premiere Series • MAI! • Vivienne Barry • Web Series • David Bisbano • Animación Mexicana • Simon’s Cat

PREMIERE SERIES 2014/08

CHILEAN WEB SERIES/60

The renowned investigator and curator Juan Manuel Aurrecoechea shows a retrospective of the animation in Mexico and the adventure behind the creation of the first animation studio in that country.

ANIMATION IN MEXICO/84

It is a growing trend worldwide that found a place in Chile. Animators have developed series and audiovisual pieces that are played on the Web. We talked to the main representatives of this subject: Bernardita Pastén of Marmota Studios and Patricio Gamonal of ATiempo Productions.

SIMON’S CAT/92Solomonos Magazine interviewed Simon Tofield, creator of the series Simon’s Cat, which has become internationally famous, fascinating cat and animal lovers. Simon

has four cats and he observes them for the new animation pieces.

Solomonos spoke to the director of “Rodencia and the Princess’ Tooth”, a full-length animated movie co-produced by Peru and Argentina that was very successful, screened in countries like India. One if its formulas for success is rescuing what belongs to Latin America.

DAVID BISBANO/74

“Morrison Hostel”, ”Nano Adventures”, ”Pachapulai”

PREMIERE SERIES 2014 The second season of “Morrison Hostel” and the premiere

of the new series “Nano Adventures” and “Pachapulai” are Chilean productions that have gained a space in 2014 in the

Chilean broadcast television. All of them present diverse themes and genres and hope to

capture the preschool and teen audiences.

By Pamela Riveros Ríos

“Nano Adventures”, series of Cabala Productions

© Cábala Producciones

In 2014, three Chilean animated series took control of the broadcast television, which is a clear sign that national productions are present. “Morrison Hostel” took a big step. Its second season premiered this year on Chilevision network (CHV), whereas the new scientific series “Nano Adventures” is on Television Nacional (National Television, TVN) just as the science fiction series, “Pachapulai”.

The three of them are facing the challenge of being the only national premieres, targeting the audience that turns on the television early on the weekends.

The reason behind a scientific series for children

Cabala Productions is characterized for specializing in the scientific world. At least, that is how it was conceived by the founding partner, Gonzalo Argandona, who is passionate about the subject. “It is a mixture of personal interest, there is something about the esthetics and intellectual enjoyment, because we also think they are important, crucial, for the development of the country, and finally it became a niche and a specialization that characterizes our company and that has allowed us to differentiate from what other production companies offer”, he explains

They tried with different audiovisual formats to position these topics, such as documentaries and fiction series for children, on the open screen. However, they had not experimented with animation.

They heard about an educational video game called “Kokori”, which was created by a group of researchers of the Tekit Center of Santo Tomas University. The game consists of exploring the human body. According to what Gonzalo Argandona explains, this video game served as an inspiration to continue generating productions with scientific themes and they saw in animation the means

Bernardita: “In channel 13, we built a really good relationship, we

received support in the broadcast, they advertised us, they had a blog- which

is a little bit weakened right now - I mean, we worked very well with them. And CHV received us well, even though

I would like to keep the series in only one network, but there isn’t one better

than the other”. “Nano Adventures”, series of Cabala Productions, broadcast by TVN

© Cábala Producciones

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of making them a reality, “it had all the possibilities for traveling inside the human body and presenting it as a mysterious place, full of questions to be answered.

It allows us to visualize these worlds and experience this traveling sensation from a narrative point of view, and in terms of contents, we can present in a few seconds, in a simple and visual way, scientific concepts that are complex and not easy to explain to a child.”

Thus, “Nano Adventures” was born, with 2D and 3D techniques, with 13 episodes of 13 minutes each. This series has aimed at bringing children closer to biology in a fun and tangible way. They called a team of the Tekit Center so that they could support the content, with the objective of providing accurate and truthful information regarding the human body and nature. “A base of reality and that is why working with them was crucial in terms of authenticity”, states Gonzalo Argandona.

For the purpose of making a dynamic and fun story, the creative team thought that each episode should be a mission revolving around a problem and a conflict, putting science as the main topic. The “nanobots” serve to accomplish this objective, and they are allowed to access such small places such as the human body or a flower “in a non-educational way, strictly speaking, but with the purpose of piquing the audience’s curiosity and fascination for these subjects and hoping that afterwards, the children who watch the series will want to look up more information and they won’t be afraid of science”, adds Argandona.

To accomplish these objectives, Nano Adventures has three characters: Mirko (Sandro Larenas’s voice): professor that invented the “nanobots” and took concepts from nanotechnology and revolution in order to be able to

Gonzalo: “We began with a basic concept and after that we worked with a script writer. As a part of the animation process we read the script and did the representation of the characters with the team, to see where they worked, where there was excessive content, or there was a certain monotony. It was a natural evolution; in the first episodes, it was difficult to find a balance among all these elements and this was an adjustment that we had to make during the production”.

Antonia Herrera directora de arte del cortometraje.

Bernardita: “Paka Paka is a channel that makes fun, completely educational shows, which is pretty impressive. And they have told me that, that we came to refresh the programming a little bit”.

explore the secrets of the microscopic and invisible world. He goes beyond the stereotype of the scientist with his hair in disarray and locked in a lab. He is fun and has an athletic touch.

Seba (Rene Pinochet’s voice): he is a boy who doesn’t have much interest in biology or science in general. Nevertheless, he is very good at video games and that is why he knows how to use a controller perfectly. This talent made him worthy of being the main pilot of the “nanobots”.

Rocio (Ximena Marchant’s voice): she is a bright and curious girl, very interested in science but not very good at operating the nanobots. Therefore, there is a relationship of mutual collaboration and friendly rivalry at the same time.

The first pre-teen science fiction series

“’Pachapulai’ was a book I read in school, it was a required book, and I remember I loved it”, comments Erwin “Wilo” Gómez regarding the inspiration for his new series, and he adds “I liked it because behind it, there were this entire story about magical cities and time travel. Afterwards I knew this book was the cornerstone of Chilean science fiction”.

Since then, doing something with “Pachapulai” was in the mind of this creator. Some years later, it became a reality with the idea of a full-length movie. But because of how complicated doing this was, he decided to make a sequel of this story and turn it into a series. “It takes place 300 years after the book and the story begins when a Pachapulai descendant (a character named Inti) appears running through the deserts of Antofagasta looking for a Bello descendant (Lieutenant Bello was a Chilean aviator Second season of “Morrison Hostel” of Pájaro production company.

who disappeared and is part of the popular culture), who shall have the mission of fixing what his predecessor, Lieutenant Bello, began”, he comments.

This piece could be funded thanks to a National Television Council (CNTV) fund of the year 2008. The application form was completed together with TVN, the national television network. Unlike the current animated series, “Pachapulai” is aimed at a pre-teen audience, with action and epic adventures, where, through 13 episodes of 13 minutes each, it is possible to find themes, rhythm, and images related to this target. “I don’t know if there is another science fiction animated series. It has esthetics we have called Andean cyberpunk, which is a retro-futurism. It is an Inca-Spanish artistic fusion”, says “Wilo”.

To build this sequel, they conceptualized a city lost in time, together with the myth of Lieutenant Bello and, in a general way, they built the social conflict that existed inside the town Pachapulai, where the Spanish and native worlds meet. In this last case, the native people are the biggest guardians of nature.

The conflict begins when the antagonist, Pizarro, wants to discover the city and take all the gold there in order to sell it and become the richest man in the world.

More monstrous

“Morrison Hostel” is produced by Pájaro Production Company, belonging to Bernardita Ojeda. This time they released their second, 13-episode season, which was originally planned to be only one, big cycle. “I would say that both seasons were developed as one, because internationally it has 26, so we kept the presentation and, of course, we made progress regarding the first”, explains the producer.

According to her, in this installment the characters have faced new situations that hadn’t been seen previously, “it is more biased regarding some topics. More monsters of different classes arrive and we don’t take them out of the hostel anymore. They travel in time, visit Boris’s house, it’s like we started giving them more freedom.”

“Morrison Hostel” was released in 2011 on Chanel 13 in a schedule that was close to lunch time on the weekends. The show registered around 4 rating points and its best peak was of 7 points. It was well received by the audience and the producer thought about building up a profile of each of the characters on Facebook, which generated an immediate feedback with the followers of these monsters. “Back then, I wrote one thing and I already had 100 comments and it was very interesting because in general you don’t get feedback, because you only have the rating

and you don’t know what it is exactly that the audience likes. And here we were communicating directly and it was great. There were children more depressed, because I imagine they were teenagers, and they wrote to us ‘I am a monster too, no one pays any attention to me’. There were other children who played the serie’s game, uploaded things, it was very valuable”, Bernardita Ojeda remembers.

Television Networks

“Nano Adventures” has been broadcast on the screens of TVN, which has been satisfactory for the team of Cabala Productions. “Our wish has always been to reach as many people as possible, achieving national levels and we thought TVN was the best option for that. It is public television and there is similarity and coherence between the mission and the values of this project that generates

“‘Nano Adventures’ image”

© Cábala Producciones

Wilo: “Esthetically, we asked ourselves what would happen if you combined two worlds that were very different during a long time in a same space, and we felt that what would happen is that they would merge. So a line that combined both Inca and Spanish worlds was created. We created our own design rules”.

high-quality contents”, comments Argandoña.

Although they didn’t apply as a group to the fund given by the CNTV, this producer found the best conditions to broadcast the series in this television station. And he adds, “They have also given us support on the social networks and created a small space on the TVN.cl website. So we can also reach different audiences, not only on the screen, but also, on the Internet.”

A similar situation is the one of the series “Pachapulai”. The broadcasting channel maintains a site inside their website where you can watch all the episodes that have been aired on television.

On the other hand, for the premiere of the second season of “Morrison Hostel”, the series had to change networks. Although it was being broadcast on Canal 13 (Channel 13),

this time it had to switch to CHV. “There have been good things and difficult things. Of course one always wants to keep a series on the same network because people identified with it. We really tried, but it wasn’t possible because of international right issues”, says Bernardita Ojeda

There was money thanks to the CNTV, but more resources were needed. For this reason, the production company Pájaro considered co-producing, generating an important agreement with the Argentinean channel, Paka Paka. “It is very interesting because, currently, this is very frequent. Therefore you can complement or increase your resources”, says the creator about the benefits of working with the public Argentinean channel.

Already in CHV, they chose a good date to release the second season of “Morrison Hostel”, which was during

Comics of “Pachapulai”, of Spondylus Studio

winter break of 2014 - Saturdays at 9 in the morning - the same schedule chosen for Nano Adventures.

“We don’t have such big expectations for ‘Morrison Hostel’, but I’m facing this as a challenge. It would be great if a children’s block became interesting for the channels, even for CHV, because they could have different editorial policies. For instance, TVN, which is a public channel, may prefer to have something more educational. But a channel like CHV, may have a children’s block which is more commercial”, reflects Bernardita Ojeda.

Meanwhile, Gonzalo Argandoña thinks that “the offer of material aimed at children has been a little restricted, but we have the information that there is a project that wants to strengthen children’s blocks in the following years in TVN”.

More seasons?

The three series want to continue being broadcast on national television and, therefore, more episodes have been considered for “Morrison Hostel”, “Pachapulai”, and “Nano Adventures”.

“Our expectations are that ‘Nano Adventures’ will continue to grow. The 13 episodes of 13 minutes each are created with a big effort, but on an international level the amount is not enough to consolidate a brand”, comments Argandona, and for this reason they expect to have a second season, “we are working to start fundraising so that we can expand the narrative universe and continue with more episodes”.

In Cabala Productions, it is said that the series has had a good audience, oscillating between the first and second

Sandro Larenas, voice of Mirko in “Nano Adventures”

© Cábala Producciones

Gonzalo: “For ‘Nano Adventures’ we received the support of the Santo Tomas University, through

the TEKIT center, which is a center of information technology and communications development for

education”. So they create different technological tools and one of them was the game called ‘Kokori’,

which was made with the funding of the CONICYT (National Commission of Scientific and Technological Research). This served as an inspiration to take it to a massive platform and that served our motivation,

which is taking science to the audience”.

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Image of the series “Pachapulai”, made by Spondylus and broadcast by TVN

places in that schedule on broadcast television. “Also, we are getting positive comments on the social networks, we have our fan page that has more than 3 thousand followers”, he points out.

“Now we want the next to have 26 episodes”, adds Bernardita regarding “Morrison Hostel” and she explains, “in that way we can say ‘ok! this is our second season and we are going to make some changes’”. Depending on the results in terms of audience, CHV will be able to broadcast the complete first season. Besides, Pájaro are relying on the sale of the DVDs of the two parts and that is being sold in all the newsstands in Chile and at the ‘The Clinic’ bar, “it is becoming an interesting place to show the series”, adds Ojeda.

In the meantime, in the “Pachapulai” team, they are hoping young people can feel a connection with this product and that said audience likes it. The team was satisfied with the result, with the artistic and visual direction. “It has a more cinematographic look, for an audience that is more used to video games, a lot of camera codes set as RPG and Racer that belong to that type of format”, says Wilo.

“I believe that it is for a Chilean audience that likes animation and that is going to find another genre, it is not usual. And we, as a studio, are interested in moving in that direction for our next productions”, and the creator concludes, “we are interested in setting into motion a Latin American fiction series, inaugurating this Andean cyberpunk genre. Depending on how successful the first season is, we are going to think about doing a second one, but we are more focused on ‘Kipan’ which would involve using all the concepts developed in ‘Pachapulai’, he adds. SM

Link to video interview of Bernadette Ojeda

Bernardita: “Morrison Hostel” was finished in March, 2013 and it premiered in August of that year in

Argentina. Now we get many comments, such as ‘you’re a genius’, in Argentinian Spanish. You know immediately

that the comments come from that country.

ANIMA MUNDI 2014BRASILJULY - AUGUSTRÍO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULOhttp://www.animamundi.com.br/

EXPOTOONS 2014ARGENTINASEPTEMBERBUENOS AIREShttp://www.expotoons.com/

CUTOUT FEST 2014MEXICONOVEMBERQUERÉTAROhttp://www.cutoutfest.com/

AXIS 2015MEXICOAPRILMONTERREYhttp://axisfest.mx/

ANIMA 2015ARGENTINAOCTOBERCÓRDOBA http://www.animafestival.com.ar/

Chilean animation is preparing for the next stepThe second version of MAI! Market Animation Industry, took place on

November 26, 27, and 28. This formative instance brought forward the Chilean and

Latin American animation industry and the projections it has to consolidate on an

international level.

By Josefa Villaseca

MARKET ANIMATION INDUSTRY

Link to short video of Mai!

Imágen de “Goris el Gorila”Alvaro Díaz conference (creator of 31 Minutes) in Auditorium TVN

Over sixty Latin American animation projects met in Santiago to participate in MAI! Market Animation Industry, an instance for the dissemination and promotion of the Southern Cone animation industry.

This instance was organized by the CHILEMONOS Foundation, sponsored by the National Council for Culture and Arts through the Program of Support for International Gatherings in Chile 2014-2015.

From its beginning at the third International Animation Festival Chilemonos, MAI! focuses on networking and co-production among studies and animators from everywhere in Latin America. Thorough its diverse activities, this event took place as a formative instance with a view to its next version.

right now continues to grow and consolidate”.

Paco Rodriguez, Spanish animation producer, pointed out during the gathering that when it came to produce, it is of utmost importance to participate in these events because they give value to the networks that are generated: “There is an information exchange that is taking place, there is learning and, at the same time, I am networking”.

Formative activities

During the first two days of MAI! Market Animation Industry, there were workshops aimed at professionals and students.

The people in charge of the MAI! School of Business were: Leah Hoyer, American producer responsible for successful series

Animation Markets

Around the world, markets are becoming extremely relevant. For this reason, animation is keeping the pace and it is promoting a series of instances for the interaction among the participants in the area, in order to promote and disseminate this industry.

For Martín Rodriguez, Executive Secretary of the Council for the Arts and Audiovisual Industry, the relevance of these events is huge: “Basically, they are the hinges or communicating vessels with the rest of the industry, internationally and globally. These are priceless opportunities for the creation of human contact between the international and Chilean industries. That is why we support this with the promotion fund, we are even creating new lines so that the effervescence that animation is having

Group of attendees at conferences in the School of Communications of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

“This is the Plan” of Fernanda Frick, project that won the DIRAC Prize

such as “Phineas and Pherb” and “Kim Possible”; and Paco Rodriguez, Spanish producer of the award-winning full length animated movies “El Cid: The Legend”, “Nocturna”, “Pinocchio 3000” and “The Hairy Tooth Fairy”.

MAI! LAB, aimed at students, gathered seventeen Chileans under the direction of Martina Santoro, producer and founder of OKAM Studio, an Argentinian game development company.

Along with acquiring knowledge from these prominent professionals with years of experience in the industry, the attendees could present their projects and received feedback with a view to the meetings and agreements with distributors and television networks.

Also, there were two Master Classes, which had over two

hundred attendees. The first class was in charge of Kiko Mistrorigo, creator, producer, and director of Tv PinGuim, one of the most renowned children’s animation companies in Brazil. Also, Nicolás Matji, Spanish animation producer from Lightbox Entertainment, presented his experience and the keys for the success of his full-length movie “Tad, The Lost Explorer”.

The closing event was in charge of Álvaro Díaz, creator of the successful Chilean series “31 Minutes”, who highlighted the commitment of the creators with the audience. “We work in a business that tries to entertain and move. When one works in entertaining and moving, the only target is the audience, no one else”, he said.

Latin American Industry

During this animation market, one of the highlights was the presence of five Latin American producers, who joined the over fifty Chilean professionals. Coming from Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, this participation has an influence on the building of relationships within the region.

“For me, it is very interesting to focus on Latin America, it seems to me that, if we don’t know each other, we will never have the strength and identity as a region, and I believe that is the only way”, pointed out Marilina Sánchez, Argentinian producer that attended MAI! with her project “Mystery Network”. Jimy Carhuas from Origami Studio (Peru) pointed out the importance of these instances to understand the global picture of the way in which the industry moves forward: “This type of platforms really allows us to have a general view and that is why they should continue happening”.

TV Pinguim Conference

For Margarita Cid, Executive Director of the Chilemonos Foundation, one of the most valuable aspects that are drawn from this experience are the networks between professionals: “Nowadays, we feel more than ever that there is an opportunity that is waiting for us and that we will be able to achieve what we are looking for: a powerful animation industry. And that we, in Chile, become the leaders of the Latin American animation so that we can break into a global world that allows us to be successful and, on top of that, be a model for the entire region. Alliance with ANIMA FORUM

During the third version of the Chilemonos Festival, the creation of an agreement on Latin American Animation Festivals became official. In this edition of MAI! Market Animation Industry, this alliance that wants to strengthen the production in the region became a reality.

Together with the Cultural Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DIRAC), an award was given to one project from the residence MAI! School of Business.

“For us as DIRAC it is an honor to be participating in the MAI! Market because we feel like a part, from the very beginning, of the Chilemonos program. This is an extremely important market for Chile, and, in my view, one of the markets with the biggest potential on an international level, it puts us in the big leagues and that, for us as a government, is important”, said Eduardo Machuca, Chief of the Cinema and Audiovisual Area of the Cultural Affairs Division.

Through an agreement with ANIMA FORUM, animation market of the Brazilian festival ANIMA MUNDI, the winner of this award Leah Hoyer

Imágen de“Goris el Gorila”

“Animation has been showing by itself a whole movement that exist in Chile, that it’s coming with force, that needs

support and connections. We hope to continue being cons-tants in this support, because there is no doubt that there is a lot of talent, creativity and also a lot of associativity”

Martín Rodríguez, Executive Secretary of the Arts and Audiovisual Industry Council.

Flo de la serie “Horacio y Los Plasticines”

“Viernes de Medios” in Señal UC Closing Party at TVN

Flo de la serie “Horacio y Los Plasticines”

Martina SantoroPaco RodríguezLeah Hoyer

Kiko Mistrorigo, TV Pinguim

given by the DIRAC will be able to attend said event in 2015.

The winner was Fernanda Frick with her project “This is the Plan”, a short movie that shows the love story between a dog and a cat, with the ups and downs of their marriage in time. This project was chosen by Leah Hoyer among the Chilean participants of the MAI! School of Business.

MAI! May 2015

This version of the event took place as a formative space and as a first stage for the third version of MAI! that will be held in May, 2015 within the Chilemonos International Festival of Animation.

This next market will have important guests from distribution and production companies, and television networks of Latin America and the world, who will participate in business networking meetings with the objective of making transactions and buying contents. “What we are going to do is have many international guests, buyers of the highest quality, and all Latin America selling. That is what we want.” pointed out Erwin Gomez, director of the CHILEMONOS Foundation.

Without a doubt, MAI! already opened the door to an integrated and collaborative Latin American market. Along the same lines, in its future versions, MAI! Market Animation Industry will continue to forge ties and agreements in the industry in order to achieve a privileged position in the world. SM

Kiko Mistrorigo, TV Pinguim Nicolás Matji, Lightbox Entertainment Alvaro Díaz, Aplaplac

www.mai.cl

2 0 1 50 6 a l 0 8 m a y oS A N T I A G O

M E R C A D O A N I M A C I O N I N D U S T R I A

By Pamela Riveros Ríos

How the main exponent of Chilean stop-motion was born

Her staying in Germany encouraged her curious mind, experience that transformed her in a

renowned artist of animated movies. She brought to Chile the stop-motion technique in the 80’s and

since then she has become an authority in the field, nationally and internationally. Those who are adults today still remember when Grandpa

Colors appeared on the screen and helped them go to sleep.

VIVIENNE BARRY

Link to video interview of Vivienne Barry

It was 1973 and in Chile a movie in stop-motion was being made. Vivienne Barry was a witness to this, a journalist who, when visiting the Chilefilms studios, came across this production named “Martin and Cano”. It was quite an accomplishment for a country that had never made such a thing.

Due to the coup d’etat, the movie could not be finished, but this young journalist, without really understanding what that moment in history was going to mean for her professional life, had to go into exile in January 1974. Together with her husband, Juan Enrique Forch, she traveled to Dresden, East Germany. This marked the beginning of her career in animation.

“I lived there for five years and by chance there was a very big animation studio in that city. It belonged to the DEFA Trickfilm Studio, which was a film company” remembers Vivienne Barry. The place had enough space for developing all types of animation. “And being there was magical because you went into different filming studios, because there were films being made, and there where sets of magical worlds, running waters, palaces with princesses, monsters and other characters, because they were making 10 or 15 films simultaneously”, comments the artist who depicts how the gigantic German studio was.

A test with wooden cubes

She had six months to prepare. It was only her, a camera, and some cubes, which she had to transform into something animated. In the mornings she had pantomime classes with an animated movie director, who had been a mime. “With the cubes, I had to reproduce the movements he taught me, but they didn’t have legs or arms, so it was very complex”, she points out.

The DEFA sent the material to be developed and after months of practicing she could animate a puppet and after a while she could show the movements of a walking puppet. “After those six months, in which I showed in front of a commission all I had made, I was hired as an animator’s assistant which was a real bore, because I wanted to move puppets, but I had to worry about the rain and the clouds, so I used that time to see how the big creators that were there animated”, she remembers.

My first animated puppet

One of her duties was to help one of the directors of the

studio, Kurt Weilh, in the making of a gangster movie, animated with puppets. The rhythm of the animation was made thoroughly because a set amount of frames corresponded to musical notes. “There was a scene in which the gunmen danced tango and all had to be animated to the rhythm of that tune that was around every 9 frames”, comments Vivienne Barry.

But one day she was inspired and, when her mentor was absent, she wanted to try and animate. Then, she showed what she had made to this renowned artist, “he told me ‘well, now I’m going to make around six more versions of the scene to choose which we are going to use’. Of course

Image of “Grandpa Colors”

“Sleep, Little Black Boy”, episode of the “Singtoons” series.

En los Estudios Disney (1988-1990).

mine was not going to be picked”, remembers this artist about how demanding and perfectionist this studio was.

She continued experimenting; she tried new materials like articulated papers cutouts and shadow play. She worked with her husband in the medium-length movie “Lautaro” where she could display her talent. “It was amazing, I felt the team was confident in me because I animated the way I wanted, I had to do many complex things, like battles, galloping horses, Mapuches. It was very exciting because somehow I felt as a cultural ambassador and making movies about Chile was a way of showing our culture over there”, she states.

The first idea of “Grandpa Colors”

Every day of the week at 18:50, an old man said good night on the screens of the national television of East Germany. This character called Sandmännchen was animated in stop-motion. He visited children and bid them good night. “So, I thought that when I arrived in Chile, I would make an old man that bid the children of the country good night”.

Return and the beginning of stop-motion in Chile

Finally during the year 1979, Vivienne Barry returned to Santiago, Chile. She looked for a job in journalism or in show business as a singer. The thought of animation never crossed her mind.

Until she ran into her friend, Santiago del Campo, on the street. Back then, he was a creative in McCann Erickson. That’s where the idea of making a commercial for Ambrosoli (a Chilean candy brand) called “Ambrosoli Streeptease”, arose. It was finally made in August, 1980. “That was amazing; it opened the door to advertisement.

Episode of the series “Eeny Meeny Miny Moe”, called “The Dairy Cow”

TV Series “Eeny Meeny Miny Moe”

Image of the short movie “La Salsa”, 1999

From that commercial on, I could make a living from animation, and during 10 years I worked in this field”, this artist points out, who would soon get recognition for many works created in those times, such as the advertising campaign “Careful and Cautious” of Citibank.

In this road, Vivienne didn’t forget her initial idea of creating the old man who would make Chilean children sleep. She worked with Eduardo Tironi – who had just begun working as the general director at Filmocentro - who supported her to make a pilot with Ricardo Larraín. The work was called “The Hour of the Night Watchman”, referring to the person who, during the Chilean colonial

times, walked the streets turning off the lights. “The Night Watchman” walked on cobblestone streets, surrounded by adobe houses.

They tried to sell this production to several countries, with no much success. But the answer came 10 years later.

A social phenomenon

During 1991, the national channel (TVN) announced they wanted to make a “bedtime program” and incorporate it to the weekly schedule. Here is where Vivienne Barry saw the opportunity of putting her idea onto the small screen, and

she was able to reach an agreement with the executives.

That is how “Grandpa Colors” was born. Here, the artist used her initial material of “The Hour of the Night Watchman” to modernize it and bring it up to contemporary times. Every night before 9 pm, an old man entered the scene together with two children and a dog, he told them a story, and they went to bed. It was so successful that TVN extended it to 12 more episodes.

Nevertheless, TVN decided to take the famous children’s character off the air in 1995. “Grandpa Colors” was a social phenomenon and it didn’t go unnoticed when it was canceled. “It was very sad, there were protests on the radio, I took a monitor to the streets during a Christmas fair, there were people who wrote a book of complaints. I have a lot of written material with beautiful messages”, remembers Vivienne Barry. “What moved me the most was finding out that a boy with cerebral palsy learned to recognize some words with ‘Grandpa Colors’ and that the lyrics of the song of ‘Grandpa Colors’ are engraved on the tombstone of a young child in the Santiago’s Cemetery”.

Her experience with short films and traveling to festivals

Her first short film was called “Dresden Nostalgia”, and it began being produced at the same time as “Grandpa Colors” in 1991. This experience was a success.

With Francisca Iriarte’s freehand drawings, the story was about a man who was tortured by the cardinal points, portraying her own painful experience produced by living far away and in exile. It was made in 35 mm, it was shown in the International Movie Festival of Viña del Mar and in the International Festival of the New Latin American Cinema of Havana, Cuba, where the channel Arte of France

Vivienne Barry in the production of the short movie “La Salsa” year 1999

wanted to buy it to broadcast it on their programming schedule, and also, gave her the funds so that she could make her second short film.

Then, there was “Derive” in the year 1995. “‘Derive’ are sensation that are deep inside me about what being a woman is. They are like daydreams represented through cut out black-and-white photographs, and cut-out dresses, like those with which you played as a girl, and they represented roles such as mother, homemaker, and girlfriend”, that is how Vivienne portrays her short movie and adds, “I didn’t get any awards, but I think it is beautiful. I took a lot of time to finish it. I showed this short movie in many places, it participated in many festivals, and Arte also bought it from me”.

Her third movie, “The Salsa” (1999), has in its soundtrack the song “Devórame otra vez”. The story is about a Chilean character that travels with his salsa musician friends to the Caribbean and start a music band. “The animation took 3 months. We built tropical cities with an old bus that was typical in Santiago a few decades ago (Matadero-Palma), which crossed The Andes mountain range and arrived in the tropics. It was very fun”, she comments.

However, an important event would happen later. “Like the Wings of a Sparrow” is mentioned as one of the greatest projects created by Vivienne Barry. “That is the short movie that satisfied me the most”, she states, and then adds, “when I was living in Germany, I heard about the arpilleras, patchwork art that depicted the daily life during the dictatorship times in Chile, made by women. A close person had bought one in the Vicaria de la Solidaridad (human rights organization depending on the Catholic church, during the dictatorship times) and I thought it was very interesting how they sewed their own reality”. In the

year 2000, the artist won a grant to finance this idea she had had in mind for many years.

“I named it ‘Like the Wings of a Sparrow’ because of the song by Victor Jara: ‘Angelita Huenuman, her hands dance in the hemp like the wings of a sparrow’”, she remembers and hums. The artist had the chance to talk with these women she had been portraying for a while, through the fabric and wool, about her own emotions during the military period. The topics they sewed about were the mass graves, the hunger strikes, the exile, the torture centers.

“I met these women in the 2000s and I tried to have them

make the arpilleras again but with all their elements without being sewn so that they could move, but the ladies didn’t understand me. So the movie is made like this. In the beginning there are the hand of a woman that thread, some fabrics begin to cut themselves and all of that burns, and there is the noise of a helicopter, which is what I remember as the background sound during the coup”, comments Vivienne Barry, and about this short movie, she adds, “it is like a homage to those women. Many of their husbands were taken prisoners, and they, the women, survived this time thanks to the church that protected them, sold their works, and sent their works abroad. I wasn’t aware that many of these arpilleras had

Short movie “Wings of a Sparrow’ year 2000

Carlos González en Sabados Gigantes 1987

Víctor Jara junto a Carlos Gonzalez interpretando “Charagua” para cortinas de Tevito (1973).Materials for the short movie “Wings of a Sparrow”

Materials for the short movie “Wings of a Sparrow”

letters hidden between the embroideries so that people abroad could read about and share their experiences with others”.

“Like the Wings of a Sparrow” won the highest award, the Grand Coral, in the Havana Festival.

Television series

Vivienne Barry’s constant work was also captured on the Chilean broadcast television. She created the children’s television series “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe” (TVN, 2007), in which each of the 12 capsules correspond to traditional Spanish and Latin American children’s songs and that were represented with the clay animation technique.

Following the same line, “Singtoons” was born, a children’s TV series made of 13 Chilean songs about children, and that presented a bigger difficulty because each episode had to be made with a different animation technique. Several important Chilean artists participated in this project, such as Cecilia Toro, Bernardita Ojeda, and Jimena Moncada, among others.

“So there we have paper cutout, silk, 3D clay animation, flat clay animation, block animation, cloth, woolen, wooden puppet animation, I mean, we have an amazing selection of things, which was an exhausting task because it was very slow”, comments Vivienne about “Singtoons”. The third project on broadcast television was “Plasticino”, a boy that emerges from some plasticine bars and who starts taking shape in front of the television camera. He doesn’t know anything about the world he is in, so in each episode he learns something new about nature to the tunes of the music band Portugal.

“Unfortunately, ‘Singtoons’ and ‘Plasticino’ didn’t have a big audience on television, they were aired too early. There are very few children’s shows on broadcast television and those who know these series watch them on YouTube. They have a lot of followers. It is very sad for me because it is a lost work” expresses Barry.

Currently, and with a successful career in animation, this artist has had the urge to explore other formats to tell her stories. In real action format - with some parts animated with stop-motion - in a documentary style, she will rebuild what her father and other six Chilean journalists lived during a journey to the East, in 1941, when they were trapped after the outbreak of World War 2. “It is a full-length movie about the search of my paternal image. My father died when I was very young. Many things happened to him there and, since I was a child, my house was

decorated in a Japanese style. That is what I remember the most about him, and I have always wanted to rebuild that story”, expresses Vivienne Barry.

The first book of the Chilean animation

Currently, there is only one book that compiles the history of Chilean animation. “The Magic in Motion” that was written by Vivienne Barry after winning an Audiovisual Fund of research, and after getting a Book Fund, both belonging to the National Council of Culture and the Arts (CNCA). Published by the Pehuen publishing house, through this 200 pages, the artist compiles the most important precedents found up to the year 2007, regarding works, characters, and techniques, both national and foreign. SM

Image of the series “Plasticino”, year 2009

1973For the first time, Vivienne Barry witnesses the making of a stop-motion movie in Chile, named “Martin and Cano”. She moves to East Germany after the coup d’état that year.

1975DEFA Trickfilm StudioShe starts working at DEFA Trickfilm Studio Dresden, to learn animation from the most important representatives of this field.

1979ChileShe goes back to Chile

1980McCann Erickson She makes her first commercial in stop-motion, “Ambrosoli Streap Tease” for the candy brand Ambrosoli.

1982AdvertisementShe creates the campaign of five commercials about the safety of children at home: “Careful and Cautious” for the bank Citibank.She makes the pilot of the predecessor of Grandpa Colors

called “The Hour of the Night Watchman”.

1980 – 1991AdvertisementDuring this period, the artist works in over 35 commercials animated in stop-motion (some were made completely with this technique, and others, partially)

1991TVNThe Grandpa Colors episodes are premiered (16 episodes).“Grandpa Colors” wins several awards, such as the “Second Prize” IPAL Children’s Video Contest, of UNESCO and UNICEF, Peru. Also, wins the “First prize to best children’s TV series” in the Children’s Movie Festival in Guyana, Venezuela, and “Third prize” in Prix Jeunesse Iberoamerican ,

1991Short MovieShe makes her first short movie “Dresden Nostalgia”. Animation of freehand drawings. It won the itinerant contest of the Goethe Institut in honor of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Officially selected in the Clermont Ferrant Festival in France. Selected in a special Latin American Animation Showing in the Annecy Festival in 1992.

1992Short MovieShe competes in the Havana Festival with her short movie “Dresden Nostalgia”.

1994Short MovieShe launches “Derive”, short movie made with paper cutout, inked photocopies, and photographs.

1999Short MovieMakes her third short movie called “The Salsa”, stop-motion animation with puppets, and wins the prize to the “Best Animation” in the Santiago Short Movie Festival.

2000Begins the production of “Like the Wings of a Sparrow”, her fourth animated short movie, with the work of the Chilean arpilleristas that portrayed a silent chronicle during the dictatorship period.

2001Short Movie“Like the Wings of a Sparrow” wins the highest award, the Grand Coral, in the Havana Festival. “Special Price of the Jury” in the International Film Festival on Human Rights Derhumalc, Argentina. Won the award to best short movie in the Sans Frontières Biarritz Festival.

2002She makes her short movie “Mongetun Orelie King”, in honor of Orelie Antoine I, king of the Araucanía (Mapuche region). Animation of drawings and paper cutouts.

2006TVNShe makes “Eeny Meeny Miny Moe”, children’s TV series, winner of the CNTV fund, consisting of 12 traditional children’s songs of Spanish and Latin American origins, animated with clay. Winner of the “Best children’s TV series” in a Chilean contest called “What I Watch”, “Second prize” in Prix Jeunesse Iberoamerican .“First prize” Children’s Jury and Prize to the best animation in the Kolibri Children’s Movie Festival, Bolivia.

2007Chilean animation bookShe writes “The Magic in Motion” (Pehuen Publishing House) after winning an Audiovisual Fund of research, and after being awarded a Book Fund, both belonging to the National Council of Culture and the Arts (CNCA).

2008TVNShe makes the children’s TV series “Singtoons”, winner of the CNTV fund, consisting of 13 traditional Chilean songs about children and animated with different techniques. First Prize in Prix Jeunesse Iberoamerican, category 0 to 6. “My TV” prize to the Best Children’s TV Series in the Nueva Mirada Festival in Argentina.

2009TVN She makes the children’s TV series “Plasticino”, winner of the CNTV fund. “Second prize” in Prix Jeunesse Iberoamerican for the children’s series “Eeny Meeny Miny Moe”.2011

CORFO“Trapped in Japan”, wins a grant. Project winner of CORFO Movies and Audiovisual Fund.First Prize in Prix Jeunesse Iberoamerican for Sleep, Little Black Boy of the children’s series Singtoons.

2014Finishes the full-length documentary, “Trapped in Japan”, related to her father’s life and the history of Chilean journalism, made of real footage, parts animated in stop-motion, and paper cutouts. Wins the CNTV Fund to make a new children’s TV series called Nuku-Nuku.

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!M

Chilean production companies have shown that the new way of showing and

distributing animated series is through the Web. This new trend is very strong

in the world and in Chile, Marmota Studios and ATiempo already have the

experience and positive figures.

WEBSERIES

By Pamela Riveros Ríos

The new way of democratizing animation

Web series “Cetacean People”, of Marmota Studio

Image of the series “Com Grandfather”, web series of Marmota StudioLink to video interview of Bernardita Pasten

It was 19 years ago that the creative company Bullseyes Art launched on the Internet the first animated web series, “Porkchops”. They were known as webisodes and they lasted less than a minute. The same company launched consecutively other animated products, such as “Rat Chicken”, “The Animated Series”, and “Miss Muffy and the Muff Mob”, all of them aimed at a teen audience, keeping the scripts ironic and with black humor.

The terminology has evolved and until now we are familiar with the web television, category that has generated successful products, such as the recent Emmy award winner, “House of Cards”, a Netflix original.

In Chile, the first experiences related to animated web series happened mainly because the industry has looked for ways to provide easier access to contents. In the same way, the immediate access to those contents via mobile phones and tablets has been exponential.

Those who have followed this trend are Marmota Studios and ATiempo Productions. Both have their own YouTube channels and from that platform they can make an analytical follow-up of what happens with the audience and what contents they prefer.

Free Access

“We decided that the Internet was going to be our platform because it is much easier to access”, points out Bernardita Pasten, executive producer of Marmota Studio. According to her, one of the advantages of being on the Web is that the users can access the content in a more simple way and whenever you want.

Patricio Gamonal, executive producer of ATiempo, adds that there are certain contexts in which the users access

these contents outside their homes, and maybe it is for that reason that being on the Internet is fundamental. “In the company we realize that the future isn’t on television, but on the Smartphone, your tablet, or your mobile phone. Dad has to have something available for his child to play with or watch when they travel or go to the doctor, and if we fill this space, we believe we are going to be successful”.

An original editorial policy

Bernardita Pasten clarifies that one of the main objectives of Marmota has been to exhibit the original cartoons, that is, have the opportunity to show a work without editorial filters. “We do not answer to an external editorial policy, only to our own. It makes things easier. That is why Internet was a key element in this”, she explains.

This working system has allowed Marmota Studio to have, until now, two web series on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/MarmotaStudio). On November 29, 2012, they published their first original production “Cetacean People”, a short movie. Later, they decided to transform it into a series. The story is based on McClane dolphin, which becomes a member of society and believes that at some point, he will conquer humans. In 2013, it wins Chilemonos International Festival of Animation 2013 in the category WIP (Work in Progress). The first season had six episodes and they will do the same for the second.

After that, they made “Com Grandfather”, web series that was launched on April 19, 2013, and that tells the misadventures of an old man who tries to understand the use of the Internet to get closer to his grandson, Pablo. After broadcasting its five episodes, it got more than 280,000 views in their YouTube channel.

Both productions of Marmota Studio have been successful

and they are currently aired on the ETC TV channel in Chile. Thus, they have understood that when they made series from their short movies, they created an opportunity of generating loyalty from the audience, “making something 100% original means that we have to form an audience, therefore we realized they liked the short movie of one month and then, the next month there was already something else. For that reason it was necessary to begin the web series so that we could really make the number of followers grow and that they had a character they could follow throughout the story of the episodes”, adds Bernardita.

Community

Unlike Marmota Studios, the production company ATiempo has made its series thinking about television formats, aimed at preschool and school children. However, they found in YouTube a way of maintaining the content of “1,2,3 let’s play”, a production of 26 episodes of 7 minutes each,

which has accomplished a huge transmedia exploitation, generating songs, music records, merchandising, and the recognition of its main character, the “Chocolo Dog”.

They could place all this content of their own YouTube channel called ATiempo Preescolar (ATiempo Preeschool). “We have over 4 million visits with all the songs. We are constantly uploading new material. In fact, we are producing new songs and creating new dances with the Chocolo Dog”, says Patricio Gamonal. The most important thing, he points out, is having contents for mothers, who are the target audience and who go into the site and play the available playlists for their young children, who range from 0 to 4 years.

Created in 2009, ATiempo Preschool reached in October, 2014, 100 thousand subscribers, has over 100,000,000 visits and has had its peak of views in 2014, after they decided to constantly upload material to their Internet channel. According to Socialblade.com, their growth in

Characters of “Cetacean People”

Images of the web series “Cetacean People”, of Marmota Studio

“Golpea Duro Hara”

six months is estimated to be of 140,542,482 visits and 245,019 subscriptions, which means a great community of followers, keeping them loyal thanks to the constant renewal of their content.

The Marmota channel, on the other hand, was created in 2012 and has 4,434 daily visits and 27,736 subscriptions, figures that the same site provides. According to Bernardita Pasten, an important aspect that the Web makes possible is the interaction, “The topic of the community that can originate on the Internet is what surrounds the content that we generate, it is the interaction that we have with them. Generating all that goes beyond watching a video and waiting for our next cartoons”.

A clear example is what they are thinking for their next series, “the next project is a co-creation with the community of Marmota, who always watches our cartoons. Launching some pilots, that are going to have the function

of the short movies we had at the beginning, but this time, the community is going to tell us which one of these they would like to see in the next web series, because it was us who first proposed the content, but now we want to listen to them, too, what is it they want to see”, adds this executive producer, emphasizing the importance the feedback has for creating in a collective manner the content their audience wants to see.

Democratization

One of the key aspects of the production broadcast on Internet is the democratization of the content. This means, the possibility to show independent creations, without a set schedule, that is able to generate interaction and free access, which makes this exhibition window grow more every day.

“It is very important to know how the audience is receiving

Character design of Com Grandfather

Master Class “Cinemáticas de Video Juegos” de Grzegorz Kukus del Estudio Polaco Platige Image. Image of the series “1, 2, 3 let’s play!” of the ATiempo production companyLink to video interview of Patricio Gamonal

Chocolo Dog, character of the series “1, 2, 3 let’s play!”

the content”, stresses Bernardita Pasten. Regarding this, the YouTube channel makes it possible for the audience to access the content and generates the interaction with the audience through other social networks, like Facebook, that allows them to get a constant feedback from the users. “It also tells us how we are doing it, if it’s fine or more or less, if there is something that can be improved”.

Thus, she says that the followers can have an influence on the episodes and the content. “YouTube also gives you some analytics, which are graphs that tell you where the public begins to close the tab or where they go back and start watching the scene. So we realize there are particular expressions and situations that make the viewers replay the scene because there is a peak on the graphs, so it is also positive to be aware of what works for them, and what doesn’t”.

“I believe YouTube is a democratic, free channel, where I can really show my material and a big part of my target group has access to this media”, adds Patricio Gamonal about his channel ATiempo Preschool. In the end, the audience watches what they are looking for and doesn’t wait for the schedules that the television programming offers for the episodes, or they listen to the songs they want to listen.

Gamonal considers that this new window that democratizes the content will be the business of the future. “We realize that it is better being on YouTube than being on television, which doesn’t provide a space for children’s content anymore. It is a good source of income because it pays for every visit that you have, and we have two millions monthly, which is very good. And we are producing more material for more visits”, he concludes. SM

“Rodencia and the Princess’s Tooth”

DAVID BISBANOThe movie director David Bisbano participated in Chilemonos Festival 2014 where he told us about

his latest animated movie, “Rodencia and the Princess’s Tooth”.

The recipe contains the themes that capture the essence of what Latin America is, being authentic,

telling stories that are different and with their own elements. What the whole world wants to

see, according to Bisbano.

By Pamela Riveros RíosLink to video interview of David Bisbano

When David Bisbano was a child, he had the ability to permeate a sheet of paper with sketches of characters, motivated by productions like “Star Wars” and “Akira”. However, he decided to channel his talent into live action. He worked on advertisement at Storm Films in Peru and Cinetauro in Argentina. Through these experiences, Bisbano took up animation again. “One of the new formats that was being used in movies was the 3D technology. I was very interested in it the second it appeared and I started working with it in advertisement until one day I was called to make a full length movie and I haven’t stopped since. Rodencia is my second animated movie”, he tells.

He wrote and directed “Rodencia and the Princess’ Tooth”, which has been one of the most successful Latin American movies, premiered in over 20 countries and in all the movie theaters of Brazil, dubbed into more than five languages such as Russian, Korean, Portuguese, English, among others. It was funded through a co-production between Argentina (Vista Sur Films) and Peru (Red Post Studios), using basically Latin American elements, from the production to the story itself. For Bisbano, this has been the recipe for people to show interest in a full length production of high quality where stories belonging to Latin America are told.

David, how was your first experience in animation?

I made an animated movie called “Valentino, the clan of the canine”, which is a Peruvian children’s movie. It was my first experience in animation and it was very chaotic for me because I was called when the project was already in progress. The other director had already left the project and had left it half done.

Scene from “Rodencia and the Princess’ Tooth”

At that time, I lived in Argentina and they called me from Peru, due to recommendations and my works in advertisement. The truth is that I was very interested and said ‘well, it’s an opportunity for learning’.

When I arrived in Peru, I had to face a low level movie. They decided to eliminate everything that had been done before and start from scratch. So a two-year work had to be done in five months. It was an exhausting job, very tough.

That was my first work, which, for me, was amazing because I could learn a lot very quickly, be in contact with many animators, be in the production company surrounded by many artists”.

What is your conclusion of this first experience working in an animated full length movie?

Basically having to face a working style that the company had imposed on the guys that worked there, they were wasting the potential of these guys. The company made everyone do everything: script writer, modeler, animator. They weren’t people who had studied cinema, they had no idea of cinematographic language.

So we gathered in the back yard and asked ourselves: what does each one want to do? It became a kind of school. I started teaching them the cinematographic frames. One day, a guy came into my office at three in the morning, because in that company there isn’t a fixed schedule, and tells me ‘I want to be a director’. I answered him ‘well, you’re going to be my assistant, you’re going to help me

in everything related to the narration of the movie’. So he started making the animatics of the movie and in exchange he taught me how to operate the programs.

And after that, came ‘Rodencia’, that was like a fairy tale because Alpamayo Entertainment asked us to finish the movie “Valentino” in five months, with the promise of giving us two years or the time we deemed necessary to finish ‘Rodencia’.

When the moment of making it came, we made a short trailer with the guys who had learned animation. They animated much better than at the beginning. We showed the same production company what we could do, and even more. And the company in exchange gave us the news that they were going to close... and ‘Rodencia’ was not going to be made.

We were left with nothing, basically. I was very depressed and I wanted to go back to Buenos Aires. I had been removed from a project I had dedicated an entire year of my life to.

A month later of working in advertisement again, I received the call from a producer and I asked him ‘why are you calling me, how do you know me?’ and he answered ‘I saw a trailer of some mice, ‘Rodencia’, and I liked it, I bought it and I want you to finish it’. It was like ‘wow!’. We started calling everyone, all the guys, no one could believe it.

Rodencia has been very successful in a lot of markets. What does this movie have that attracts the attention of the viewers?

Scene from “Rodencia and the Princess’ Tooth”

When they proposed making ‘Rodencia’, I had a very clear objective which was to make a Latin American animated movie, in the sense that it would not only be made in the continent, but it also would talk about said continent. A movie that tells our history, shows landscapes, part of the culture, and transforms the entire Latin America in a kingdom. That is why Rodencia is gathering everything in a kingdom that is based on a Latin American legend: the Perez mouse, the tooth mouse (Hispanic equivalent to the tooth fairy).

Secondly, making a movie that I like; I’m not interested in making a movie the producers or distributors like. I wanted a movie that gives a sense of honesty when I see it and that I would like to see in the movie theater. And thirdly, that it doesn’t look like anything I have seen before. “Rodencia” had to be such that when I looked at a frame, I would say ‘Ah!’ This is Rodencia”.

It was a struggle and a search for an image style, a narrative style, and a style of the story itself that was very Latin American. And when we finished the movie, we realized that everyone was interested in ‘Rodencia’ for that reason. It was about something so local. When Koreans saw it, they would say ‘Wow! This is seeing Latin America in 3D. Nobody had done this. I always see the United States, or London, but I had never seen Cuzco or Mexico. “Rodencia” mixes everything and anybody in Latin America can identify with some of the elements that can be found in the movie. That was the biggest work we did in terms of art.

And we became aware of that, that the French liked it because it was about Latin America. When we were making the movie, they told us the opposite: ‘no, no one is going to be interested because it is too Latin American’. The movie was sold in more than 20 countries and it made

me very happy. I traveled to India, I saw the reaction of the public and afterwards I answered questions from the children who wanted to know where this place is. For them, Latin America is on the other side of the world, just like India is for us. And they ask, ‘what is this story about teeth?’ because they don’t know that legend. People were interested about this side of the world, and that was very good. That was my idea with “Rodencia” at the beginning.

What projects are you currently working on? Are you still rescuing the Latin American essence?

I am working on two projects, but one of them is animation, where I am gathering all my experience in movies, having a special image again. So I am working with models, a world that is a bit strange and that, basically, deals with Latin American literature, fantastic tales, the imagination of our authors. I’ve been working on that for several years now. Before I finished “Rodencia”, I had already started to work on that.

I am working on the script and all the art (I develop both at the same time), I write and draw. I complement myself in that way. We are making a trailer to get funds and see how we can finance it. The movie already has a co-production, because we are associated with Peru, with Golem studio, that was formed because of “Rodencia”, so the animators got together and formed their own animation studio, and the moment I had this idea, I told them about it.

How can you build an animation industry in Latin America? Is co-production the way to do it?

Latin America is about to burst, make a boom and be free again. In “Rodencia”, I was very interested in the story because it is about the arrival of the Spaniards, of a conquer. I still feel that we cannot free ourselves from that event.

In the animation field, they somehow have us restrained, and for me the way of setting ourselves free is not copying, not wanting something that doesn’t belong to us, that is not our own, and looking for our own way of making movies. I always try to tell people I come across, ‘don’t copy what is being made in the United States, what is being made in Europe, develop your own style’. We need to have good stories, good projects, and people who really give their best and execute the projects and finish them.

This is what is missing in Latin America: forgetting about everything and being authentic, being unique and talking about what is going on with our neighbor, which is what the people of the world want to know and not a copy of something they saw o listened to in another part of the world. SM

The invention of cartoons in Mexican cinema

ANIMATION IN MEXICOIn the new era of civil life, everything has to be

invented or, at least, Mexicanized. The irresistible and uncontrollable example comes from the

United States and its thriving cultural industries. And just like others have the task of inventing the Mexican radio, the Mexican cinema, the Mexican

swing, the Mexican comics or the Mexican ice creams, the otolaryngologist has to invent the

Mexican cartoons.

By Juan Manuel Aurrecoechea

Team of animators of AVA - Color, first animation studio in Mexico

The first cartoons that were produced in Mexico date from the thirties in the 20th century and the national pioneers are Salvador Pruneda, Bismark Mier, Salvador Patino, and Carlos Manriquez. All of them had experience in American studios, such as Fleisher brothers’, Metro Goldwin Mayer, and Walt Disney.

Carlos Manriquez and the first attempt of an animation studio

Between 1928 and 1930, Carlos Manriquez works for Disney as the assistant of Emil Flohri, who was the chief of the background department. Then, in 1934, he tries to set up his own animation studio in Mexico with the support of the government: he sends a letter to the president at that time, Lázaro Cardenas, asking him for “funds to start the business of cartoons in Mexico “. Days later, he receives a telegram informing him that his request has been forwarded to the Mexican Secretariat of the Interior.

Nothing comes out of this, so this artist stays in Hollywood until the late fifties, where he collaborates with Disney and other studios, such as Warner Brothers. Many years will have to pass before he goes back to Mexico, until the sixties, when he joins Gamma Productions, the company that makes the legendary series “Rocky and Bullwinkle” for the American television.

Salvador Pruneda, a movie that was left hanging

In 1919, Salvador Pruneda has his first contact with cartoons in Hollywood, where he meets other Mexicans that also work in the industry, such as Bismark Mier and Salvador Patino.

Two years later, he goes back to Mexico and creates the story “Mister Catarino and his appreciable family”, which is published in the newspaper called El Heraldo (The Herald). However, due to his political views, he was forced to go

into exile and settles in Los Angeles, where he stays for five years.

In 1923, he witnesses the first attempts to put sounds to movies and he collaborates with Walt Disney. When he goes back to Mexico in 1928, he has gained the sufficient technical skill to establish a studio that produces news programs, commercial bumpers, titles and trailers for the cinematographic industry; his Hollywood colleagues, Bismarck Mier and Salvador Patino, collaborate with him. Here Pruneda starts the animated movie adaptation of his comic strip “Mister Catarino”. He declares to the press of that time, “We are not testing what we are going to do, because we have already done enough to be certain that the resulting product of this studio will be as good as the best American product [...] a silly symphony Mexican style

[can] be a crazy success”.

In spite of the fact that Moises Vinas assures in his “Chronological Index of Mexican Cinema” that the short movie premiered in 1934, the most probable thing is that it was left unfinished. Carlos Sandoval —who meets Pruneda and his collaborators precisely when they are producing this piece —, states that he got to see “eight or ten seconds” of the experiment, “that, unfortunately, was left hanging”.

Alfonso Vergara Andrade and the origin of AVA

In 1935, Alfonso Vergara Andrade, a Basque doctor specializing in otolaryngology and an enthusiast of drawing, painting, photography, and cinema, opens which

Movie “Mexican Night”

Image of the move “The Five Little Goats”

would end up being the first successful animation studio in Mexico City: AVA Studio, named after the initials of its promoter.

Doctor Alfonso Vergara belongs to the generation of the years that came immediately after the armed period of the Mexican Revolution, a generation that yearns for peace and that trusts the promises of modernization that the 20th century makes.

In the new era of civil life, everything has to be invented or, at least, Mexicanized. The irresistible and uncontrollable example comes from the United States and its thriving cultural industries. And just like others have the task of “inventing” the Mexican radio, the Mexican cinema, the Mexican swing, the Mexican comics or the Mexican ice Image of the move “The Five Little Goats”

creams, the otolaryngologist has to invent the Mexican cartoons.

With resources obtained from relieving to noses, ears, and throats, doctor Vergara sets up his drawing workshop in the attic of the building where he had his office and the house where he lived. “We never knew where the doctor got the urge to draw cartoons. He didn’t have technical knowledge or capital”, tells Carlos Sandoval, who joins the company in 1936.

His first partners are Antonio Chavira — with experience in the media as a titles and credits producer — and Francisco Gomez, a young man intrigued by the chemistry of photography. We owe these pioneers the first color film development in Mexico City, accomplished in 1936,

“Montezuma Treasures” 1935

precisely in the dark room built in the clinic’s attic.

Doctor Vergara and Francisco Gomez build the first “Mexican” animation camera, adapting an old hand-cranked Pathé to which they added a 1/4th horsepower motor. Since they can’t even imagine the cold light tables, in order to “synchronize” the drawings, they connect some wooden frames with embedded crystals illuminated with incandescent light bulbs, which bring work to a halt when they overheat. Until they notice, thanks to a photography published in the press, that the record of the drawings can be obtained with the use of peg bars: the doctor’s students stop using the paper clips that they used for the same purpose of the peg bars.

In the beginning, the animators didn’t work with celluloid paper, but with copy paper. But because one of the doctor’s patient, who was an executive of Columbia Pictures, gives them some short movies of Charles Mintz, AVA workers have in their possession original cartoon films for their studio. Armed with magnifying glasses, they start the examination. “It was like dissecting a corpse. There was the revelation of all the mysteries that surrounded us!”, says Carlos Sandoval. Their main discovery is that you don’t need 24 drawings for every second of movie.

They complete their lessons watching over and over again the movies of Popeye, Betty Boop, Mutt and Jeff, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Felix the Cat, or Mickey Mouse, which are broadcast in those years in the movie theaters of the Mexican capital city.

And with those resources and those influences, AVA Studio produces “Paco the Parrot in Premiere” This first movie of its kind lasts five minutes and is in black and white. It was finished between 1934 and 1935. It shares the surrealistic atmosphere that is a characteristic of American animations of the time and it almost completely lacks Mexican references, one of the main elements of humor

in that time.

“Paco the Parrot in Premiere” is followed by a first version of “The Treasure of Moctezuma”. Paco already has a partner: Catita, a parrot with a sexy female body, inspired in the Betty Boop from before the suppression of sexuality in American animation. The adventure where the Pericos look for an Aztec treasure, supposedly hidden in the Teotihuacan pyramids, premieres on Wednesday December 25, 1935 in the world cinema.

Regarding this, the critic, Luis Cardoza, wrote in his column in TODO magazine:“It was surprising to see the first Mexican cartoon movie [...] terribly idiotic. What terrible drawings! […]

What a plot! It’s true that it is one of the first attempts, unfortunately in every sense. The mediocrity is felt more violently than in the case of movies with actors”.

The bad reviews don’t seem to have harmed the enthusiastic pioneers. The third production of AVA Studio is “Mexican Night”. It is a short movie, this time completely Mexican, that takes place during the traditional Christmas posada of the Pericos. Once the hosts open the door to their guests, they are replaced on the screen by a diverse fauna of a clear Disneyan origin; especially by a rough and wild Mexican man. In the most memorable sequence of the film, and one of the most irreverent of the history of our cinema, the eagles of the national coat of arms that adorn some cans of beer come alive and, using the coat of arms’

Movie “Mexican Night”, of AVA Studio

snakes as straws, they drink the brew and get patriotically drunk.

To make the short movie, the cartoonists Leopoldo Zea Salas and Bismarck Mier join the studio. The experience of this latter artist, both in Los Angeles and in the Pruneda Studio, explains the more refined technique in this film.

Mier directs the fourth movie of AVA “The Wolf and the Five Little Goats”, Mexican version of “The Three Little Pigs” of Walt Disney (1933) This first color film of doctor Vergara is produced by a process called “Cinecolor” or “Bi-color”, which, unlike Technicolor, based on combinations of the three primary colors — green, red, and blue — only registers the two latter.

From this short movie, the studio changes its name to AVA-Color. Journalist Glieb, happily announces in his column in the TODO magazine in October, 1937 that Mexico was the first country in the world that could make a “cartoon” in color outside the United States and highlights the nationalism in the movie: expressed not only through the background presence of the Popocatepetl and the Ixtaccihuatl, “the cabin of the little goats is Mexican, with a brick floor, Cuernavaca chairs, a storeroom with Oaxacan vases”. Like in other branches of arts and culture of the 1930’s, the nationalism seems like the way.

The next production of AVA-Color is “The life of the Bees”. The first national cartoon with an educational purpose combines humor, didacticism, and an edifying story. These will become particular elements of this genre. The eight minute movie explains the children audience how honey and beeswax are produced. At the same time, it is the story of a lazy and opportunistic drone who, after a series of difficulties, becomes an enthusiastic worker.

Two short commercials of the popular Grape Salt Picott (an effervescent made of sodium bicarbonate that relieved

heartburn and indigestion) made between 1938 and 1939 complete the works of AVA: “The Rodeo” and a second version of “The Treasure of Moctezuma”, both starred by Chema and Juana, the rancher couple created by Cesar Berra in 1932 for the songbook that the effervescent company edited every year. The basic plot line is that after a series of wild banquets and fun adventures, Chema ends up having a terrible indigestion that Juana relieves with the salt of the sponsor.

Despite the technique of the latest short movies being refined to a great extent, AVA-Color closes its doors in 1939 and doctor Vergara retires from the world of cartoons. Of the legendary team, the only ones left in the movie industry are Bismarck Mier and Carlos Sandoval.

In 1941, both join the company Don Quixote Productions, founded by the Spanish businessman, Julian Gamoneda. This studio makes some sequences of two projects: “A bullfight in Seville” and “Garcia, the Charro” After this adventure, Bismarck Mier quits animated movies and focuses completely on comics. Carlos Sandoval, in the meantime, would continue to participate in basically every major cartoon company that appeared during the 20th century, until his retirement in the mid 80’s. SM

“The Life of the Bees”, of AVA Studio

The web series that cat lovers love on YouTube

SIMON’S CATIn 2007, Simon Tofield’s career skyrockets.

The first episode of Simon’s Cat on YouTube got millions of views.

Simon’s Cat became a brand that has generated books and a big catalog of products.

By Pamela RiverosLink to official website of Simon´s Cat

Simon Tofield and the cat of “Simon’s Cat”

El público que asistió a la inauguración del Festival Internacional de Animación Chilemonos 2014, no pudo contener la risa. En una muestra especial se exhibió el

capítulo “Cat Man Do” de Simon’s Cat, dejando a la audiencia contagiada con este éxito. Todos conocieron la historia detrás de este fenómeno luego que se mostrara “The Simon’s Cat Story (A Draw my Life)”, donde es el

propio Simon Tofield quien relata su vida como animador y cómo llegó a crear esta serie.

Scene from “Pawtrait” episode 38 of the web series, Simon’s Cat

Simon Tofield (43) has two passions. The first, begins when he received his first cat as a child. And the second is his love for drawing. The combination of both got this author to the top.

This British artist studied animation at De Montford University (United Kingdom). In 2007, while he was trying to teach himself how to use Adobe Flash, one of his four cats, little Hugh, jumped onto the desk where he was working to ask him for food. Tofield had an epiphany. He thought about creating a story to learn in a better way how to use this software. He drew himself in bed while his cat tried to wake him up. Thus, the first sketches of the “Cat Man Do” episode became a reality.

The episode was in his animation reel on the Web. A user became aware of the existence of this piece and decided to

upload it on YouTube. And that’s how the successful career as an animator of Tofield began. “Cat Man Do” has been played millions of times, which allowed the creation of the series Simon’s Cat.

For Simon Tofield, his four cats have been his constant inspiration for the stories he has been creating. They are: Hugh - his primary inspiration -, Maisy, Jess, and Teddy. He is watching them all the time, and has developed a keen eye for cats. He knows their movements, attitudes, and dynamics, and cat lovers on the Web have felt really identified with Simon’s Cat.

The series adhere to the social phenomenon that is taking place on the Internet regarding pet’s videos, which get more and more views every day.

Scene from “Cat man Do” episode that began the Internet phenomenon

His YouTube channel has over 58 videos (39 episodes of the series), and more than 3 million subscribers and 500 million views. This white cat is animated with Adobe Flash, frame to frame, which takes between seven and nine weeks to get a two-minute episode.

His fans have made him win several awards and he has published four books about Simon’s Cat, creating a world of merchandising.

Solomonos Magazine interviewed Simon about his life and career, and how huge this phenomenon has become.

Simon, what are your favorite cartoons related to cats? Have any of them been an influence for Simon’s Cat?

My main influences for Simon’s Cat are my four cats. I like getting most part of my inspiration for the series purely from observation, since this is where the biggest part of the charm is. However, the forced elements are where the funniest gags are, like the baseball bat in the episode “Cat Man Do”.

I think that if I had to decide which my favorite cartoon about cats is, I would have to say: Thundercats!

What do you think is the reason behind this global phenomenon regarding cats on the Web?

People love cats everywhere in the world. Their behavior in England is similar to the one they have in America, Japan, France, Germany, and everywhere else. Big part of Simon’s Cat’s success is because of the fact that they are extremely

popular animals.

What does it mean for you that Simon’s Cat has fans in places so distant such as Chile?

It’s a pleasure to know that Simon’s Cat has fans all around the world. I believe it is due to the fact that there are few dialogs in the episodes, and this gives the people of different nationalities the opportunity to enjoy it.

You are now in a crowfunding campaign, with the objective of funding a short movie of Simon’s Cat. Why did you decide to make a longer version of the story of this cat?

We have positioned very successfully our short movie “Off to the Vets” in Indiegogo. This work is much longer than our current episodes of the series, more or less 11 minutes of

duration. It is based on a story that I have always wanted to make. Taking your cat to the vet is a situation that only cat owners have had to experience and we feel that there is too much material to include in a 1 or 2 minute episode.

Do you plan to make a full length movie about Simon’s Cat?

A movie like that might be a little bit too long for Simon’s Cat. Nevertheless, I would like to make a television series someday. Keeping this short format and being able to experiment, developing other characters within the universe of Simon’s Cat. SM

Scene from “The Simon’s Cat Story” .

Diseño

motion graphics

identidad gráfica

post producción

dale@krft.tv | www.krft.tv | Regina Humeres 230 · Recoleta

Diseño

motion graphics

identidad gráfica

post producción

dale@krft.tv | www.krft.tv | Regina Humeres 230 · Recoleta

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