Disney Channel Southeast Asia adds Animasia Studio’s latest series Harry & Bunnie to its line-up, writes Bibi Nurshuhada Ramli
TO be able to market an intellectual property to Disney Channel is an incredible feat for a local animation studio.
Malaysia’s biggest animation service provider Animasia Studio not only managed to sell one but four of its series to the international channel.
The first three are Bola Kampung, Chuck Chicken and Super Strikas. The former is now airing on Cartoon Network, but the latter two are still running strong on Disney.
Its latest release is the 2D-animated slapstick comedy Harry & Bunnie. This fast-paced non-dialogue series comprising 78 seven-minute long episodes is targeted at children aged 7 to 11.
The show’s executive director Ah Loong considers it a breakthrough, because it was sold to not only Disney Channel Southeast Asia but also Disney Channels in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and India.
Animasia managing director Edmund Chan says: “Disney Channel Southeast Asia has been licensing Upin & Ipin and BoboiBoy. Harry & Bunnie has managed to go beyond that.
“Furthermore, Disney Channels Australia, New Zealand and Japan rarely accept foreign shows from Asia. By accepting a new show like ours, it shows that they have trust in us.”
Harry & Bunnie premiered on Disney Channel in May but it’s already one of the top five shows. It’s ranked No. 1 in Singapore and Thailand for its timeslot.
Chan says: “We’ve had several collaborations with Disney over the years, so we anticipate Harry & Bunnie to be another success.”
He thinks their past partnership deals helped seal the deal for Harry & Bunnie faster. “Our relationship with them is great. Having this rapport is important because our primary objective is to export all these Malaysian-made content,” adds Chan.
Animasia’s pre-school series ABC Monsters has also been released in North America.
CONCEPTUALISING THE IDEA
Harry & Bunnie follows young wannabe magician Harry who invents magical tricks to impress his friends, but always in vain.
Meanwhile, his mischievous stage rabbit Bunnie always ends up stealing the limelight with its ongoing mission to steal Harry’s magic wand.
“We did some research and noticed there are no magician characters out there. Magic shows are also a crowd-puller,” Chan says.
Ah Loong reveals that Harry is named after Harry Houdini. “The character may be named after the great magician, but he is nowhere near great! He’s always being outsmarted by Bunnie.”
The storylines are inspired by our daily lives, like a visit to the gym or the dentist. Some even have educational elements.
The show’s fantasy element opens a wide door for the animators to attempt different and attractive storylines.
“I have a brainstorming team. We went on a weekend trip where we did nothing but discuss what storylines we should do,” Ah Loong reveals.
The universal theme also enables the studio to further market it to an even bigger group of global buyers.
The biggest challenge for them is to make sure there will still be new episodes in the long run.
“As this is the season debut, Ah Loong wanted to set a benchmark and standard for the show,” Chan says. “Everything has to be perfect.”
BEHIND THE SCENES
Harry & Bunnie is Animasia’s first non-dialogue content, so naturally there were difficulties.
“We don’t have a script to base it on. It’s storyboard-driven, so we need to figure out the plot’s flow and pace,” Ah Loong says.
The idea for the show came about more than five years ago, and character design took about two years to be finalised.
Chan and Ah Loong made sure to speak to enough buyers, inventors and test groups, and gathered enough input.
“Harry initially looked much older than a young teen. Bunnie, besides the braces, even had a tattoo,” Chan explains, laughing.
Chan says Disney Channel has a strict standard and protocol. “We were told that we could be adventurous in constructing the show but there is a limit.
“Even though it’s slapstick, it can’t have too much violence. Its content must not influence young audiences to be naughty.”
The Animasia team made the necessary adjustments and underwent several redesign processes. Once they’re satisfied, they will go on with the production.
Basically, the whole animation process comprises three stages: Pre-production, production and post-production.
Pre-production consists of idea conceptualisation, storyboarding and character and prop design.
Production involves key animation, background and clean-up, while post production covers editing, visual and sound effects as well as music.
For its productions, Animasia works with Imaginex Studios, which Ah Loong says is the best sound studio in Malaysia.
“Harry & Bunnie is a non-dialogue show, so music and sound play a vital role in driving viewers’ emotions and keeping them entertained.”
He adds that each Harry & Bunnie episode involves at least 40 artists, animators and sound engineers. Per month, the team would come up with about six episodes.
“Making an animated series requires many steps, so at the end of the day, it’s a joint effort. It’s also 100 per cent made in Malaysia, by Malaysians. Check out the result on Disney Channel.”
LEADER OF THE PACK
Established in 2005, Animasia today runs the largest animation production team in Malaysia. It has about 150 staff and its two-unit studio is located in Puchong, Kuala Lumpur.
Animasia also owns the most exportable intellectual properties in animation in the country.
“The biggest challenge for us is that we train lots of new talents, but they end up working with our competitors,” Chan reveals.
“It’s okay. Some of them even come back to us. At the end of the day, we still work in the same ‘ecosystem’.”
As for the future of animation, Chan thinks it is progressing much more in Malaysia than in our neighbouring countries.
“In the last five years, we saw more content being developed. There’s an influx of foreign projects that are coming into Malaysia as well.
“And with continuous government support, the future is bright for us.”
Harry & Bunnie airs Fridays at 7pm on Disney Channel (Astro Channel 615).