Tim and Candice Argall of Johannesburg-based animation studio Bugbox Animation recently came to a co-production agreement with French studio Folimage. The agreement, for their original animated children’s series Musi & Cuckoo, marks the first animation co-production between France and South Africa.
Frédéric Chambon, regional head of Media and Film at the French Institute in South Africa, has in recent years been working hard to forge an SA/France connection in animation. He initiated the Animation du Monde competition at the Annecy Festival which Musi & Cuckoo won in 2015. It was here that the Argall’s met Folimage producer Corinne Destombes who was one of the judges for the competition. Part of the prize was a residency at the Folimage studios in Valence to help develop the series. “They gave a bunch of great notes on the production design and overall concept and as the show started to take shape they got more and more interested,” says Candice, creator, producer and co-writer of the series with Tim who, in addition to co-writing also directs Musi & Cuckoo.
Together Bugbox and Folimage are now producing the preschool series Musi & Cuckoo, the story of two animal best friends who run a taxi service in Tubatuba Town. The motto of the show is ‘better together’ – living with those that are different from you. The brainchild of Candice, the idea for Musi & Cuckoo grew from her distaste for the behaviour of Johannesburg taxi drivers. “No seriously, they drive me crazy,” she quips, “I tried to imagine a world where taxi drivers were helpful and happy and well, fantasy consumed me and Musi happened. I got so excited thinking I could create a role model. Imagine, youngsters growing up wanting to become taxi drivers because they’re the coolest, nicest citizens around. Doesn’t hurt to dream!”
From this Candice constructed a world of lovable African animals that lived and worked alongside each other and needed Musi the hippo’s taxi to get around town. “Musi needed a friend, a wacky side-kick, a female,” Candice says, “Initially she was a pet chicken, but Cuckoo has her own firm place in the community now.”
To create the world of Musi & Cuckoo, a technique called cut-out animation was employed. Traditionally, cut-out animation is done by moving physical objects (typically paper) around and photographing these frame by frame. But since Parker and Stone’s South Park the technique has gone digital. “Our primary motivation was economy,” Candice explains. “Two years ago we pitched a 3D show with fairly high production values and realised the massive gap between the style we were proposing and the funding that we could realistically raise. We iced that idea and moved on. When conceptualising Musi & Cuckoo we studied hit shows in our target market and learned that in most cases, the winning formula was cut-out. Knowing the limitations of the medium, we got to work creating characters and a world that are ‘cut-out friendly’.”
As it stands, BugBox has signed a simple memorandum of understanding to allow Folimage to approach French broadcasters with the project. This required the Argalls to give some of their IP rights away. “A lot of thought must go into the value the co-production will bring,” says Candice.
“There are so many plusses to working with one of the top French animation studios, so we knew we wanted to do it, but there were small details we had to work out to make everyone happy, particularly our respective governments. It becomes a box-ticking exercise,” she expands. The most obvious benefit for BugBox is the experience and expertise they will gain by working with Folimage, “But finance is another big influencer,” says Candice. “Government money is essential to closing finance on international productions. Broadcasters worldwide can’t pay what they used to, so everyone looks for national and regional rebates to help find all the necessary pennies.” While Musi & Cuckoo is the first animation co-production between South Africa and France, the two countries do not have an official TV treaty in place so it is important to note that the series is not an official co-production.
For those wanting to check out Musi & Cuckoo, Candice says that the plan is to start with traditional broadcasters before moving on to video-on-demand. “e.tv are interested in it, and we have presented it to SABC. We are knocking on local private broadcasters’ doors, but there is little in the way of pre-school take up. We think the series will work in Europe, and are holding thumbs for a French broadcaster to come on board. We are writing with the US and Canada in the back of our minds, just in case we get lucky. Natasje van Niekerk, our script editor, has worked extensively with Canadians and knows how careful you have to be with safety issues. No guns. No fire. No water. No fun. No… Just kidding!” she laughs.
