Animation South Africa Podcast

Live from locked-down New York, Blue Sky's Jasmine Katatikarn tells us about her work as Senior Lighting TD, and the school she runs with colleague Mike Tanzillo, teaching the subtle art of lighting to students around the world.

Voice director Ned Lott talks about his career at the Disney dubbing group, including his opus: the seven Ghibli dubs that brought Hayao Miyazaki's films to an English-speaking audience. He is now working with Triggerfish on their new feature, Seal Team.

David Prescott, the VFX ninja grandmaster behind milestone box office hits like Titanic, Avatar, X-Men and Transformers, talks to Julia Smuts Louw about imposter syndrome, the importance of showers, and why there is nothing left for the VFX industry to do. Fighting talk...

We interview Aron Warner, producer of SHREK (and voice of the Wolf) about his new slate of international projects to be produced by Sony - as just announced at Annecy.

Peter Ramsey, director of the Oscar-winning animated feature Spiderman: into the Spiderverse, was a star speaker at this year's Cape Town International Animation Festival. Animation SA chatted to him about the film's innovative technical and artistic approach, and what the film means for Africans all over the world. Warning: spoilers abound!

Robert Valley, creator of the Oscar-nominated short film PEAR CIDER & CIGARETTES, offers his tips for Kickstarting a film project and shmoozing iconic bands.

Isaac Mogajane of Diprente Films and freelance rigging guru Judd Simantov discuss their collaboration on the kids' fantasy series, ANANSI, recently picked up for international distribution by InkGroup.

Animation SA chats to Michael Rose of Magic Light Pictures about the Academy Award-nominated animated short, Revolting Rhymes, and how they turned their adaptation of Julia Donaldson's runaway bestseller, The Gruffalo, into an international cottage industry.

Animation SA chats to Ruan Rothmann and Marcelle Marais of Free Lives, the indie gaming studio whose breakout 2012 hit, BROFORCE, put South Africa on the map with Steam users. They followed up with the startling multiplayer “party game,” GENITAL JOUSTING in 2016(clearly we’ve been going to the wrong parties). GORN, their first adventure in “visceral reality,” has received “overwhelmingly positive” ratings on Steam. Learn about the heady mix of overzealous imagination and advanced game physics that makes this gladiatorial combat simulation tick. Strap in folks, it’s a longie but a goodie… (Note: recorded August 2017 - the update mentioned is now live.)

Animation lecturer Lesego Vorster is the first South African to be accepted into the prestigious Masters programme at Gobelins l'Ecole de l'Image in Paris. He told ASA about learning at the knee of Guillermo del Toro, why we shouldn't imitate our heroes, and the importance of a lifelong reading habit.

Animation SA chats to Pixar editor Kevin Nolting about his work on 2015's Oscar-winning animated blockbuster, Inside Out. Directed by Pete Docter, the film personifies the core emotions that drive the decisions of a young girl named Riley. As Nolting relates, it proved one of the most challenging project Pixar had ever tackled. Who ever thought understanding an eleven-year-old could be that hard? Well, probably any parent!

Director Alexandre Heboyan chats to Julia Smuts Louw about his feature film MUNE: GUARDIAN OF THE MOON, his new VR project, and the value of "gaining altitude" on your work.

Jeroen Jaspaert and Daniel Snaddon, directors of the BBC Christmas Special STICK MAN, talk about the journey of one sentient stick... all the way from the imagination of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, to the shores of South Africa, to France for a stunning win at Annecy, and now, to the BAFTAs! Jaspaert and Snaddon were thrown together in an "arranged marriage" for this UK/South Africa co-production. Here they discuss the joys and trials of co-directing, the challange of penetrating South African politeness, the difference between "charming" and "cute," how to make CGI look like stop motion, and how to survive animation reviews over Skype.

What can a former vice cop tell us about animation screenwriting? We chat to Phil Lorin, cowriter of Pixar's CARS, who consulted for Triggerfish Storylab on their feature projects. If you're keen on getting involved with South African animation, sign up for our newsletter or get an Animation SA membership at www.animationsa.org!

Animation South Africa chats to local animation legend Mike Scott about his love children, Bru and Boegie, and the importance of knowing your creative non-negotiables.