Big Bad Boo Studios Open
Mixed Nutz and Gone Bananas Creators Open New Facility in Vancouver
Big Bad Boo Studios has opened a brand-new facility in the Yaletown area of Vancouver. Studio will work on original shows like Mixed Nutz and Gone Bananas.
A new animation facility, called Big Bad Boo Studios, has opened in the Yaletown district of Vancouver.
According to the company's press release (which can be found on Big Bad Boo's official website), founders and native Vancouverite Aly Jetha and his wife Shabnam Rezaei decided to start the studio after realizing that bringing the normally Asia-outsourced work home could bring a lot of benefits to their animation projects.
“We found so many good reasons to move to Canada," said Aly Jetha. "There is an enormous amount of animation talent in British Columbia and the tax incentives in Canada make the move very attractive. In addition, we gain a priceless amount of control by having our own animation team. When we get extra work, we can also pass these savings onto our clients and offer them a bi-lingual service facility that is in the same or near-same time zone and just a short plane ride away. “
Big Bad Boo ToonBoom
Jetha and Rezaei recruited veteran animator Glen Kennedy to run operations. Trained at the Hanna-Barbera toon factory and done time at The Cartoon Network, Walt Disney Television, Warner Brothers and Universal, Kennedy recently completed 26 episodes of Zula Patrol for Zula USA and PBS-TV. He also recently completed the Family Tree Pilot for Tom Ruegger Productions.
It was Kennedy who decided to use ToonBoom software as Big Bad Boo's number-one platform, instead of the ever-popular Flash Animation. Kennedy recruited several top animators to help him render a look in ToonBoom that resembles traditional cel animation as much as possible.
“We looked at doing Flash at first but the truth is that we were just not happy with the flat look. We decide ToonBoom was the way to go and we attracted the best talent in Vancouver to get started on our new show Mixed Nutz,” said Kennedy.
Other animation veterans coming to Big Bad Boo are triple Emmy Award winner Alfred Gimeno (Madagascar, Jetsons) who will co-direct their first show, Mixed Nutz. Triple Emmy Award winner Randy Rogel (Animaniacs, Batman) composed music and lyrics for the show.
Big Bad Boo's Animation Projects
Big Bad Boo Studios has two shows on the go. The first is Norooz Productions' Mixed Nutz, an animation series aimed at the 6 to 9-year-old age group. It's a sequel to Norooz's 2005 animated DVD Babak and Friends. Like Babak, Mixed Nutz aims to teach children about diversity and about interacting with others.
The show follows the adventures of Babak, the self-conscious kid from Iran, Damaris the superstitious Cuban bookworm and Sanjay, the romantic comedian who recently moved from Mumbai, India. They interact with their classmates like the always-curious Michael, Jae, the Korean tech nut and "natural-born athlete who desperately tries to please his father, and Sousanne, the bossy and competitive nemesis to Babak."
Big Bad Boo's second show, Gone Bananas, is still in development. It's an animated series about a trio of mischievous monkeys. According to the site, the show "follows the adventures of three rascals who get into all kinds of trouble without saying a single word! Whether they are trying to sneak into the circus for free or playing pranks on each other, they have a great time in every short 3-minute episode." The show is aimed at kids aged 5 to 11.
