07/27/18

Popular HBO series to showcase work from T&T animation company

Full Circle Animation Studio News Featured Popular HBO series to showcase work from T&T animation company

An animation studio from Trinidad and Tobago has produced the animation for an HBO series featuring performances from RuPaul, Aziz Ansari, Wanda Sykes, Raven-Symone and Usher, among others.

Full Circle Animation Studio was recently contracted by Big Jump Entertainment in Ottawa Canada to produce the animation for the HBO series.

A release said the show is considered to be one of the funniest, most idiosyncratic shows on television.

An in-house team of 12 people (nine animators, one animation supervisor, one project coordinator, and one project manager) worked tirelessly between December 2017 and May 2018 at the studio located in Trincity.

“This show had a very unique and distinctive style of design and animation. It looks simple and minimalist but it required us to transmit a lot of emotion through the characters using very limited animation movement. Going in, we had otherwise underestimated how challenging that could be while keeping the provocative edge that really defines the style of the show. In that regard, it was a new technical experience for us," said Managing Director Jason Lindsay.

This is the first time that an animation studio in Trinidad or throughout the Caribbean has been contracted from an international studio for a full season of a TV show on a major network.

“For a young animation industry like ours here in Trinidad, the main long-term benefit of an opportunity like this is the investment in our human resource. The experience and technical/creative insight gained from our animators working with an experienced production studio like Big Jump Entertainment are invaluable. The entire team benefited from it tremendously," Lindsay said. 

The release said that projects like this and other overseas productions outsourced to Full Circle puts the company in a position where over the last three years, over 50 percent of its income has been from foreign exchange revenue, with this most recent project catapulting its export earnings for the first half of 2018 to over 90 percent of its income during that period – a very unique position for any small business in general to be in but a major achievement for the studio and the industry as a whole.

Lindsay pointed out the role that institutions have played in various capacities in getting the studio to this point in its growth. Organisations like ExporTT has given tremendous support in positioning the studio for export and continues to support the animation industry as a whole. InvesTT planted the seeds that spawned this growth through guidance, support, and exposure to position the studio for opportunity and success. Though there is still a lot to be done the studio is well on its way with this landmark achievement on the journey, he stated.

The release said that this accomplishment exemplifies how the Government, the education sector, and enterprise can work hand in hand to achieve and change the landscape of the economy. 

The release said below the surface of this model is the seamless education thread that few are aware of and appreciate.  Students from the YTEPP Animation Retraining Programme, went on to complete the UTT Diploma in Animation programme and now 90 percent of the workforce is part of that thread that makes up the studio.  

“This is a great example of success in creative sector and seamless education in a country that depends on Oil and Gas. Programme Coordinator for animation Studies at the University of Trinidad and Tobago Camille Abrahams said.