animation i n korea How the characters earn cash Strong characters and brands in the field of animation are helping to boost co-production, licensing and merchandising
The Beet Party (Redrover) A NUMBER of companies including Synergy Media, Vooz Co., Neon Pumpkin, GIMC, Redrover, SAMG Animation and NHC Media have lined up new alliances with partners from across the globe. Many have tapped co-production treaties to help get the finance ball rolling, especially with France. “We’ve done at least five co-productions with France,” says SAMG’s vice president Harry Yoon. Synergy Media has been a pioneer in globalising Korean animation co-production and has completed, or has on the front burner, at least eight co-productions in recent years, many with France. Latest is Me And My Robot, the 52 x 11 mins TV series between Synergy’s Tuba Entertainment and France’s Millimages. EBS, France 3, and Canal J are on board as broadcasters for the series set to be delivered in 2013. Synergy president Eugene Kang says financing production costs and merchandising internationally is a major challenge but he adds that for the actual co-producing “patience and trust throughout the development and production process” have been key to the success of Synergy’s projects. Also to be delivered in 2013 is Synergy’s 26 x 11 mins Playground 22 I
Animation In Korea I Ocotber 2011 I www.mipcom.com
Robot Bboing with Crazy Bird Studio in Korea and co-production partner Tulus Fikir in Malaysia. EBS is on board as broadcaster. Malaysia has significantly increased its co-production ties with Korean companies. NHC Media’s co-production Eori with Malaysia’s Ed-Online Technologies was inked in 2010 and is now being brought to MIPJunior and MIPCOM. NHC Media director, Christine Yu, says: “When we presented Eori, Ed-Online instantly fell in love with it, and since then, everything has been easy. We worked together to find and preserve common themes and values in each story.” She adds that while Eori is a young boy, other characters were given animal identities — “it helps eliminate potential cultural or other bias”. The 78 x 7.5 mins series is also adaptable to other platforms including mobile, she says. Differences in humour between cultures arose in the making of Vooz Co.’s Myo & Ga, a co-production with Spain’s Imira Entertainment, but Vooz Co. CEO Boo-Kyoung Kim says: “It actually helped us to work together more closely and to turn Myo & Ga into a work with appeal to much wider audiences.” Kim, by the way, is the creator of Pucca,