Mediafreaks 3d Animation Studio

Mediafreaks Showreel 2009

Mediafreaks — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:14:33 +0000

Please contact us for your animation needs, or find out more about Mediafreaks here.

3D Animation Studios | What Goes On Behind Those Closed Doors

Mediafreaks — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:28:56 +0000

Many people are confused when they see the word ‘3D’ tagged on in front of the words ‘Animation Studio’.

Although animation has been with us for as long as a few decades now, the concept of animation still seem pretty much magical to the layman. ‘How do you make drawings come alive on screen?’ is what they usually ask.

With the invention of 3D animation technology, the concept of animation becomes even more hazy and mystical to the layman. They still refer to 3D animation as ‘drawing’ and know not a thing about the process that goes on behind 3D animation.

As the owner of a 3D animation studio, I feel that it is very important to educate our clients on what goes on behind 3D animation production. The knowledge will not just help them appreciate the service better, but also helps to facilitate the process of collaboration and manage their expectations.

This is important because it helps our clients achieve what they want and allows us to communicate effectively with them.

For this purpose I’ve written this article – which hopes to demystify the process of a 3D animation production and unveil what goes on behind the closed doors of a 3D animation studio.

Get prepared for an educational journey!

A key player in the animation industry in Singapore , Mediafreaks is an animation production company that focuses on working closely with producers, distributors, broadcasters and partners worldwide to produce original television content and high-end animation for broadcast and marketing purposes.

Established in 2003, Mediafreaks has since produced hundreds of projects spanning from animated cartoon series to television commercials to CGI for documentaries to medical and architectural visualization work.

Mediafreaks focuses mainly on providing service work and its sister companies Mediafreaks Cartoon and Character Farm create their own original animated content for export into the international market for broadcast and licensing.

So What Is 3D Animation?

Do not be fooled by the seemingly simplicity of this question.

I was actually quite tempted not to write this article because it’s such a difficult topic to write on. It can be answered as complicated as you want it to be or as short as you desire. The thing is, I need to let clients know how complicated the process is, but not to let them walk away confused. Saying that, I will try my best to answer this question in the most concise but uncomplicated way possible.

In a nutshell, computer 3D animation refers to the work of creating moving pictures in a digital environment that is three-dimensional. Through the careful manipulation of objects (3D models) within the 3D software, we can then export picture sequences which will give the illusion of movement (animation) based on how we manipulate the objects.

What happens in animation is that motion is simulated in a way that the eyes tend to believe that actual motion has taken place while the fact is the perceived sense of motion is only because of the consecutive images that are passed through very fast.

This theory is inherent be it for 3D, 2D or stop motion animation.

In traditional 2D animation, pictures are hand-drawn and every one showing subtle changes from the previous. When played back sequentially, it creates the illusion of motion. In stop motion animation, real life models are moved slightly and filmed. Again, the pictures will create the illusion of motion when played back. In 3D animation, everything is done within the computer and exported from the computer.

The process of creating 3D animation can be sequentially divided into three phases: modeling – which describes the process of creating the 3D objects within a scene, layout and animation – which describes how objects are positioned and animated within a scene, and rendering – which describes the final output of the completed computer graphics. Through the combination of the above phases and a few other sub-phases, this completes the process of a 3D animation production.

There are many softwares in the market for creating 3D animation, ranging from the cheaper lower-end ones to the professional high-end versions. If you are curious to see how a 3D software works, you can download a free one called Blender. Just Google it and you will be able to find its official website.

It is beyond the scope of this lens to discuss animation software in depth. However, if you are interested to find out more, head on over to this article I wrote on 3d animation software.

2D Cel animation involves illustrating many pictures of a scene in various phases of movement and flipping through them quickly digitally to create the illusion of movement or animation.

3D computer animation is a costlier and time-consuming process compared to 2D animation as it involves many more steps.

Stop motion animation is a painfully tedious process and involves tweaking the models bit by bit!

What’s the Difference between 2D and 3D anyway?

Isn’t it obvious? Errr…not quite…read on to find out why.

The first concept you must grasp is that 3D means 3 dimensional and 2D means 2 dimensional. Now before you think I’m stating the obvious, let me go on to say that the 3D and 2D in animation refer to the dimension in which the animation was created. Ahhhh. The plot thickens eh?

For 2D animation, everything happens on a 2 dimensional platform. Pictures are flat, without depth and offer only one pespective. Objects and characters are usually drawn without the subtle soft shadows we see in real life and colours have few varying shades. In 3D animation, everything happens on a 3 dimensional platform. Pictures have depth and offer multiple pespectives just like in real life and have soft subtle shadows casted on the objects and characters within.

In 2D, characters look cartoonish and unrealisitc. In 3D, characters can look cartoonish but realistic at the same time.

Super Mario in 2D and 3D, Copyright(C) Nintendo. See the difference?

Another way to think of this is to think in terms of a painting and a sculpture. 2D is a painting, and 3D is a sculpture. 3D introduces “depth perspective,” so we not only see a rectangle (2D) but a CUBE (3D). You may also want to think of it like being the difference between a photograph of a glass of water (2D) and being able to reach out and actually pick up the glass of water (3D).

You could start training yourself by comparing a cartoon like Bugs Bunny, Aladdin, Lion King (2D) to “Toy Story 1,2 & 3, “Finding Nemo” and “Incredibles” (3D). If you have not watched any of these great cartoons, you should grab one right away or be branded a neantherdal forever!

Typically, 2D involves “drawing,” or movement on, say, a flat surface (sketch pad, etc.) or in the vertical and horizontal planes. 3D involves “modeling,” i.e., creating objects in 3-dimensions using a computer software, residing in an expansive virtual environment, complete with lights, reflections, other objects, shadows, etc.

Is 3D Animation an Offspring of 2D Animation?

Many people have the idea that 3D animation stemmed as a progression from 2D animation. While not entirely untrue, this is definitely not the whole truth as well.

If we have to make some form of link, then I would say that 3D animation has more of its roots in stop motion animation than in traditional hand drawn 2d animation. The stop motion film techniques were used very well in the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts by Ray Harryhausen, although they have actually been around since the very early days of film in the late 19th century. But it was Ray Harryhausen who really brought the technique to life.

You might want to know also that the original King Kong movie produced in 1933, also used stop motion techniques extensively.

Comparing 3D animation and stop motion, we can actually see where the similarities are.

For stop motion, it involves taking a model and filming one frame at a time. Slight changes are made to the model and then filmed again. This is to simulate movement. By building up frame after frame and playing it back at between 12 and 70 frames per second, the model looks like it is moving. This is a very painstaking process and by no means a walk in the park!

3D animation uses a similar method but it is created using computers. Everything is controlled within the computer and the output is automated by the computer after you key in the instructions. It is decidedly less tedious physically compared to stop motion animation, but the fundamentals are similiar in nature.

Even the lighting, texturing and camera aspects of both animation methods share the same fundamentals, with the exception that one happens in reality, and the other in the computer.

I would think that for a stop motion artist to transit over to 3D animation and vice versa, it would be a lot easier and faster, as opposed to a 2D artist. And having said that, I would end this section by saying again that 3D animation smells more like an offspring of stop motion animation than 2D animation.

The Process of 3D Animation

There’s probably more steps to 3D animation than you think there are!

The process of a 3D animation pipeline is complex and can be a lot more complicated than any other forms of animation.

Depending on what project and which 3D animation studio is involved, the number of steps may vary.

In this lens, I’ve identified and illustrated the 11 most common steps involved in producing a 3D animation project.

They are namely :

1. Concept and Storyboards
2. 3D Modeling
3. Texturing
4. Rigging
5. Animation
6. Lighting
7. Camera Setting
8. Rendering
9. Compositing and Special VFX
10. Music and Foley
11. Editing and Final Output

Step 1 | Concept and Storyboards

A storyboard for Sedo Dog – a cartoon series by Mediafreaks!

The very first step involved in a 3D production pipeline is the conceptualization of ideas and the creation of the storyboards that translate these ideas into visual form.

A storyboard is a sequence of illustrations that showcases your digital story in two dimensions. The first dimension is time: what happens first, next, and last. The second is of interaction: how does the voiceover (your story) interact with the images, how do visual transitions and effects help tie together the images, how does the voice overs interact with the musical soundtrack? Any element can interact with any other one, and the storyboard is the place to plan out the impact you intend to make on the audience.

Step 2 | 3D Modeling

3D Modeling is not drawing!

After the storyboards are finished and approved by the client, the task of building the props, environment and characters begin. The proper term is called ‘modeling’.

Modeling is the process of taking a shape and molding it into a completed 3D mesh. The most typical means of creating a 3D model is to take a simple object, called a primitive, and extend or “grow” it into a shape that can be refined and detailed. Primitives can be anything from a single point (called a vertex), a two-dimensional line (an edge), a curve (a spline), to three dimensional objects (faces or polygons). Using the specific features of your chosen 3D software, each one of these primitives can be manipulated to produce an object. When you create a model in 3D, you’ll usually learn one method to create your model, and go back to it time and again when you need to create new models. There are three basic methods you can use to create a 3D model, and 3D artists should understand how to create a model using each technique.

Step 3 | Texturing

The art of giving clothes to the 3D models.

When a 3D model is created, 2D images can be overlaid on it to add colors, designs, and textures. This is called mapping, and often the entirety of a model’s color comes from this. These maps can be created in programs like Photoshop, and the illusions of textures can be brushed onto the models as easily as if you painted them yourself; some animators even use real photographs of the textures they’re trying to create, simply captured and then altered to make seamless repeatable patterns. This is how many illusions of hair are created; rather than model individual strands, instead grouped locks of hair are modeled, before a texture is overlaid with individual strands and detailing painted on.

Step 4 | Rigging and Skinning

We’ve gotta put in those skeletons into a 3D character before he can move!

Setting up a character to walk and talk is the last stage before the process of character animation can begin. This stage is called ‘rigging and skinning’ and is the underlying system that drives the movement of a character to bring it to life.

Rigging is the process to setting up a controllable skeleton for the character that is intended for animation. Depending on the subject matter, every rig is unique and so is the corresponding set of controls.

Skinning is the process of attaching the 3D model (skin) to the rigged skeleton so that the 3D model can be manipulated by the controls of the rig.

Step 5 | Animation

Now you know animation doesn’t always come first in 3D animation huh?

Animation is the process of taking a 3D object and getting it to move. Animation comes in a few different flavors. There’s keyframe animation, where the animator manipulates the objects on a frame-by-frame basis, similar to old hand-drawn cartoons. Other methods of animation include placing objects on splines and setting them to follow the path of the curve, or importing motion capture data and applying it to a character rig. Yet another way to animate is to use your 3D application’s built-in physics engines, such as when your scene requires that objects fall.

Step 6 | Lighting

Lighting in a 3D world is just as essential as it is in real life.

Lighting, (in combination with textures, camera angle etc.) is where a scene has the potential to come alive. Used improperly, light can wash out a scene, make objects appear hard or flat, and destroy all the hard work. But skillfully applied, lighting can makea scene convincing, or if realism is the aim, create (in combination with materials and geometry), a scene that is virtually indistinguishable from real life.

In 3D, lights don’t actually exist as they do in the real world. Lights in 3D are objects that are designed to simulate how lighting works in real life, but in order to obtain the results you’re after, you have to apply a number of settings, not only to the lights, but to the materials.

Step 7 | Camera Angles and Techniques

Good camera angles and techniques make the difference between good cinematograhy and bad ones.

The camera is an amazing tool. In 3D, unlike the real world, physical limitations don’t exist. You can create a scene where the camera takes you on a journey inside the blood vessels of a human body, or to be an eye-in-the-sky in your scenes, it can be used to create impossible perspectives, to zoom and pan and so much more. It’s beyond the scope of this article to tell you everything about cameras, but here are some basics to get you started.

First, it’s useful to look at some of the differences between 3D cameras and real life cameras. In 3D, unlike in real life, there is no need for a lens, focusing controls, film, aperture, etc. All of these functions are controlled via software. Where things are similar is how the camera is used. In 3D, you can create one or more cameras, position them exactly as desired in 3D space and use settings to mimic focal length, depth of field, etc. Other options for moving a 3D camera are similar to those in movie making, including truck, dolly, motion blur, orbit and pan.

In addition, software cameras have no size or weight restrictions. You can move a camera to any location and even inside the tiniest objects. You can also animate cameras so that several operations take place at once, such as a zooming into a scene while changing the depth of field. Once you create a camera in 3D, you can pick a view and assign the view in that view to the camera, meaning that you will see the scene from the perspective of the camera.

Step 8 | Rendering

This is where the graphics get ‘made’ and exported…but it’s not the end yet!!!

Rendering an image is typically the last step in the 3D production pipeline (but not the last step in the overall production pipeline), and is perhaps the most important part. It is a step often overlooked or glossed over by beginners, who are more focused on creating models and animating them. There are many aspects to creating a good final render of a scene, including attention to camera placement, lighting choices which may affect mood and shadows, reflections and transparency, and the handling of special effects, like fluids or gasses.

Step 9 | Compositing and Special FX

The renders are brought into compositing programs to edit, touch-up and add on special effects.

This is where the final renders are brought into compositing programs to edit, touch-up and add on special effects.

Compositing includes everything from what your probably normally think of as special effects, where things explode, evaporate, morph, etc. It also includes stage extensions (making the scene stage larger digitally in post production), to environment creation (anything from buildings to complete worlds), to blue/green screen replacement (shooting in-front of a blue or green screen and then replacing the background with digitally created footage or footage shot elsewhere). Basically, the art of taking live footage and blending it with computer generated footage would be considered compositing.

Step 10 | Music and Foley

Music and foley (sound effects) are added to give the animation the extra depth and boost in audio enjoyment.

A music composer will create music soundtracks and accompaniment music to set the mood for the animation.

A foley artist ‘recreates’ sound effects for film, television and radio productions. Using many different kinds of shoes and lots of props – car fenders, plates, glasses, chairs, and just about anything I find at the side of the road – the Foley Artist can replace original sound completely or augment existing sounds to create a richer track.

Step 11 | Editing and Final Output

This is where it ends!

This is where it all ends! This is where the composited renders, music and foley are compiled and edited to ensure that everything is in synchronization. Once satisfied, the compiled product is exported as one of the many formats suitable for broadcasting standards and delivered to the client!

Picking the Right 3D Animation Studio to Work With

Picking the right animation company for your project will determine the success and failure of your marketing effort.

That’s not so difficult to answer, is it?

Of course you go to Mediafreaks!

Alright, seriously now, no single company is suitable for every single project under the sun. I would like to say that Mediafreaks is good at everything, but unfortunately we are not.

Some companies excel at certain genres and other companies at other genres.

Mediafreaks specializes mainly in animated commercials, broadcast animation for documentaries, medical visualization, character design and architectural visualization. There are companies who specialize solely in special effects or architectural visualization work.

The following is my honest advice regarding this subject matter:

1. Find a company that has an extensive portfolio or one that has done something similar to what you have in mind. The first ensures an experienced company and the second gives you the confidence that they have done something similar before and can probably deliver the same to you.

2. Make sure that the company is using more in-house staff than freelancers. Many freelancers are unreliable and may disappear when the going gets tough. Ultimately the company is responsible for their conduct, but you would have wasted your time and perhaps missed a good opportunity to impress with your presentation or marketing campaign. So you stand to lose out even if you don’t have to pay for the project ultimately.

3. Ask for milestones and deliverables. Understand what the company’s pipeline is like. Any animation companies worth their salt would be able to tell you a pipeline and milestone delivery that sounds logical and reasonable. Click here if you missed my section on Working with an Animation Company to find out more.

4. Find a company that responds fast to emails and phone calls. If the company takes a long time to return mails and calls, chances are they are either too busy to respond, can’t be bothered to respond or too disorganized to respond. Either way you should move on and look for the next vendor.

5. Find a company that has project managers or account managers in place. You want to speak to speak to marketing people who understand your marketing needs and not animators who think about cool special effects and nice animation.

6. After giving concise background information of your company and what you want to achieve, see how fast and pro-active the company is in coming back with a proposed solution and a quotation. See if the quotation makes sense and that the company can account for each of the service listed.

7. I would not advise going around for quotations because quite honestly every animation company may charge differently according to their staff strength, reputation, portfolios, whether they are using freelancers or perm staff, standard of work, etc. There are too many variables and it is akin to comparing the prices of cars of different makes. It won’t be fair in this respect. Try to go for whichever company can possibly deliver what you need within your budget.

8. Lastly, always work with a company you feel comfortable with. Go with your gut feeling. If you don’t feel good about the company, it means you don’t have chemistry with the people there and chances are you won’t enjoy the working relationship. This will affect the end product.

Case Studies

The use of computer animation in marketing and advertising is potent as a communications tool. Many companies are discovering that it is much more effective and powerful than the boring PowerPoint slides and mundane TV adverts that use only live actors. While it shares some characteristics of other visual mediums, it has unique attributes that no other marketing medium can equal.

Let’s take a look at how your company can tap into the capabilities of this great marketing tool by studying some true case studies of how some other companies have been doing it.

Case Study: Hi-Corporation and Sharp

HI CORPORATION is a leading research and development company in middleware development for embedded devices whose flagship product MascotCapsule® is a real-time 3D rendering engine. In addition to all Japanese carriers and handset manufacturers, the engine has been widely adopted in the US, Europe, Korea, and China. Character Farm and Mediafreaks Cartoon – both sister companies of Mediafreaks Pte Ltd. specializing in the creation of original animated content – have entered into a licensing collaboration with HI CORPORATION to release a set of original characters from the animated series KatakuneTM and Sedo DogTM to be offered as downloadable content for mobile phones released in Japan. These characters will be used for a service where users can set characters to display on their mobile phone standby screens, menu screens, and other screens. The character moves around the mobile phone screen and reacts according to events such as incoming calls and mail. A character from the Sedo DogTM family has been embedded into a high-end Sharp mobile phone as a default offering. This case study shows how cartoon characters can be used to make a product more enticing. Please click on the pictures or the link below to learn more about our cartoon characters and licensing opportunities.

Case Study: APMI Kaplan

APMI Kaplan – a quality educational facility – wanted to showcase their brand new campus. However, in most cases, reality is imperfect and live shoots usually amplifies that imperfection. A 3D animation walkthrough helped to create the experience of studying in Kaplan’s beautiful environment, sans the imperfections. The educational sector being a very competitive one, this extra presentation effort immediately helps to establish Kaplan as the right place to study.

Case Study: Shark Energy Drink

Field Catering wanted to bring across how their Shark Energy drink can restore energy to the most exhausted individual. Mediafreaks came up with a concept that showed how Shark can power up an entire city. Sure it is an exaggeration, but all TV adverts build on hype, and 3D animation does that the best! The conventional live TV adverts can never achieve this kind of effect. The Shark Energy Drink TV advert was shown during the New Year period to good response.

Case Study: Schering Plough Clarityne

Schering Plough wanted a different approach towards showcasing their Clarityne product – which helps curbs nose allergy problems. Mediafreaks came up with an animated TV commercial that discusses how allergens bring about the allergy symptoms and how Clarityne can help improve the quality of life. Again, if this was a ‘live-actor’ advert, the result would be much more boring and less effective. The graphics concept was also implemented on buses as mobile giant ads.

Case Study: Pilot Pen V-Grip

It’s tough to sell something as conventional and mundane as the humble pen. No matter how much technology has gone into it, unless the pen has been given a micro super-computer and can write on its own, a pen is still a pen. So how do you sell a pen? Check out this cheeky animated TV commercial of a family who finds so much fun using the new Pilot V-Grip that they prefer to pen their conversations to each other! Again, having the commercial done in 3D animated form brings out the fun and humour. A live advert just wouldn’t have done justice.

Case Study: The Marbella Condominium

Is it impossible to sell something that has not yet been constructed? Well, definitely not in the case of the Marbella Condominium. What better way to showcase the luxurious condominium than a 3D simulated walkthrough complete with live actors composited into the environment?

Case Study: Linden Place

Linden Place is an up market residential property in China. The TV commercial that the developers wanted to produce should spoke to those who recognize class and prestige. Wanting to steer away from the conventional property commercials that are a dime a dozen, they decided to go for a beautiful and realistic 3D animated rendering of an exquisitely crafted plague that emits elegance, prestige and exclusivity. To create the plaque in real life was too expensive in comparison to a digital representation, and Mediafreaks came to the rescue.

Case Study: Wyeth Robitussin

This set of 2 x 20 seconds TV adverts were designed to create impact advertising through exaggerating the effects a bad cough can induce on people. The different scenarios enacted here dramatize the effects of the 2 different kinds of coughs that the Robitussin cough solutions are formulated for. Through the cycling of the 2 different TV commercials, it generated curiosity and interest from the audience who realized that these were 2 different TV commercials featuring different cough solutions for varying cough conditions. Being in bursts of 20 seconds and coupled with the fact that the scenario in each TVC is rather dramatic, animation was the perfect and cheaper medium to execute these adverts.

Free Animation Marketing E-book

The only animation case-study book teaching businesses how to use animation to sell their products cum services and grow their income

Mediafreaks has released a free e-book titled ‘True Case Studies of How Animation Can Help Grow a Business’. The purpose of the e-book is to educate business establishments on the benefits of using 3D animation to market and grow their businesses and also using character licensing to increase the salability of their products and services.

Topics covered in the book include:

Case studies of how various companies are employing animation to market their services and products
The power of animation in today’s marketing game and its applications
Debunking the myth that ‘animation is expensive’ and mitigating the cost of production
Looking for the right animation company to work with
Why animated commercials rock and ‘live’ adverts suck
How to communicate effectively with an animation production company to get the most out of them
Using character licensing to boost the sales of your products and services
Some character licensing ideas

Through sharing the information and case studies in the e-book, we hope that business establishments could benefit through learning how some other companies are already employing 3D animation and character licensing actively and enjoying healthy growth. Interested business owners or marketing professionals are invited to download the free 3D animation services marketing e-book here.

About the Author

This article was written by Aldric Chang – a creative businessman who is active in music composition and production, internet marketing, casual games production, animation production, cartoon production and character licensing. His 3d animation studio – Mediafreaks – is focused on producing high-end animation work for documentary producers, advertising houses and cartoon animated series – with projects ranging from the animation of dinosaurs to the visualization of natural disasters and something as chic as 3d jewelry animations. He runs a popular animation blog where he frequently posts informative articles on the animation industry and shares useful advice on the business of animation.

8 Reasons Why You Should Use an Animated TV Commercial

Mediafreaks — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:39:53 +0000

There is an increasing trend for businesses to gravitate towards using animation for their commercials, and for good reason too. This article discusses some of the more popular reasons why business marketers are doing that and will hopefully give you an insight.

1. ‘Live’ adverts require actors and models, and they can be hard to schedule if they are popular. This can be a problem if they fall ill, go out of the country or busy with other assignments.

2. Popular actors and models can be expensive to hire. Some of their managers may charge according to where the advert is shown, meaning an extra fee per location.

3. Using actors and models may have many red-tapes due to consideration for their image and many concepts may not be fulfillable.

4. Actors and models are susceptible to popularity upheavals. Artistes are just humans prone to scandals and scandals can easily cause a wane in their popularity.

5. Animated adverts using animated characters on the other hand do not suffer from the above issues live TV adverts face. As far as a make-belief character is concerned, its popularity can be timeless. Just look at Fido Dido!

6. With animation, the sky’s the limit! Animation can achieve the most bizarre special effects and be presented in the most abstract environments without any worry about the logistics and possibilities. You can go as far as Mars or as high as the Heavens! You can make an entire city black out or make the Sun go nova! Go wild with animation!

7. Animation can be combined with live environments or actors to create a really cool commercial. But a ‘live-shot’ commercial is just that – a plain old boring commercial! Just look at all the cool mobile hand phone ads combining special effects with live elements!

8. Contrary to popular belief, animated adverts are usually cheaper to produce than ‘live’ adverts if you deal directly with the animation house and not through a third party like an advert agency. Many times, advert agencies sub-contract the work to animation companies and utilize their concepts instead of coming up with their own, charging a fat fee for their ‘trouble’! As you can imagine, the charges of an animation company alone without the intervention of an advert agency can be much lower, and in many cases more affordable than a ‘live’ advert.

How Animation Can Help Sell Products and Services

Mediafreaks — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:00:47 +0000

In my work I have many clients ask me what 3D animation can do for them. I always tell them – loads.

3D animation is really one of the most versatile sales presentation medium available to a business and if harnessed well, can mean an increase in sales for any product and business.

Many marketing managers did not learn the power of using new media in school. The lecturers were usually more familiar with traditional marketing media like live action TV commercials and paper adverts because when they were younger, that’s all they had. But nowadays, there’s the internet as a new media. Internet marketing is a whole different knowledge all by itself and that’s not being taught in most schools. And most certainly most marketing courses do not teach how to use multimedia and animation to help sell a product or a service. So they rely on boring powerpoints and paper hand-outs. Yawn.

If animation is used effectively, it can help demonstrate a product’s or engineered system’s full potential, far beyond what a powerpoint or hand-outs can achieve. I’ve listed some of the benefits and applications below:

Benefits

- Demonstrate how your product works without having to set it up or lug it about

- Create an upmarket feel of the product or service and justify a premium price

- Make a product or service more attractive, sexier and dynamic looking, and enhance its perceived value

- Give a boring system a visual boost through exciting graphics and animation

- Dramatize boring information and data

- Make anything look cutting edge and state of the art

- Create something that can never be achieved through live shots

Applications

- Show how your product or service can be applied to a problem

- Show the internal components of a complex product

- Bring the client on a tour of a facility or property using 3D animation

- Show how a product interacts with its customers

- Show how a very complex system works through animated sequences and diagrams

- Showcase a product or facility that has not yet been built

- Show several consecutive operations of a system or assembly line

- Show various negative scenarios that can be resolved through the use of your product or service

- Zoom into a microscopic detail of a product or its component

- Show each stage of a planned development clearly

- Show how something like a medical device interacts with the human body

If you are looking for a way to enhance the presentation for your product or service, using 3D animation is the way to go. Smart companies are using it to secure major contracts in their fields, and you should too. If any of the above ideas sound exactly like what you could use, contact Mediafreaks today to use this powerful marketing tool to turbo-charge your presentations and marketing campaigns.

This article was written by the founding Managing Director of Mediafreaks – Aldric Chang – a creative businessman who is active in music composing and production, internet marketing, casual games production, animation production, cartoon production and character licensing. He’s intent on growing his 3D animation studio into a behemoth entertainment enterprise.

Mediafreaks Showreel 2008

Mediafreaks — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:59:08 +0000

Mediafreaks is a 3D animation studio based in Singapore focused on producing quality animation for cartoon series, documentaries, TV commercials, medical animation and architectural animation. Mediafreaks also focuses on cartoon characters licensing as a core area of its business operations.

This showreel showcase our creative work over the past few years. They are representative of our craftsmanship and dedicated efforts to produce quality work for our clients. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed producing the content.

Please contact us for your animation needs.

Documentary Animation Showreel

Mediafreaks — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:35:23 +0000

Animation for documentaries is one of the more challenging fields in animation, as it involves digesting complex chunks of information and translating them to visuals that can be comprehended by laymen.

Mediafreaks provides quality animation for all sorts of documentaries. We produced the animation for several high-profiled documentaries such as the Man Made Marvels series, Mega Structures, Secrets of the Battleship Yamato, Supercells, Asian Enigma.etc. Mediafreaks is dedicated to working with documentary producers all over the world to provide them with the best animation to complement their compelling stories.

Some of our Documentary Credits

Megastructures – Venetian Macau Hotel / Driven Productions . National Geographic
Supercell – Southern Star Australia
Sudden Death – Firewire Films / National Geographic
Against All Odds – Ochre Pictures / Mediacorp
Indonesia Ring of Fire – Channel News Asia
Secrets of the Battleship Yamato / Bang Singapore . Discovery. NOVA
The Voyage of Zheng He / Bang SIngapore . Discovery. NHK
Asian Enigma / Bang SIngapore . Discovery
Rainforest Challenge / Megamedia. Rainbow Media
Forensic Science – The Assassination of JFK / Medstar TV
Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) – The Tunnel That Moves A River / Beach House Pictures. Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA). Channel News Asia . Mediacorp
Man Made Marvels – Seoul Searching / Bang Singapore . Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Taipei 101 / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Taiwan Tunnel / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Korean Train Express / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Tanegashima Space Station / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Korean Train Express / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Singapore Marina Barrage / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Kuala Lumpur Flood Mitigation / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – New Songdo City / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Venetian Macau Casino, Cotai Strip / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Singapore Changi Airport , Terminal 3 / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Sydney Opera House / Beach House Pictures. NHHZ. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Beijing International Airport , Terminal 3 / Darlow Smithson Productions. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Beijing National Grand Theatre, The Egg / Darlow Smithson Productions. Discovery
Man Made Marvels – Beijing National Stadium, The Bird’s Nest / Darlow Smithson Productions. Discovery
Beijing – Biography of a Capital / Right Angle Media, BBC UK
Rinspeed – The World’s First Underwater Car / Oak3 Films. National Geographic

Testimonies from Our Documentary Partners

“I am pleased to write this testimonial for Mediafreaks Pte Ltd, whom I had the opportunity to work with on a few projects over the last 2 years; and my appraisal for Mediafreaks is no less than what the team deserves – their impressive animation work. On our documentary, “Scuba Car” (on National Geography), Mediafreaks has proven to be an extremely talented and dedicated animation team. They are able to do the impressive animation works within a short span of time. Besides, their creative ideas had surpassed the satisfaction of our International broadcaster. They are definitely one of the few companies that are able to meet the delivery deadline with a creative animation work. I personally admire Aric’s and Aldric’s consistently high level of enthusiasm and how they relate so well to both our International and local creative crew. There is no doubt that Mediafreaks will definitely make Singapore proud in the animation scene. Above all, I am confident that, they will be able to contribute a lot more to our blooming creative industry.”
OAK 3 FILMS

“I have just viewed the master of Marina Barrage during our technical check and wanted to pass on my thanks and compliments to you and your team for the great work you did with the gfxs in that programme. But it is not only in Marina Barrage that you and the Mediafreaks team have excelled. All the graphic in all the shows have been extremely good, have enhanced not only each programme but the series as a whole. Thank you also for the long hours and speedy work you‘ve all done of late with Venetian Macau and Changi to assist us with our tight delivery schedule. So very well done and thank you.”
NHNZ

“We’ve worked with Mediafreaks extensively over the last three years on our international documentary series Man Made Marvels for Discovery Channel. We’ve found the Mediafreaks team to be consistently professional and motivated to achieve the highest standard of work. Their approach is innovative and creative, and the working process is inclusive and reliable.”
BEACH HOUSE PICTURES

“I have recently completed a documentary in which Mediafreaks were the providers of high quality medical graphics. I have had a long term working relationship with Media Freaks for 5 years now and have found them to be a thoroughly approachable and professional company. I have used them on numerous projects involving International Broadcasters and every time their work has been of the utmost artistic quality.Combining artistry with impeccable research allows Media Freaks to deliver intelligent graphics with genuine integrity. They are a joy to work with and very much an asset to the Singapore Media Industry.I have always found them to be very supportive and focused on the clients needs and will always make you and your project feel special.I thoroughly recommend them for all Graphics related work. I look forward to my continuing relationship with Mediafreaks in the coming years.”
FIREWIRE FILMS PTE LTD

Katakune™

Mediafreaks — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:07:06 +0000

Katakune™ is the star of our show! A likeable and adorable silkworm, Katakune™ is kind hearted, helpful and enthusiastic. Katakune™ and his friends live in the wonderful and colourful world of Tazzleland. Tazzleland was born from a star called Imagination, and thus all its inhabitants have plenty of imagination for their inventions and stories. Katakune™ and his friends are still very young, and as a result they make some mistakes along the journey of growing up. But this paves the way for learning, and it makes life anything but dull. Join Katakune™ and his friends in Tazzleland, as they learn about their environment, life, friendship, social responsibilities, safety, new ideas and objects and many more!

Target Demography: 3-6 year olds
Format: 3D animated series in High Definition
Duration: 52 x 10′ or 260 x 2′

For more info or licensing inquiries, please visit www.katakune.com

Katakune was created and produced by Character Farm in co-production with Wogee Toons and Mega Media, supported by the Media Development Authority of Singapore.

If You Can Write, But Cannot Draw or Animate…

Mediafreaks — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:09:21 +0000

Somebody posted a question on one of my popular articles titled 8 Steps to Producing a Cartoon Series.

The question was short but simple and straight to the point.

‘Pls i need help in producing a cartoon.i can write but cant draw.how do i start?’.

I thought that it was a question whose answer should be shared, and therefore instead of answering directly on the article I thought I would make it a blog post instead.

So here it is. If you can write, but cannot draw or animate, what can you do to embark upon the path of cartoon production?

Well, believe it or not, a writer’s chances of producing a cartoon is even better than an animator’s!

Not convinced? Heard of the saying – “it’s all in the plot”?

75% of a cartoon’s success is dependent on a good concept and storyline, not how good the cast is or how good the animation is! Look at South Park! Do you call that good animation? But has the ridiculously simple flash animation stopped South Park from making families across the world roar with laughter and the producers from making obscene amounts of money? No! Yet South Park would just be a piece of crappy animation without the magic of the scripts! Incidentally, the producers are also the writers in most, if not all, of the scripts.

On the other hand, an artist is an artist is an artist. An animator is an animator is an animator. They usually just draw or animate. But please don’t get me wrong. There are some multi-talented animators and artists who can think of great concepts and ideas too. Just that the specialization is somewhat different and if you start off as a writer, you are more in tune with the top line aspects of producing a cartoon.

Now, if you are convinced you can really write, you may like to follow the steps below to embark on your journey to produce a cartoon.

1. Come up with a strong story concept and think of all the characters that would be in the story.

2. Work with an artist either through a partnership or through outsourcing to create a character bible. If you are not sure what a character bible is, you can read up about it over here.

3. Look around for an animation studio that has a history of producing their own intellectual properties (IP). There are plenty of such studios around, so all you have to do is scout around for a suitable studio that has a history of producing cartoons similar to your genre of writing.

Here, you can (a) pitch your cartoon character bible to them (b) offer to write a few sample synopsis and a sample episode for one of their ongoing cartoon series.

You would be very very very lucky if a studio options your cartoon concept and decides to produce it! It usually doesn’t happen for newbies because they don’t like to take chances with newbies, but most likely it’s because new writers just don’t have the ‘ooomph’ factor in their ideas yet.

Either way, if you are really good at your writing, it opens up the opportunity for them to consider you for a writing contract. If you fail to get an assignment, politely ask the studio for the reason. If it’s because they think you aren’t good enough, it probably means you aren’t good enough. You can go back to hone your skills some more or you can carry on trying. If more than 3 studios tell you the same thing it usually means you really aren’t good enough yet. But practice makes perfect. If you keep trying you would probably get your first assignment,

4. Once you get your first assignment, cherish it like gold! Be flexible about everything (including payment) and cherish the opportunity. Don’t do anything to destroy this silver bullet and do it like it’s your first and last chance! Nobody likes to work with people who are too straight laced and the truth is – after you carve a name for yourself in the industry – companies will scramble for your services even if you are expensive. Don’t be prima donna when you are just a newbie. In fact, my advice to you is never to be a prima donna

5. Try to be involved in as many parts of the production as possible. Ask to be involved in checking out the storyboards and offering your 2 cents on how you think the camera angles should play out. Ask to see the animatics so that you can give your opinion on the pacing and also the animation. You get the idea. Don’t ask for extra fees because most studios would rather do without your help in these areas then. But you can gently request for some credits or offering your creative input. But don’t be too pushy because studios rarely want to give producer or creative credits to a newbie, no matter how good you think you may be. The idea here is to get you as much experience as possible on other parts of the production pipeline.

6. As you get more experience working on such projects, you can begin negotiating for larger roles besides being just the writer. And the best part is, you can start pitching your ideas to TV networks and studios and you can bet some good moolah that they would want to listen to what you have to say!

Some books I recommend to the aspiring writer are:

I hope that this article has been useful and inspiring to you wannabe animation writers out there

Sedo Dog™

Mediafreaks — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:16:06 +0000

Sedo is the top dog of the group and he’s a pooch on a mission – his evil arch nemesis Bado and her side kick Rollo have escaped justice through a dimensional doorway into Earth. Unfortunately, the dimensional doorway sucked Sedo and his friends through as well. The stunned pups found themselves falling through the air and landing in a strange new world called Earth.Well, to be exact, they actually landed on Lucy who was on her way home from school before being buried under a pile of whimpering dogs. Sedo and his friends, Guro, Cosmo, Mono, Judo and Floro are marooned on Earth – their only hope of returning home is to catch Bado, and get her to conjure up the dimensional doorway!

Target Demography: 7-12 year olds
Format: 3D animated series
Duration: 52 x 11′

In co-production with Omens Studio, supported by the Media Development Authority of Singapore.

For more info and licensing inquries, please visit www.sedodog.com

Sedo Dog™ is a registered trademark of Mediafreaks Cartoon Pte Ltd.

Products and Services that can Benefit through Cartoon Character Licensing

Mediafreaks — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:44:31 +0000

Happy School Friends is a property under the Mediafreaks Cartoon brand available for licensing.

Many businesses are unaware of the benefits that a good character licensing partnership can bring to their businesses. They are always more concerned about the upfront licensing fees they have to pay, but many fail to recognize the profits and brand longevity a good licensing deal can bring to them. This is why some businesses have been doing licensing deals consistently year after year.

The attractiveness of cartoon characters cannot be doubted.

There are many products and services that can benefit through cartoon characters licensing. In this article I would like to discuss some examples and hopefully give entrepreneurs a spark of inspiration.

Nurseries

If you run a nursery or a childcare centre, you might want to consider licensing the rights to use an endearing cartoon character to be your brand mascot. Having an identifiable brand with a cute cartoon character for a mascot will really make kids fall in love with your establishment. And if you run your business right, you can later leverage on the brand recognition the cartoon character has created for you to develop a franchise.

Credit Cards

Corporate looking credit cards are boring. They might be suitable for corporate folks, but how about the younger population? University and even college students are finding the ability to earn decent money even before graduation these days and many of them can afford to own a credit card. At this age, it is safe to say that they would prefer a cool or ‘kewl’looking card as opposed to the corporate-looking one. The clever usage of a suitable cartoon character on a credit card can do wonders for its application rate as proven by Asian countries like Hongkong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. The same principle can be applied too to membership cards for stores selling merchandise catering to such a demography.

Books

Whether you are writing a storybook for kids, a puzzle game book, a music training book, a book on parental guidance, or even a self-help guide for adults, consider licensing a cartoon character. Cartoon characters don’t always have to look childish or cute. They can also look quirky and different (think the Simpsons). Use the right character for the right product, and for the right demography. You can’t go wrong with that. The thing is, books that have a strong identity sell better, and what better way to do that than using a suitable character to help you establish that identity? As an author, you can look forward to establishing a book series using the character as a series mascot if you plan ahead and your first book sells well enough.

Greeting Cards

Cartoon characters work very well on products that carry a message and greeting cards is one such product. Pretty pictures of sceneries are just so passé. Since greeting cards are meant to convey a message and warm the heart, why not have a character with the right appeal and attitude do the job?

Clothing and Apparels

If you are launching a new clothing or apparels line for kids or young adults, you might want to consider using cartoon characters to improve the aesthetic quality and brand appeal of your merchandise. A suitable character with the right look for your product can really sky-rocket its sales.

Toys, Novelties and Stationery

There is an increasing number of toys, novelties and stationery designed for tweens and young adults flooding the market. Innovation and aesthetic cuteness are the key factors driving sales for these merchandise. For the cute factor, nothing beats a cartoon character.

In all the examples above I would like to stress that I support the licensing of lesser-known characters as opposed to the more famous characters.

Mediafreaks has a wide array of cartoon characters for licensing purposes.

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