Building Chinese relations with kids TV
A new co-produced children’s TV show between the ABC and Chinese state TV may show where the future of co-production lies.
Filmed over six months across freezing winter and the heat of summer on a set the size of a football field, located outside the city of Zhou Zhou two hours south of Beijing Hoopla Doopla posed a number of challenges for the Australian and Chinese production teams working on it, not least the language barrier.
Australian director Mark Barnard worked alongside Chinese director Liang Tong with three Chinese and three Australian cast and just one translator for the first half of production, before a second joined the crew.
“We did have lots of confusing communications, like a week spent trying to communicate the difference between a first assistant director and the director’s assistant. Luckily the Chinese have a similar sense of humour and we got through with lots of laughs,” said creator and executive producer Melinda Wearne.
Wearne spent ten days in China through the six month production while the cast and crew lived on the remote set throughout the freezing temperatures of winter to the extreme heat of summer, escaping to Beijing only on weekends.
“No one spoke English. We all lived on site and rode bikes from the living quarters to the studio. Each day we’d pass a shepherd and her sheep,” she said.
Summing up the production as an “adventure”, Wearne said the circus-inspired set designed around the layout of an Italian villa, with a central courtyard, secret garden and five houses surrounding it was “amazing”.
“We could never have pulled that off without the Chinese co-production,” she said. “It needed to be strong enough to have characters jump on it, slide down poles, climb houses. The floor alone took several months to figure out the exact design so that acrobats could summersault and tumble across the floor safely, unicycles could ride across it, circus sliding tables could be secured and all without making the camera bounce.”
Simon Hopkinson, head of commissioning and development of children’s content for ABC TV, said the show would have been “prohibitively expensive” without the Chinese investment.
However the co-production also builds on a relationship with CCTV the ABC has been developing since 1997 when the public broadcaster co-produced the pre-school series Magic Mountain with Southern Star producer Ron Saunders. Saunders again produced Quest, a 12 part factual entertainment series while with Beyond Productions 12 years later, and is also an EP on Hoopla Doopla.
Hopkinson said: “ABC TV, and particularly children’s TV, has actively pursued opportunities for closer collaboration with our Asian neighbours in recent years, such as Serangoon Road, and the Asian Animation Summit,” Hopkinson said.
And following Hoopla Doopla he said both sides are keen to further develop the relationship.
“It’s a question of finding the right project which will meet the needs of both broadcasters,” he said.
He said the ABC’s budget for the series was in line with other live action series, but would have been prohibitively expensive without the Chinese contribution.
“There are always challenges in any international co-production,” he said. “Obviously language is a major one, but there were also differences in production methodologies.
“Perhaps surprisingly we found few differences in the kind of stories we wanted to tell and the way in which we wanted to tell them.
“Of course this was helped by the Chinese sense of humour being remarkably similar to our own.
“Probably the greatest challenge was for the Australian cast and crew who spent over six months away from home. The main thing learned from the experience is that the differences between us and our Chinese colleagues are far fewer than the things we share in common.”
Wearne said the adventure was well worth the effort.
“The look of the show is fantastic, the cast are incredibly talented performers and the stories are warm and funny. I’m very pleased,” she said.
The show airs on ABC 4 Kids at 10.10am seven days a week and Hopkinson said he expects it to be a regular feature of the children’s TV run depending on audience response.
Credits:
Cast
- Jango – Daniel Gorski
- Mimi – Kate Wright
- Zap – Simon Wright
- Bop – Zie Ning
- Squidgie – Liu Wanting
- Ziggy – Zhang Haoran
Narrator: Zindzi Okenyo
Produced by The Content Agency and Beyond Screen Productions for ABC and CCTV
- Created by & Producer: Melinda Wearne
- Executive Producers: Ron Saunders and Simon Hopkinson (ABC)
- Australian Director: Mark Barnard
- Chinese Director: Liang Tong
- Circus Directors: Debra Batton
- Series Script Editor: John Armstrong
Megan Reynolds
My son who isn’t quite two yet is constantly glued to the tv when Hoopla Doopla is on. He absolutely loves it. Thank you, it is the only time he sits still and I can shower in peace.
User ID not verified.
If the future resembles anything like the spelling in the tagline of this article– I am in no way excited.
User ID not verified.
I love Hoopla Doopla!!!
User ID not verified.
My son just turned 2 and once he saw this show he is hooked! Hoopla Doopla is what he say first thing in the morning when he wakes up. Great show x
User ID not verified.
This show is now my 20 mths old daughter’s favourite! She yells excitingly “baaaaaa!” when it comes on.
User ID not verified.