And animation for all…
Australian animation is thriving in different genres and styles, but that doesn’t mean everything is perfect in the visually colourful sector. Miguel Gonzalez reports.
After a long, long wait, the new digital children’s channel is about to become a reality, with the launch of ABC3. With a first-year budget of $19 million, it will target school-age kids (6-15 years) from 6 am to 9 pm daily. Its introduction will be accompanied by an increase in ABC2’s ABC for Kids programming for pre-school children, while the current week-day children’s entertainment blocks on ABC1 will remain untouched.
The aim is to offer 50 percent Australian content within the first four years of operation; the set triennial budget is the main challenge in achieving this goal, so it will have to be done by means of a mix of commissioning new programs and acquiring existing content. Animation will be “an important part of the programming” for both ABC3 and ABC for Kids, according to Tim Brooke Hunt, executive head of children’s at ABC TV.
The executive is of the opinion that animation producers have proven themselves capable of raising significant levels of international finance, meaning that animation is “usually no more expensive to commission than live action”. Besides, the broadcaster is not looking for expensive CGI just for the sake of its production values, as the emphasis remains on storytelling.
