Audio Blast
Montreal-based Oasis Animation brings Quebec radio legends to toon life with new series
It’s rare these days for TV series — especially animated ones — to originate from a radio program, but that’s exactly where Oasis Animation found inspiration for its new animated comedy for adults Les Grandes Gueules s’animent!
The Montreal-based studio debuted the series Sept. 2 on Canada’s Teletoon La Nuit, bringing to cartoon life the radio antics of Les Grandes Gueles, comprised of radio comedians Mario Tessier and Jose Gaudet and their sidekick of the past 15 years, Richard Turcotte.
An English-language version of the show, Two Nuts and a Richard!, is set to premiere Oct. 16 on Adult Swim Canada.
Though Les Grandes Gueueles have been popular in Quebec for 20 years, turning their comedy into animation was no ordinary production. “The challenge was to adapt a radio show to animation, with characters that were already well known to their fans,” said Diane Dallaire, VP of production at Oasis. “We also wanted to bring the high energy of the radio show into the animated series.”
Oasis re-purposed existing sketches of the radio characters and integrated them into new stories and adventures.
“This had its own set of challenges as we needed the radio clips to fit seamlessly into the new stories while maintaining the natural energy of the radio show,” says Dallaire. “Jose, Mario and Richard have incredible talent, and their 20 years of doing daily radio shows honed their improvisation skills. We had to integrate this approach during the recording sessions and adapt the scripts afterwards. Although a challenge for the production pipeline, it gave us a better fluidity in the dialogue delivery.”
Another added step was that after the animatics were assembled, the team would punch up the dialogue and visual jokes. This meant having to go back and create new designs, or record new dialogue, which then required an additional pass at the animatic.
The series was produced using both Storyboard Pro and Harmony. Storyboard Pro was key in adapting the animatics and streamlining the changes to dialogue and visual punch ups. A proprietary asset and production management system was pivotal in enabling Oasis to maximize its pipeline by tracking the assets at every stage of production.
With a first season of 26 half-hours, Oasis is taking Les Grandes Gueules s’animent! to MIPCOM in search of broadcasters and distributors.
Founded in 2003, Oasis Animation specializes in the production of animated series and offers a complete range of digital 2D animation services.
Besides producing Les Grandes Gueules s’animent! Oasis produced two seasons of the comedy series Pérusse Cité (Ben City), created by François Pérusse and winner of two Gémeaux awards.
Oasis Animation also participated in the production of more than 160 half hours of animation in collaboration with international producers and broadcasters on series such as Martha Speaks (PBS); Lucky Fred (Imira Entertainment, Disney Europe); Arthur and Caillou (Cookie Jar Entertainment); 6teen (Fresh TV); Mouss et Boubidi (Radio-Canada, France Télévision); Walter et Tandoori (Corporation Image Entertainment); Stand-Up.TV (TQS) as well as On s’écoute parler (Zéro Musique, TVA).
That’s funny. Work your springboard from there.