Nov 30, 2017

Meet the Creators of Cartoon Network's First Danish Language Series “Prince Ivando” (Exclusive Clip)

Cartoon Network's latest animated series, “The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe,” premiered earlier this month in its native Denmark. This is the second time the network has produced an original show in Europe (the first was “The Amazing World of Gumball”).

Ivandoe consists of 10 episodes of three minutes each, in which Ivandoe, a young rooster, and his partner Bert, a bird, have a new encounter in the forest. The episodes are published as part of a web game, which allows players to quest with Ivandoe and Bert and unlock animations. (It is also broadcast on Cartoon Network Nordic, which airs in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland.)

Cartoon Brew readers only have already unlocked a brief clip:

Prince Ivando is a young animation workshop graduate and “Gumball” alum Christian Borbing-Andersen and produced by Eva-Lee Wahlberg. From script to delivery, their show was produced in Denmark within a year.

We spoke with the creator/director duo via Skype and learned all about their and Ivando's adventures.

The directors describe the show as an adventure in a fairy tale world that feels small and cozy. The locations and atmosphere are heavily inspired by Scandinavian nature and culture, including author Astrid Lindgren's “Pippi Longstocking” and “Ronia the Robber's Daughter,” Finland's “Moomin,” and Danish folktales. Says Boving-Andersen, “I tried to add a Scandinavian touch to Prince Ivandu--not only visually, but also in tone and humor.” It's not like the huge forests in the United States,” said Bøbing-Andersen. Ivando and Bart just roam around and meet a lot of strange characters.”

Prince Ivando's team and pipeline were set up specifically for the show at Copenhagen-based studio Sun Creature. When asked what European creators bring to the network, Wahlberg suggested that Europeans “have a different perspective.”

Boving-Andersen added that Europeans' stories and the way they are told are necessarily different. ("As Danes) we grew up with different children's books, shows, and movies. ...... So what we refer to is different from someone from the U.S., or the U.K. or France."

‘Ivandoe’ would have been a different show if it had been made in another country or by another team, both directors asserted.

The show's 2D characters are set against miniature sets made almost entirely of natural materials, such as twigs and herbs. Boving-Andersen explains, “I figured that if I made a forest out of a miniature set, I'd have a lot of things for free that I couldn't fake.” 'The natural light, shadows, depth, and textures ...... It gives it a unique atmosphere. And somehow it also feels stranger. It feels more like a fairy tale.”

There is another feeling that the set brings to the show, according to the collaborators: the forest where the characters are feels like a garden with little toy figures. “Playing with the little figures in the garden makes it feel like a big forest, a big world. ...... That playful, adventurous feeling, that's what I wanted to achieve with the sets and the little characters walking around.”

Regarding the animation technique, Walberg explains, “It was flash animation, with puppets, but also hand-drawn animation.”

Boving-Andersen adds, “It's a very simple film. It's a special technique developed for The Amazing World of Gumball, which we use here in our own unique way.”

The following clip is behind-the-scenes footage from the set built for the series:

While Walberg and Boving-Andersen were working on Cartoon Networks' “Gumball” in London, they heard about an opportunity to pitch inside the network's Cartoon Networks is a network that operates online. Cartoon Network wanted to try out a new short format that would work online.

“It was actually a very long process,” said Boving-Andersen. 'Prince Ivandu was only the final pitch. But the creators do not feel that all these pitches were a waste of time. [One idea led to another, and it really developed. So in fact, it was very satisfying. We didn't feel that we wasted time on all the different ideas and pitches. It helped us with the final idea.” [As with the pitching process, the executive notes during production were “a conversation,” according to Walberg.

“I was actually surprised by the amount of creative freedom,” Boving-Andersen continues. 'We thought it would be more controlled or restricted or something like that. ...... Sometimes we had to change some jokes or something. So it didn't feel like there was a big network of 'do this, do that.'”

The entire production team in Copenhagen was about 50 people, but on a daily basis it was a small team. Says Boving-Andersen, “We came up with a lot of things together.” We hired people with the right sense of humor for the project, people we knew would understand our humor. ...... I think the artists had a lot more influence [on the final cartoon] than they would have had on a very large production. I hope they feel the same way.”

Being a showrunner for the first time was a learning process. Fortunately, the creative duo had several valuable role models as directors in their previous work experience: Kyle Balda of Minions, Mick Graves of The Amazing World of Gumball, and Fx Gobby of Nexus Productions.

To be a great director - “you have to spend time with each and every one of them,” says Wahlberg.