Ned Lander Talks Producing Animation During the Coronavirus Lockdown

IMAGE: LITTLE J AND BIG CUZ – SERIES 2 DIRECTOR TONY THORNE (LEFT) AND RECORDING ENGINEER TODD SHATTOCK.

How are animation producers adapting
their workflow in a locked-down world? As productions across Australia are
cancelled or put on hold, producers find creative ways to keep their projects
moving during the worldwide Covid-19 lockdown period.

Ned Lander, Producer of Little J and Big Cuz (Ned Lander Media with Media World, Blue Rocket and 12 Field) talks about the challenges that Covid-19 precautions have presented for animation and production companies, and explains how the Little J and Big Cuz team were able to pull together to create a special PSA video “Everybody Wash’em Now” – to get the message out to kids in remote communities about staying safe during the pandemic delivered by the beloved characters from the series – from all corners of the country and within a very limited timeframe.

“We know – from our audiences and first-hand feedback
– just how much it means to young Aboriginal and Islanders kids to see
themselves in a popular form on mainstream TV.” Ned explains.

“NITV and ABC asked us to create something using the
world and characters of Little J to get an urgent message out about hand
washing to Australia’s remote communities. They knew that kids were potential
spreaders of coronavirus, and that a great number are cared for by vulnerable
older people, and that these kids relate to Little J and his friends.”

But despite the national restrictions put in place to
mitigate the risk of coronavirus spreading throughout the workplace, Ned and
his team found themselves readily able to navigate having a large team working
in isolation.

“Little J & Big Cuz is a national show employing
around 150 people who are working right across Australia. We have a large
number of stakeholders and unusually, we have two local broadcasters sharing
free-to-air. Obviously, this makes things complicated at times, but it is also
a great area of strength for the project.”

“Over two series, we had been refining the process of
working in teams across these different locations - something that many
contemporary animated productions do. Fortunately, when we started in 2015,
Media World and Blue Rocket were already highly experienced in working
nationally and internationally. The next COVID step was to plan how we’d break
the work of managing and delivering the production down further, so everyone
could work from home.”

Although the Little J and Big Cuz team had a
well-established workflow in place, there were still challenges to be addressed
as they adjusted to the new working environment.

“There have been practical considerations,
communications and IT problems to solve and the lockdown has, understandably,
impacted the contracting process. The great majority of the team are working
from home and those who can’t are complying with social distancing directives.
We have a detailed COVID Plan which includes constantly monitoring directives
across multiple states. Around seventy-five people are engaged on the English
language version of each Little J series and another seventy-five work on
revoicing the show into multiple Indigenous languages. Those numbers include a
lot of families who have been coping with financial stress, keeping work on
track from home and caring for children.”

“The team worked overtime to turn “Everybody Wash’em
Now” around very fast – with maximum social distancing –  and it has now
amassed over half a million views on multiple platforms. The clip was authored
in Cable Beach Broome and Footscray Melbourne, designed in country Tasmania,
voiced in South Melbourne, animated in Moonee Ponds and produced from the
Central Coast of NSW and North Fitzroy Melbourne, all in a matter of days.
Animators, and indeed a great number of people in media production, are
‘precarious workers’. Let’s hope the next round of policy settings acknowledges
this and supports a greater level of certainty for Children’s Television and
our industry generally.”

Little J and Big Cuz: Everybody Wash’em Now can be viewed on ABC iview here.