Young Scientist On A Discovery Quest (The Star Malaysia)

Can children have fun while learning? MUMTAJ BEGUM speaks to producer Andrew Ooi and finds out how a new local animated programme called Johan the Young Scientist hopes to entertain as well as educate.

WANTING to raise the bar for the animation industry in this country, Andrew Ooi founded his own production company last May. Calling it Inspidea – a neat combo of the words “inspiring” and “idea” – the company is currently developing its first animated series titled Johan the Young Scientist. First, that is, of what it hopes will be many to come.

“There’s a void in the local animation industry ... or, at best, the level is lower than expected,” says Ooi, a Universiti Sains Malaysia graduate who (strangely) holds a Bachelor’s degree in Housing, Building and Planning, and a Master’s in Urban Planning.

“The digital animation industry is worth more than US$41bil (RM155.8bil) worldwide. Malaysia has yet to tap into this market although it has a pool of talented people,” he says.

“(Japanese animation director Hayao) Miyazaki (who made the Academy Award-winning Spirited Away) has proven that foreign animated productions are of Oscar calibre. It’s about time we move ahead in this industry and turn it into an exportable and profitable business.”

One of the reasons for the lack of locally-produced animated series on Malaysian TV is that it’s cheaper to purchase programmes from large foreign studios than to hire a local studio to produce one. In an ironic turnaround, however, these established animated studios from the West get their animators from India, China and the Philippines!

“Most of the larger foreign animation studios sub-contract jobs to smaller outfits that fulfil their technical requirements. These studios normally use the same technology – such as the industry standard USAnimation,” Ooi notes. (USAnimation is an advanced 2D animation system for managing projects on any scale or volume created by Montreal (Canada)-based Toon Boom Technologies.)

Says Ooi: “In the Malaysian context, most animation studios do not adopt such an infrastructure despite having a pool of talented and skilful people. Most resort to using non-standard technol ogies and this hinders cross-nation collaborative work between foreign and local studios.”

According to Ooi, USAnimation is a high investment solution which many local companies cannot afford to invest in, especially for low-budget productions. However, there have been locally-produced feature films such as Silat Legenda and Putih which have used the animation system, although its usage was limited to only several workstations for compositing only.

As such, Ooi feels that local animators have not been producing material of high quality that could capture the attention of audiences worldwide. And viewership, therefore, is very limited.

”In addition, we do not cultivate a culture in our society – like in South Korea or Japan – where animators are highly regarded.”

Ooi hopes to change all that with Johan. With international exposure for the programme, he hopes to kick-start a market for Malaysian-made animated series and for the pool of Malaysian animators. Maybe one day secondary schools will even incorporate the art of animation as a school subject!

As Inspidea is in its infancy in the animation industry, Ooi reveals that it is using a desktop solution for 2D animation called Toon Boom Studio that was also conceived by Toon Boom Technologies.

“Migrating to USAnimation shouldn’t be a major problem as both solutions work on similar concepts and use rather similar workflows,” he explains, adding that Inspidea would certainly like to adopt USAnimation when the need arises in future.

Before Inspidea, Ooi had worked for five years with a company that distributes digital animation software in Malaysia. With two other partners, he decided to plunge into the relatively “untapped” animation industry.

At the time of the interview, his team was working on the third episode of the Johan series. Each 30-minute episode will feature two segments to accommodate the short attention span of its target audience (five to seven-year-olds).

Ooi has so much faith in Johan that even though he has yet to obtain a buyer for the series, he is confident that the series’ quality writing and production value will get it noticed soon enough.

Johan the Young Scientist revolves around a young boy who is curious about his surroundings. The special thing about Johan is that he has access to “another world” called ScienceScape which is a place not unlike Earth but is occupied by English-speaking animal-like beings. He visits this dimension via The Amazing Book of Science given to him by his grandfather. Believing edutainment (education through entertainment) is the best way to approach the programme, the makers of this programme have ensured that each segment features Johan in an exciting adventure related to science.

“We chose to focus on science because our world is inter-related with science and it’s natural for a child to be curious. The series is aimed at exposing children to the fascinating world of science through active learning. ScienceScape is an escapism rather similar to the Internet,” explains Ooi.

Besides Johan, the series features a circle of science-crazy friends including Ani (a monkey-like creature) who is described as the navigator, Moki (a bunny-like being) who is high-spirited and inquisitive, and Professor Hoo (a wise owl), the curator of ScienceScape. Finally, there is Johan’s mother.

Says Ooi: “The series is designed to be edutainment for the entire family. We want to strike a good balance between fun and learning.”

Md Fuad Zain, the series’ writer, adds: “Johan’s adventures are usually about discovering things around him. In each episode there is a reason for Johan to travel to ScienceScape and there he learns something new.”

According to Fuad, a former journalist who has written scripts for several talk shows and local sitcoms, it isn’t easy keeping things uncomplicated. Presumably there is a certain cockiness on any adult’s part when they assume they know a lot about science. Doing his research via the Internet and with many different encyclopaedias, Fuad formed a foundation on how to approach the series.

“There is an inclination to overload each episode with information, so it’s important to filter the elements and make them less analytical. Since the series is targeted at five to seven-year-olds, we must ensure a good mix of fun as well.”

Also, Johan features a bilingual concept to go with the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English implemented in Malaysian schools this year. “When Johan is in ScienceScape, everything is in English. Bahasa Malaysia is used at the beginning and end of each segment when he’s at home, in the real world,” Ooi points out.

And here’s an odd factoid: Johan doesn’t have a nose. “This is intentional,” admits Ooi. “We didn’t want any racial reference. Even the name, if you take notice, does not focus on one particular race; ‘Johan’ means champion in our national language.”

This was also the reason for opting for animal-like creatures in ScienceScape instead of creating humans.

Although only two episodes have been completed, Johan already has an audience. This audience is made up of the nephews of one of the voice cast members, See Chin Joo or CJ as he is known.

“I watch cartoons with my nephews all the time,” says CJ. “I got involved in the show because of them. They can already sing the theme song of Johan.”

Ooi adds that there are plans to have an audience with children in selected kindergartens and primary schools, but not just yet.

A newcomer to voice-acting, CJ finds it exciting talking in his own “normal” voice for this character called VICTOR, which stands for Very Intelligent Computer Terminal on Robot.

Johan got a big morale boost when actress Ramona Rahman agreed to lend her voice to two characters – Johan’s mother, Marina, and Ani.

The title character is voiced by April Kuan, another newcomer to voice-acting, who auditioned for the role. Moki’s voice belongs to Ann Chin, who like Kuan was selected from the walk-in audition sessions.

Meanwhile, jack-of-all-trades Fuad tackles two roles, Ranger Bob and Professor Hoo. The graduate of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, sports an American accent but for Ranger Bob, Fuad speaks with an Australian slang while Prof Hoo sounds British!

Says Fuad: “Yes, the show is brimming with diverse cultures!”