|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Maddy the ostrich, Rodrigo the Lion and Turbo the raccoon are the colorful heroes of Bin Buddies, the new animated show created by Fabrice Ravier for prolific French studio Millimages. The three friends play an important part in the lives of the community in Lovelylittletown, because they work as the hard-working garbage collectors of their town. That’s the fun premise behind the new 52 x 7-minute show Millimages presented at Cartoon Forum recently and now on its way to MIPCOM.
“The project was introduced to us last year at Annecy’s MIFA market,” says Millimages producer Bonnie Lener. “It immediately captivated me with its concept of garbage collectors spreading happiness in a small town through their quirky and wacky adventures. Fabrice had this catchphrase that really resonated with us: ‘After all, if we dedicate countless stories to fictional superheroes, why not focus on real-life heroes?’ It is true that garbage collectors are often overlooked. In each episode, a new problem interrupts the work of Rodrigo, Maddy and Turbo. But the golden rule of garbage collectors being, ‘A round started must be completed,’ they will have to solve each of them every day … The trio will often unintentionally create even more chaos along the way; but whatever happens, they will always spread happiness!”
Lener praises the characters created by Nicolas Haye for their colorful, rounded designs. “We collaborated with Dwarf studio to bring these designs to life in 3D CG, giving the characters an appealing, almost gummy appearance,” she notes. “Each character has a distinct personality to make them instantly recognizable and entertaining. One character is a bit uptight, another is a rock music enthusiast, and one is quirky and offbeat — you’ll easily know which one is which!”
According to the producer, the target audience is both upper preschool and their families, “The stories are rhythmic with many gags along and happy endings. Fabrice Ravier, Kevin Païs and Clement Le Strat worked on the stories, while Jérémie Guneau who previously worked as director for Take It Easy, Mike [a.k.a. Mighty Mike], is the animation director,” Lener adds.
Spreading Sunshine
The producer adds that she loves the fact that the show’s protagonists are garbage collectors. “It’s not a rescue show, nor a vehicle show that turns the profession into something fantastical or heroic, but rather a show that highlights the profession in a different way,” she adds. “Our characters do their job but above all they spread happiness every time and sometimes without even trying! The show is filled with laughter and universal values like cooperation and empathy. We’ve also chosen ‘mumble language’, which makes the show different: there’s no need for dialog to understand what’s happening. It’s a highly visual comedy, thanks to the help of Jérémie Guneau’s know-how on cartoon storyboarding!”
Millimages unveiled the first teaser and animatic of the show at Cartoon Forum this month. As Lener explains of the studio’s fall market plans, “Besides officially pitching Bin Buddies, we will present other exciting projects such as Nino at the Grand Oak Hotel for preschoolers, Pepper’s Dreams, a fantasy comedy for kids aged 6-9, and Galaxy Pizza, a serialized series for older children. We are looking for pre-buys on those projects that already are at advanced stages of development.”
This fall, Millimages will also continue to expand the Molang universe, with the second season of Molang YouTuber in production, new licensing deals across the world and the property’s first movie event, beginning September 1 in Europe, led by Kinépolis. “We are also the proud recipients of the CSR Initiative of the Year Award from Licensing International: a great reward for the anti-cyberbullying media campaign we created in 2023. Molang lives beyond its series, with projects focused on values and social justice,” notes Lener.
Millimages will next be presenting Bin Buddies and more animated favorites from its catalog at MIPCOM (Oct. 21-24), at stand R7.F32. For more information, visit linktr.ee/millimages.
