Manchester Animation Festival: Remaking Danger Mouse

Thursday afternoon, I attended the talk on the remaking of one of my childhood favourites Danger Mouse. I was extremely skeptical about this come back, as I'm not a huge fan of many remakes that have happened in the past. However, I was thoroughly surprised with what the BBC had managed to create.

Not only did I think that the environments within the animation were stunning (as above), but I found the way that they were created was unlike anything I've seen before. Whilst the characters are digital and 2D, the environments that these characters occupy are created with a mixture of photographed backdrops that are then drawn over with small elements of 3D modelling to some of the props too. the overall effect creates something that is actually quite beautiful to look at, at times. It was this that drew my attention in the most, it was interesting to see how 2D animation is making a comeback, even if it is being used alongside other media.

Not only this, but it was interesting to hear how the writers of Danger Mouse managed to capture the essence of the characters and create a fast paced yet comical show in just 11 minutes. Something like that is usually quite hard to achieve, as there isn't much time to fit in complex jokes and puns that have a lead up beforehand, however, the writing team on Danger Mouse mentioned how they had stuck to simple one-liners, and how this allowed them to put in the right amount of humour. 

Overall, I found this talk very inspiring and it has encouraged me to look into creating my own mixed media animation in the future.