Sunrise Productions

Last updated

Sunrise Productions
Company type Private company
Industry Animation
Founded1998;26 years ago (1998)
FounderPhil Cunningham
Jacqui Cunningham
Headquarters
Cape Town, South Africa
Area served
5
Key people
Brent Dawes
Website www.sunriseproductions.tv

Sunrise Productions is a South African computer animation studio based in Cape Town. Notable productions include Jungle Beat, a computer-animated series and its spin-off shows Munki and Trunk and The Explorers.

Contents

Sunrise is known for producing Africa's first animated feature film, The Legend of the Sky Kingdom. [1] While this debut feature was created using stop-motion, the studio has now moved exclusively into 3D CG and live action production. Sunrise's commercial division combines live action, animation and VFX.

History

Sunrise Productions was founded in 1998 in Zimbabwe by Phil Cunningham and Roger Hawkins. [2] In 2003, the company released the stop motion feature, Legend of the Sky Kingdom. It was Africa's first animated full-length feature. Produced during a period of political unrest and extreme shortages, The Legend of the Sky Kingdom was produced in a style that the film-makers dubbed "junkmation”, using puppets built from recycled materials and filmed on a motion camera rig improvised out of bicycle parts. [3]

In 2003, Sunrise stepped into the 3D CG space with their flagship series, Jungle Beat, which has run for 3 seasons and given rise to spin-off shows The Explorers and Munki and Trunk. In 2004, the studio consolidated their reputation for upbeat CG content with Once Upon a Stable, an animated television special. [4]

Sunrise's live-action division was launched in 2009, with the production of The Lazarus Effect for Bono's (RED) campaign. The HBO documentary, executive produced by Spike Jonze, follows the story of HIV positive people in Africa who undergo a remarkable transformation thanks to antiretroviral treatment. [5]

Sunrise has also pioneered a 3D animated character branding and marketing model for high-profile sports brands such as the Welsh Rugby Union and Juventus Football Club. In 2016, Sunrise produced a holiday-themed animated short featuring 'Jay', the Juventus club mascot, and an imaginative young boy. [6]

Television

Sunrise's flagship series, Jungle Beat (2003-) [7] is a CG-animated, non-dialogue, slapstick comedy series focusing on different animals and the bizarre situations in which they find themselves. [8] The series is sold by Monster Entertainment, and has been broadcast in more than 180 countries on channels including Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and Nickelodeon. [9]

In 2016, Sunrise expanded the Jungle Beat universe to include The Jungle Beat Explorers, which follows four clumsy, curious safari adventurers as they document the wild animals of the world. [7] The 3D 13-episode series is broadcast exclusively on the Jungle Beat YouTube channel. [10]

The Jungle Beat franchise was further expanded with the development of Munki and Trunk, a 52 x 7 minute series aimed at kids aged 4–7. The “tree-crashing, rock smashing, water-splashing, fruit-mashing, knock-about comedy adventure” centres on two unlikely best friends: crafty Munki and caring Trunk. [6] In 2017, Aardman’s Rights and Brand Development division partnered with Sunrise to represent global television distribution rights for the animated series. [11]

In 2013, Sunrise Productions’ live action department partnered with Okuhle Media to co-produce the 13-part cooking/lifestyle series Bitten Sarah Graham Cooks Cape Town [12]

Commercials

Sunrise Productions has produced commercials combining live action, animation and VFX elements for a number of clients.

Awards

Sunrise Productions has won the following awards: [18]

Participation in Academy Award qualifying festivals

See also

Blue Sky Studios

Related Research Articles

Aardman Animations Limited is a British animation studio based in Bristol. It is known for films and television series made using stop-motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring its plasticine characters from Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Morph. After some experimental computer-animated short films during the late 1990s, beginning with Owzat (1997), Aardman entered the computer animation market with Flushed Away (2006). As of February 2020, it had earned $1.1 billion worldwide, with an average $135.6 million per film.

Mainframe Studios is a Canadian animation company owned by Wow Unlimited Media and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1993 as Mainframe Entertainment Inc. by Christopher Brough, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, Gavin Blair and John Grace, the company established itself as a leading contributor to the introduction of computer-generated imagery (CGI) live action in animation, film and television.

<i>Nicktoons Film Festival</i> American TV series or program

The Nicktoons Film Festival was an annual event that was created by producer Fred Seibert and produced for its first three years by his Frederator Studios.

Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio is based in Culver City, California. Most of the studio's films are distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing under their Columbia Pictures label, while direct-to-video releases are released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floyd Norman</span> American animator and cartoonist

Floyd E. Norman is an American animator, writer, and cartoonist. Over the course of his career, he has worked for various animation companies, among them Walt Disney Animation Studios, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Ruby-Spears, Film Roman and Pixar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Lord</span> British animator

Peter Duncan Fraser Lord CBE is an English animator, director, producer and co-founder of the Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clay-animated films and shorts, particularly those featuring plasticine duo Wallace and Gromit. He also directed Chicken Run along with Nick Park from DreamWorks Animation, and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! from Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 85th Academy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown Bag Films</span> Irish animation studio

Brown Bag Films (BBF) is an Irish-Canadian television and computer animation production studio owned by Canadian production studio 9 Story Media Group and based in Dublin with 2D and 3D animation facilities in Bali, Los Angeles, Toronto and formerly Manchester.

The animated documentary is a moving image form that combines animation and documentary. This form should not be confused with documentaries about movie and TV animation history that feature excerpts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ánima (company)</span> Animation studio based in Mexico

Ánima Estudios, S.A.P.I. de C.V. is a Mexican animation studio and production company founded in 2002 by Jose C. Garcia De Letona y Federico Unda, the studio is best known for producing El Chavo Animado, Top Cat: The Movie, the Leyendas franchise, and Cleo & Cuquín.

Darren Walsh is a British director, writer, animator and voice artist. He uses stop-frame animation, live-action, and CG in his work. He lives in London and is represented by production company Passion Pictures, having worked previously independently and for Aardman Animations.

Triggerfish is a computer animation film studio based in Cape Town, South Africa and Galway, Ireland. The studio is best known for its animated feature films Adventures in Zambezia (2012), Khumba (2013), and Seal Team (2021), as well as the work they have done on television specials created for UK producers Magic Light Pictures. In 2016, Stick Man was awarded the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy International Animation Festival. In 2017, Revolting Rhymes again won the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy Festival, and was nominated for the Best Short Film (Animated) Oscar at the 2018 Academy Awards. In 2019, Netflix announced that Triggerfish would produce its first African animated TV series. In 2020, Zog won the International Emmy for Best Kids Animation. In 2021, The Snail and The Whale won Best Special Production at The Annie Awards, while Triggerfish received the Mifa Animation Industry Award at Annecy for "the pioneering role that the company has played in animation in South Africa, and Africa most widely.” In 2022, their third film, Seal Team, made the Netflix Top 10 Films global list for its launch week.

Tiny Island Productions is a CG animation production company based in Singapore. It specializes in both normal CG and stereoscopic 3D film productions. It produced the Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens CG movie which won the Best 3D Animated Program award at the Asian Television Awards 2012 as well as the Dream Defenders television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Animation Studios</span> American animation studio

Universal Animation Studios LLC is an American animation studio and a division of Universal Pictures, which is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It has produced direct-to-video sequels to Universal-released feature films, such as The Land Before Time, An American Tail, Balto, and Curious George, as well as other films and television series.

Thai animation has a rich history, dating back to the 1950s with the production of the first Thai animated shorts. Payut Ngaokrachang is considered the founding father of Thai animation. Over the decades, the industry has flourished, earning both local and international recognition. Today, Thailand has established itself as a popular outsourcing destination for animation work, with 91% of its animation studios providing services to international companies. This has boosted exports and raised the profile of Thai animation, earning recognition from the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) as the top animation-related business destination in Southeast Asia in 2016.

Mercury Filmworks is a Canadian independent animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario. The studio was originally founded in Vancouver by Clint Eland, the current CEO, in 1997. Mercury Filmworks has produced animated television series and feature films for a variety of companies, including Disney, Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Warner Bros. Its recent projects include Kid Cosmic, Centaurworld, Hilda, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, and The Ghost and Molly McGee. The studio has won Emmy Awards for its work in several categories, most recently for Hilda.

Jungle Beat is a South African family-friendly series of animated, self-contained, dialogue-free, five-minute episodes focusing on different animals and the bizarre situations they encounter in nature.

Aardman Animations is an animation studio in Bristol, England that produces stop motion and computer-animated features, shorts, TV series and adverts.

The Animation Industry in South Africa encompasses traditional 2D animation, 3D animation and visual effects for feature films.

<i>Jungle Beat: The Movie</i> 2020 Mauritian film

Jungle Beat: The Movie is a 2020 animated film directed by Brent Dawes, based on the characters of the television series Jungle Beat. It tells the story of a homesick alien who crash-lands his spaceship near the colorful African Jungle. His new animal friends need to get him back to his ship and teach him about friendship and fun before his Space-Conqueror father can take over the planet.

References

  1. ↑ Bendazzi, Giannalberto (2016). Animation: A World History: Volume III: Contemporary Times. FOCUS. p. 303. ISBN   978-1138854826.
  2. ↑ "Zimarts, Phil Cunningham". SPLA: South Planet. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  3. ↑ "Studio Spotlight: The Secret of Sunrise". Animation SA. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "Once Upon a Stable". IMDB. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  5. ↑ "Video Production And Animations" . Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  6. 1 2 Milligan, Mercedes (13 October 2016). "Aardman Brings Sunrise's Munki and Trunk to MIP". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Jungle Beat". IMDB. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "Turner Plays to Monster's Jungle Beat". TBI Vision. 11 April 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  9. ↑ Vourlias, Christopher (30 October 2016). "Turner Forges Partnership with South Africa's Animation SA". Variety. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  10. ↑ "Youtube-exclusive series EXPLORERS from Sunrise joins the JUNGLE BEAT stable". Animation SA. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  11. ↑ AWN Staff Editor (5 October 2016). "Aardman Partners with Sunrise on 'Munki and Trunk'". Animation World Network. Retrieved 22 July 2017.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  12. ↑ "Bitten: Sarah Graham Cooks Cape Town". DCD Rights. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  13. ↑ "Give the Springboks #HomeGroundAdvantage. SA Celebrities get behind the Bokke". YouTube . Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  14. ↑ "#HomeGroundAdvantage Launch Video 2015: HD Full version". YouTube . Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  15. ↑ "Green and Gold - 2015 Launch of #BokFriday #HomeGroundAdvantage". YouTube . Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  16. ↑ "2013 CES Keynote Cat Video - Data Explosion". YouTube .
  17. ↑ "Samsung Exynos OCTA-pella: Performance + Efficiency in Perfect Harmony". YouTube . Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  18. ↑ "Jungle Beat". Sunrise Productions. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.