TV Series - Children
Kangaroo Beach
Cheeky Little Media
Welcome back to Kangaroo Beach, a spectacular sunny paradise and summer home to four super-keen young lifeguard cadets! Brought to life in glorious, sunny CG animation with expertly crafted 2D animated water, Kangaroo Beach features oodles of action, comedy and imperative water safety messages that viewers around the world can utilise on their own trips to the beach and pool.The location design, whilst clearly Australian, has a very distinctive edge to it. It’s brightly lit with luscious saturated colours and tactile textures that make you want to reach into the screen! Whether it be the cubby house inspired surf HQ, with all of its cool rescue equipment, the rocky outcrop with the lighthouse or the grand expanse of the surf beach- every kid is going to want to spend time imagining being there.
In Season 1, we featured Australia’s gorgeous animal and marine life, stunning coastal scenery and even played beach cricket. In Season 2, we allowed more time for underwater adventures as we discovered a local shipwreck and explored the reefs around Boomerang Island. We also celebrated a classic Australian sunny seaside Christmas and saw a Summer Bay-style soapie shot on Kangaroo Beach.
Series 2 also featured more of the ingredients that our audience loves – loads of comedy, edge-of-your-seat rescues, thrilling adventures, and fun in and around the water – surfing, snorkelling, scuba-diving and beach carnivals, all while featuring new lifeguarding skills taught by the cadets’ heroes Bondi, Sandy and Big Trev.The main tools used in the production of the series were as follows:Character and Prop Designs were all created in Photoshop. Modeling and Animation created in Maya (render in VRay). Textures and materials developed in Substance Painter. 2D Animation created in Toon Boom Harmony. Storyboards created in Storyboard Pro Animatics and fine cuts created in Premiere Pro. Storyboard layout and early camera placement in Unreal Engine (a new innovation for the CLM boarding pipeline)In Season 1 of Kangaroo Beach we built sets inside the gaming engine Unity to give us a better sense of the world in the early stages of production.
In Season 2 we innovated our custom built tools such as a focal length slider, camera controller and speed slider, allowing us to answer some layout questions much earlier and get a better understanding of the scale and size of characters and props before animation. Season 2 has garnered a great response from audiences and broadcasters. Its first run metro audience on ABC was 13% greater than the first season, landing it a position as the 5th ranking series for 2023 when ranked by first-run audience, which is great news! Clearly this is an Australian IP which has been developed and produced into a hit series that powerfully resonates with preschool kids and their parents. We at Cheeky Little are feeling very proud of what we have achieved both artistically and commercially.
CREW
Marv Petilla - 2D FX Supervisor
Simon Williams - Animation Director
Stephanie Davidson - Animation Director
Darren Keating - Art Director & Comp Supervisor
Steve Moltzen - Series Director
Cindy Scharka - Episodic Director
Simon Williams - Episodic Director
Patrick Egerton - Series Producer
Celine Goetz - ProducerErin Slyney - Senior Production Manager
Mei Hanani - Production Manager