Surabaya, E. Java, (Antara) - Several students from East Java will be involved in the making of a Korean animation film titled "FrienZoo" by the Indonesia-Korea Animation Production Houses and draws inspiration from the art of shadow puppetry.
"The second part of the animated film FrienZoo will involve students from areas in East Java, such as Surabaya, Sidoarjo, and Malang," Creative Director of Castle Production, Jakarta, Ardian noted in a press statement received by Antara in Surabaya on Monday.
Ardian has signed a cooperation agreement (MoU) with GFX Korea to produce 50 episodes of the second part of FrienZoo, the first part of which has already been aired on EBS-TV Korea.
"We signed the MoU at the Kuala Lumpur City Center in April, and the event was attended by the representatives of the Korean Ministry of Science and Future Planning, nipa, Korean Trade Agency (Kotra), as well as various other Korean government agencies," he revealed.
Speaking in connection with the students from East Java, who will be involved in making of this film, Ardian hoped the people in the province will gain a greater understanding of the various forms of animation that are used in the creative industry.
"East Java, especially big cities, such as Surabaya, Sidoarjo, and Malang, have huge potential in terms of their human resources that are adequate to drive the kreratif industry," chairman of the Animation Industry Association Content and Indonesia stated.
Therefore, in the near future, it will invite the community and those interested in animation from the three towns to equally contribute to lending color to the development of animation in Indonesia.
The FrienZoo animated series shed light on the story of homeless animals that live in zoos and how they adapt to the novel environment and become friends with other animals.
"The animation style used in FrienZoo is silhouette, which combines black and white characters with colorful backgrounds. Animation of this type will encourage social relationships and will help ignite the artistic imagination of kids," he said.
Ardian explained that the element of shadow play in the FrienZoo series was so popular that Korea chose Castle Productions, an Indonesian animation production house, to make its second part.
"We are grateful to be trusted for implementing this project. Some 50 young creative workers from Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Malang, Rembang, Jepara, Wonosobo, Bali, Jakarta, Bandung, Banten, and Padang would be involved in the making of the project," he revealed.
To realize the project, training in order to transfer technology by the Korean team is being carried out in two stages. In the first stage, the training will be held at the Bali Creative Industry Center owned by the Ministry of Industry, while the second training will be conducted at the CyberMedia College in Jakarta belonging to Castle Production.
Ardian made assurance that the second part will also be screened in several countries in Asia and Europe, including Indonesia, and will receive global acclaim as the theme and approach to the characters in the animation series are very close to the children's imaginary world.
Projects, worth two billion won, equivalent to Rp22 billion, were funded jointly by GFX, Castle, and the sponsors from Korea. In addition to Castle, GFX also plans to collaborate with co-production partners in other countries, such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and China.(*)
