New Series Of “Max Bear” To Hit UK This Month Courtesy 0f Channel 4
Beginning on the 28th of March, Channel 4 are running a new series of Max Bear, a children’s TV show written and produced by a local husband and wife team.
Max and his companions have had a few outings with Channel 4, including the original Christmas special “Max Bear & The Flurry of Snow” in 1998, followed by a series from 2000-2005, and a second Christmas special “Max Bear & The Lucky Charm”, which was broadcast in December 2008 and again in 2009.
The show was created and animated by husband and wife team, Bryan and Helena Panks from their studio in Stroud, South West England. As Bryan comments “It’s all put together in our little cottage in Stroud. Not your usual animation power house!”
When Bryan isn’t producing Max Bear he is the course leader in Animation and Interactive Media at the University of Gloucestershire.
Bryan told Animation News that while creating Max Bear he uses a combination of After Effects and Flash: “The main programme is Adobe After Effects using layered Photoshop files. I also include a little Flash too.” The characters designs are collaborative affair between Bryan and Helena with the final output produced by Bryan. “They’re mainly hand drawn and some photographic work, all tweaked with a wonderful old Wacom graphics tablet.”
Max is voiced by the former Doctor Who star, Tom Baker. When first approached to voice the role he responded by saying “I was born to play Max and if I don’t do it I shall change my name to Max Baker as a cry of disappointment.”
The lip-sync programme Bryan uses is Magpie, which Bryan speaks very highly of, and the voice overs are recorded in a local studio in Stroud called dB Studios.
The production has a real family feel to it, with Helena doing all the writing, directing and Bryan animating and producing, whilst Helena’s brother, Matt Potter produces the music score. One of Bryan’s students at the university of Gloucestershire, Nicola Oelmann, has done some walking characters in the background too. The whole project is then sent over to Bristol to Magic Films post production company to be completed.
The new series will air bright and early within the pre-school slot between 6:00 & 7:00am and beginning on the 28th March 2011, on Channel 4.