With Nickelodeon’s help and support, the Lemon Sky Studios creative team quickly shifted to a remote workflow, successfully working on various aspects of animation resulting in quality artwork and timely delivery of the brand-new animated series.
Under the cloud of a global pandemic, Lemon Sky Studios has provided both quality artwork and timely delivery of Nickelodeon’s brand-new animated action-adventure series, Santiago of the Seas. This marks the studio’s second project with Nickelodeon, following work on Middle School Moguls in 2019.
Created by Niki López, Leslie Valdes and Valerie Walsh Valdes, Santiago of the Seas follows 8-year-old Santiago “Santi” Montes, a brave and kind-hearted pirate, as he embarks on daring rescues, searches for treasures and keeps the high seas safe in a fantastical Caribbean world.
Valdes and Walsh Valdes (Dora the Explorer) serve as executive producers with López co-executive producing.
Set in a fictitious world that pulls inspiration from the Latin-Caribbean culture and locations, the series features blue, cloudy skies; tumultuous waves; water sequences; and majestic ships. Much detail is required to create these animated effects; storylines involving a lot of aquatic scenes are often sidelined as the CGI work required to create them can be daunting. With these challenges, and with the support and partnership of Nickelodeon, the Lemon Sky team worked diligently to set up a to set up a remote workforce.
“We had worked hard to draft out a plan for our team to be able to work remotely,” Loo Hon Gene, Head of Production, Animation Division at Lemon Sky Studios, told Animation World Network. “A completely new workflow had to be set in place, files had to be localized, security compliant methods of working off the server established and a minor readjustment to the schedule had to be made. The team was quick to adapt to the changes and new SOPs that were put into place and we could not be prouder of the outcome.”
About a 100-member team worked on various aspects of the animation, each one working remotely. They worked on the magical elements infused into the storyline; the characters in the series also possess magical traits that involve costume transformation as they embark on their adventures. Other than the cinematic visual effects work used to create the realistic-looking water elements, the magical aspect of the series was something the team payed extra attention to.
“These are challenging times for the creative industry,” explained Lemon Sky Studios CEO Wong Cheng Fei. “We are extremely grateful that our client had the faith to see the project through with Lemon Sky Studios. Facing the hurdles together allowed us to establish an amazing collaborative energy with Nickelodeon. I can say with full confidence now that they have become a part of our Lemon Sky family.”
“When the pandemic hit, we were in the middle of producing the series and were not sure how much it would impact the production,” noted Santiago of the Seas creator and co-executive producer, Niki Lopez. “Lemon Sky Studios were quick to come through with solutions though. I love the way they worked with us throughout the process. The culture within that studio is so collaborative and energetic. They truly bumped up the quality tenfold.”
Lemon Sky Studios has worked on other notable animated series including Sydney Sailboat, Buzzy Bee and Friends, Trucktown and Tinpo. They are also the proud owners of their very own IP, AstroLOLogy with another, Ichiro, in the pipeline.
From the Lemon Sky Studios newsroom:
Say Ahoy to Nickelodeon’s Santiago of the Seas!
One of our biggest animation projects to date, Santiago of the Seas has made it’s long awaited debut on Nickelodeon!
This project was on a bigger scale than any of our previous work with Nickelodeon, as it was the first time for us to be involved in almost the entire production process for a Nickelodeon animated series. For Santiago of the Seas, Lemon Sky Studios handled 3D asset creation, animation, visual effects, lighting & compositing!
Aside from the scale of the project, Santiago of the Seas was a special milestone for us in many other ways. While we previously worked with Nickelodeon on numerous tests and parts of the Middle School Moguls series, it was quite a big moment when Nickelodeon informed us that they would be giving us the opportunity to handle the production of a brand new animated series. Thanks to our previous efforts, the executives trusted that the project was in good hands with us, and thankfully we were able to prove them right!
This series also marks the first time that a full Nickelodeon animated series has been produced by a studio in Southeast Asia. We’re proud to show the world that this region does indeed have a special brand of talent, and we hope that we can continue to help our region gain a reputation in Hollywood and the long-form animation industry, which will hopefully lead to more exciting projects from other Southeast Asia based studios in the future!
“Thank you to everyone in the Lemon Sky family. It has been a DREAM collaboration and I feel incredibly fortunate to work with your incredibly talented and kind team. Here’s to many more pirate adventures aboard El Bravo in the near future!! ❤ “– Niki Lopez – Nickelodeon. Director / Creator
“I wanted to truly thank you and everyone at Lemon Sky. The show is amazing, and everyone from your studio deserves a huge round of applause for creating such wonderful content. Your artwork is inspiring. We’re all looking forward to a new season and excited to keep the adventure going!” – Ian Murray – Nickelodeon, Line Producer
On the technical side, one of the challenging aspects of the production was the actual setting of Santiago of the Seas. That is, The Sea itself! Water is almost a living entity on it’s own with the way it constantly moves and interacts with whatever is moving through it, and as one might imagine, animating the water effects for each episode of a series proved to be quite the technical challenge for our team.
To overcome this challenge, we came up with technical solutions to re-use some of the effects wherever possible. We created a huge library of FX elements that could be re-used often, saving us a lot of time. Thanks to the time and resources we saved using this method, we were then able to work on more complex and higher quality FX for the climatic moments of the show.
“Thank you all so much for the amazing work and an even more impressive show that was able to premiere today on the Nickelodeon channel. Know all of the Santiago crew at Nick was so happy to share this great show, finally, after 3 years of production, and they all celebrated today the groundbreaking animation, comp and FX work that your team produced. This was truly a major achievement for both of our studios. And even more amazing was how much of this project was finished in the houses of your artists during quarantine!! Who would have ever thought the journey on this season would end up this way?? And yet your team did not miss a beat and kept all of the quality at the same bar and level as if everyone was in the studio. This alone is such a great testament of the talented team that exists at Lemon Sky.
I look forward to continued adventures with you and the entire Lemon Sky team.” – Dean Hoff – Nickelodeon, Vice President of Animation Production
We’re also thankful that Santiago of the Seas has been well received by audiences!
The series received a five star rating from Common Sense Media, being praised as an exceptional preschool series.
Furthermore, the series debut garnered the biggest L+3 lift Nickelodeon has ever had for a preschool launch, gaining a 96% increase with Kids 2-5, up from 2.6 (L+SD) to 5.1 (L+3). As a testament to the appeal of the culture that inspired the unique and diverse characters of the show, Latinx viewers grew triple digits and accounted for over a third of the overall Kids 2-5 viewership. Additionally, 40% of the premiere’s audience were brand-new preschool viewers to Nickelodeon.
“KUDOS to the whole team that made this show look so great! Thank you for all your passion and hard work that went into Santiago of the Seas. We should celebrate the success of this show together! You did great by far, but we also learned there’s space to improve. we won’t just stop here – our next challenging project is waiting.
I can’t wait to see what you accomplish next and I’m excited to see our next project come to life!” – Cheng-Fei Wong – Lemon Sky Studios, Chief Executive Officer
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From the New Straits Times:
#Showbiz: Sailing high!
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| Santiago (centre) with his friends Tomas, Lorelai and pet frog Kiko from the Nickelodeon educational adventure series, Santiago Of The Seas. – Pic courtesy of Lemon Sky Studios |
AFTER the long-running success of Dora The Explorer, its creators have co-developed a new exciting show for kids titled Santiago Of The Seas (SOTS).
Featuring the titular 8-year-old seafaring pirate, the Nickelodeon action adventure and educational series follows his exciting tales together with his crew as they embark on rescues, uncover hidden treasures and keep the Caribbean high seas safe.
The CGI-animated production, infused with the Spanish language and Latino-Caribbean culture, is popular with children age between 2 and 5 years old.
Interestingly, more than 90 per cent of the art production was done in Malaysia by local animation and CGI art company Lemon Sky Studios.
SOTS, which recently premiered on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr channels internationally, was also completed over the Movement Control Order period.
The milestone project marked the second time that Lemon Sky Studios has worked with the renowned international kids' content platform.
"SOTS took us two years to complete and the team at Nickelodeon has now become a part of the family here at Lemon Sky Studios. The collaborative exchange and creative alliance that we were able to establish with Nickelodeon is one that is substantial," says Lemon Sky Studios head of production, Animation Division, Loo Hon Gene.
He adds that working from the skeletal idea of the original concept provided to them was a little daunting at first.
"This time, our stakes in the project were bigger since we were responsible for providing the full pipeline for the animation production, from CG modeling all the way to final render and compositing with some of the heaviest effects that we have ever worked on a show.
"Never before have we worked on a leading studio's title on such a major stake. We are probably the only studio in Southeast Asia to be awarded such a responsibility," he says.
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| Lemon Sky Studios head of production, Animation Division, Loo Hon Gene. – Pic courtesy of Lemon Sky Studios |
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES TOGETHER
The team managed to face the various challenges, while having to restructure their entire workflow due to the pandemic, to produce quality work. This included creating realistic water sequences.
"Great animation is not just a medium of storytelling but a tool for effective storytelling. The scale and quality of visual effects that we have worked on in this title are like no other.
"Water is almost a living entity on its own, with the way it constantly moves and interacts with whatever is moving through it. As one might imagine, animating the water effects for each episode of a series proved to be quite a technical challenge for our team," says Loo.
Although a Malaysian company at heart, Lemon Sky Studios, which is based in Shah Alam, also has a diverse staff of 15 nationalities.
"We are proud of our multinational family here. Part of having a creative mind is also having an open one. Being exposed to a variety of cultures and languages does make for a richer outlook of things.
"When working on cultural content like SOTS, the exposure proves even more valuable as we see speckles of similarities between some of our cultures, allowing us to relate better to the content.
"Although we only take on the animation and art production of the title, it is incredibly important that the artists understand the storytelling and the values that the script is trying to highlight.
"Of course, the majority of us being Malaysian and being accustomed to multi-racial surroundings, we quickly adapt and manage to learn and lean on one another throughout the process.
"And when we are able to weave through the challenges and grow from them, we are able to savour the achievement with that much more significance," says Loo.
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| Lemon Sky Studios CEO Cheng-Fei Wong. – Pic courtesy of Lemon Sky Studios |
AN INSPIRING EXPERIENCE
As Malaysia's creative industry is rapidly growing, talent can be found anywhere.
"If you are able to produce good art, regardless of the language you speak, becoming a part of the Lemon Sky family is not a problem.
"The fact that we speak this language of art has contributed to the collaborative energy that we are known for, giving clients like Nickelodeon the confidence to work with a company like ours," says Loo.
He adds that it's inspiring to be working on an educational show since SOTS presents values that are universal, which include the preservation of nature and the sea.
This goes hand in hand with the moral values and ideals shared by humanity across borders.
"It's wonderful that the animation work we do lends itself to passing down these values to children in a completely different part of the world," he says.
Lemon Sky Studios chief executive officer Cheng-Fei Wong says that the overall experience was an inspiring one and hopes to continue the relationship with Nickelodeon to produce more high quality and exciting work together.
"The team has done a great job on SOTS. It's inspiring for me as a CEO to see the collaborative nature of the team and the organic way in which they grow and work with one another.
"The struggles of the pandemic did not deter the team or Nickelodeon and the outcome is beyond expectations.
"Throughout the crisis, Nickelodeon stayed calm and took our suggestions and change in operations in stride.
"Bringing their idea for SOTS to life was an amazing experience for all of us at Lemon Sky Studios. We look forward to working with them again in the future," he says.
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Originally published: Tuesday, November 10, 2020.
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