There aren’t any kangaroos, koalas or echidnas in Kangaroo Beach creator Tim Bain’s enchanting new journey for kids, Knee High Spies. That doesn’t imply there isn’t an Australian flavour to the live-action collection made in Melbourne, with puppeteers inside animatronic fits filmed in entrance of a inexperienced display screen and shrunk all the way down to measurement.
Christie Whelan Browne performs the mum, Gareth Yuen is the dad and cabaret soprano Ali McGregor voices the villain, a guinea pig referred to as Silver Paw. A proficient ensemble of Australian youngster actors, on display screen and within the sound sales space, brings to life the band of toys that work to beat Silver Paw’s dastardly schemes (hiding tooth from the tooth fairy, nicking biscuits – not cookies – baked for Nana).
Knee High Spies creator Tim Pain with Jeremy.
“I like to take any likelihood I can to make Australian TV reveals reflecting the Australian way of life again to Aussie children, and in addition to the world,” says Bain, whose credit embrace Thomas and Friends, Fireman Sam, Bob the Builder, Morph and the HBO Max animation Let’s Go, Bananas!, which he created to mirror his family life as a homosexual dad of three.
“We shot over summer season, so there’s an attractive, sunny yard … They’re Aussie children, however it’s got that international enchantment of those secret missions that may very well be occurring with toys inside any home world wide.”
Inspired by Toy Story, Wallace & Gromit, the world of Jim Henson, and the action-adventure motion pictures Bain grew up with, resembling Mad Max, Mission Impossible and Cliffhanger, the collection is a joyful reversion to “old-school particular results in a time earlier than CGI and AI”.
“I initially thought, perhaps that is a neater method than pc animation and would possibly avoid wasting finances,” says Bain. “Boy, was I flawed about simply how intricate and time-consuming making puppets and performing in puppet fits really is!
“And then on prime of that, including all of the visible results in put up, stitching layers of pictures collectively to create the one body. But I’m glad we endured by way of all of the complications and heartaches, as a result of the top result’s magic.”
On the set of Knee High Spies, by which puppeteers inside animatronic fits filmed in entrance of a inexperienced display screen.
Directed by BAFTA winner Jack Jameson, who has labored on packages together with Teletubbies and Sesame Street. The 20-episode collection centres round 4 toys that come to life when nobody is watching. Puppeteers embrace Cirque De Soleil’s Nick Barlow and worldwide clowning sensation David Splatt.
