Yahoo News Disney and Marvel combine in African superhero series Isaura
Move over, Disney. Make room, Studio Ghibli. A South African-based studio called Lucan is making waves with Isaura, a young hero from Mozambique who fights to protect the ocean.
Still in development, this animated series promises to tackle a variety of social and environmental issues while empowering children to make a positive, lasting impact on the real world.
Digital Spy sat down with co-creators Andrew McNally and Clayton Koshi to discuss Isaura's future while exploring conservation and African representation along the way.
Can you start by explaining the concept behind Isaura?
Andrew McNally: "In a nutshell, the story is of a young Mozambican girl living in a coastal village. After risking her own life to save a turtle, she’s rewarded with a powerful ancient talisman that gives her the ability to breathe underwater and communicate with turtles.
"Through the talisman, she becomes a guardian of the ocean and all the animals living in it, but she’s not alone, as she’s joined by a her trusty turtle companion, Couro. Her journey starts quite small in a rural fishing village in Mozambique. But the idea of the story is to expand to other territories around the world.
"There are turtle conservation undertones, and climate change undertones, but the idea is to take these humble beginnings, and transform Isaura into a leader of other characters from other parts of the world. So it becomes a global initiative of heroes, and the animals that they protect.
"Each kid has their own talisman, whether it be a necklace or a ring or an arm bracelet like the one Isaura has. And each one gives them a power that's a characteristic of that animal. So Isaura can breathe underwater – you know, turtles can hold their breath for a really long time underwater.
"And how cool would it be to see a kid who connects to a tiger character, for example? Or a rhino character? Who doesn’t want to be mates with a rhino? So the idea is to take these at-risk animals, and have the focus on them."
Why did you choose to start this story in Mozambique specifically?
Clayton Koshi: "It’s where a documentary I was working on took place. The documentary is, as of yet, unfinished and unnamed. However, it was about turtle poaching in the area. The genesis of Isaura was that we wanted to build an educational tool for the local population when it came to environmentalism – and essentially, care-taking.
"I wrote a short script out of it, and we talked with the producers on the project there. And eventually we were hooked up with Andrew, where we discussed, like: "OK, we have this idea. How do we make it into this teaching tool?
"People in Mozambique seem to be really excited about it, which is amazing. And you don’t see a lot of storytelling from Mozambique, about Mozambique, in mainstream media. Representation is hugely important, so that’s another huge element to this. But, yeah, the biggest reason behind that choice is Isaura's story originated there. And we want to pay respect to that."
AM: "The idea started there, and we then we sat in a writers room, and fleshed Isaura out with a plethora of references. We developed it into a serialised action-adventure TV animation aimed at kids between the ages of 7 and 11, boys and girls. It’s 13 episodes. We’ve written out a complete pilot with dialogue, and we’ve got outlines for the remaining episodes, the 12 other episodes.
"Each episode is about 22 minutes, so we can really get into a bit of meat and potatoes on it, which is nice. And, yeah, we’ve created the artwork for it. We’ve got a pitch bible. We’ve got one-pages. And on top of all of that, we’ve created a trailer as well to try and drum up some interest in it, which has been very successful, and is doing so much work."
I love Isaura's hand-drawn feel. Why did you focus primarily on 2D animation?
AM: "There’s so much 3D content. I’ve got a little kid, so I’m privy to a lot of kids’ TV and I’m seeing how much of a move there is to that 3D aesthetic for various reasons.
"And we’ve always just been lovers of 2D animation. We grew up in a transitional age from 2D to 3D. We grew up watching old Disney classics... so what we ended up doing is actually a hybrid between the two.
"We went on quite an expensive recce in Mozambique. In the week we were there, we took about 10,000-plus photos. It’s a long coastal country. There’s a lot of humidity in the air, and there’s a lot of salt water in the area, that rusts the metal and peels plaster off walls. It’s just a very textured place.
"We made a very conscious effort to make the backgrounds really textured and painterly... So we storyboarded it up. We had this concept art made, and the background art made. We then projected it onto 3D geometry. We sculpted the 3D geometry to give it volume. And we ended up doing the characters in 2D, and then rendering it with Unreal Engine... So it’s very much a mis-match.
"More than anything, we had a duty to a story coming out of Mozambique. There isn’t a lot of content coming out of there, and I just think we had a duty to try something completely different to a traditional style."
You mentioned Disney specifically, but I’d love to hear more about other specific influences on the show?
CK: "Hayao Miyazaki came up. Princess Mononoke came up, and The Pirates of Dark Water came up as well. And Cowboy Bebop was another one, with the textured style and everything like that.
"It’s pulling from a couple of sources as far as that stuff is concerned. So definitely the Miyazaki vibe of having the companion that runs around with the main character, and the conservation element with Princess Mononoke. But it very much originated as a conservation project. You kind of look into: what’s amazing that’s been done with conservation projects animation? And Mononoke comes up frequently."
AM: "I mean, our references ran far and wide. Clayton and myself both spent a bit of time in our childhood playing videogames. The Zelda series came up in our pool of references.
"There’s obviously quite a Disney-esque kind of feel to Isaura, and we do feel that it could potentially find a good home on Disney, just because it has the same kind of brand pillars; it ticks a lot of those boxes.
"But likewise, I think it could be suited to a Netflix or anybody that really wants to take the show on board. It’s a concept that stands on its two feet. There isn’t a lot of diversity in the superhero genre. Black Panther kicked the door down in that regard... For me, it made the world market and the world audience just open their eyes a bit more to the potential of African storytelling.
"The same stories tend to be told over and over again. And I think it’s high time that we hear some stories outside of Britain and the States, that we start casting our sights further afield. As people become evermore connected around the world, they're looking for content that’s more relevant to them. And I think that Isaura is something that could offer that – starting with Africa and then branching out our cast of characters to people around the world."
What are the biggest challenges you've faced so far on this project?
CK: "COVID happened!"
AM: "Yeah, from the beginning, it’s two guys – myself as a South African and Clayton living in the States – creating a story that’s based in Mozambique. Up until the next stage of development, we haven’t had the means to involve Mozambican talent. And that would be the next big push."
CK: "Which we really want to do."
AM: "Which we obviously really want to do. And there’s some really promising, amazing writers in the region who we’d love to reach out to. We see it as the next phase of development that, if it is picked up – when it’s picked up – we would like to involve Mozambican talent in the storytelling, so that it’s as authentic as possible. That’s exceptionally important to us.
"The next phase is to hopefully involve as many people from the region as possible to make Isaura as authentic as possible – because we are well aware of our shortcomings there.
"And there are a lot of technical struggles. The Unreal Engine is a gaming engine. It isn’t really built for linear storytelling. So we had to create a whole bunch of custom tools, importing over textures, and all sorts of things that we needed from our 2D-to-3D pipeline. We had to build all sorts of tools along the way there.
"There were a couple of technical headaches along the way, but it’s funny – when something’s done, you look back, and you’re like, "Oh, good. It was worth it."
What's the next step you need to take so Isaura is picked up for distribution?
AM: "We first released the splash screen, and then we released the sizzler – just 15 seconds, like hyper-cuts. And now we’ve released the full Isaura trailer to kind of gauge what the pickup would be.
"Its reception has been incredible. And on the back of that, we’ve had a couple of people reach out to us, which is amazing. But we're still looking for a partner to help us create this show, and hopefully get it to eyes around the world. So that partner could be a broadcasting station or—"
CK: "Or a production studio."
AM: "Or a production studio who we could potentially co-produce it with, because, as a South African studio, we have co-productions there with a couple of countries around the world. Essentially, we’ve got everything that we need to take Isaura to the next level, and hopefully find an audience for it."
Isaura weaves a number of important themes together into one story. What would you like viewers to take away from watching this show?
CK: "The main idea initially was to communicate the importance of the environment – not only when it comes to individual human impact, but also the broader impact. We’re going to be exploring a little bit beyond the personal responsibility to recycle.
"At the end of the trailer, you see fishermen. A lot of the plastic in the ocean has to do with improper disposal with the fishing industry, and that's just one example. The huge impact that corporations have on the environment is one piece of several pieces of the puzzle that we’re looking at."
Each shot in the trailer cites a huge issue that Isaura is going to be dealing with.
AM: "Yeah. It’s a kind of holistic approach. Environmental devastation and climate change are the most pressing issues of our time. Unfortunately, the people who will be most affected by this are kids. And this is a kids’ series. So we are reaching out to kids. And I think kids of this generation are so conscious of their impact on the environment.
"We just want to spread that message as widely as possible to as many kids as possible. I think Isaura is unique in a way that she is not the chosen one necessarily, but a young protagonist who shapes her own destiny through her own choices, influencing people around her.
"So I think that kind of message will speak to people – well, kids, specifically – and I think that kids will hopefully be able to see themselves in her, and see the positive choices that she makes in her immediate environment, and how she lives.
"I think another part of it is that Isaura is a protagonist who’s from Africa. African inhabitants are generally — especially women and children — perceived or depicted as victims of poverty and environmental disaster and war. Isaura will be the first animated show with an environmental message that stars a young African girl as the hero. Which is awesome."
CK: "And beyond that as well, to expand on the idea that she’s not the chosen one – you don’t have to be the chosen one or something along those lines in order to make a difference, and make an impact on these issues.
"Isaura is going to be dealing with issues that are so much bigger than her, but she can make a difference, she can changes things. We want kids to walk away with that understanding as well."
Isaura is an upcoming animation series in development by South African-based studio Lucan. A distributor is not yet attached to this project, but you can find out more about Isaura right here.
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