Les Copaque responds! New movie in the works!

In response to some of the information posted on Zanimated! Tuan Hj Burhanuddin Md Radzi, Managing Director Les' Copaque Production Sdn Bhd thought he should send to Zanimated! an email detailing a lot of things and going arounds at Les Copaque.

He wished to clarify on certain things; some of which unfortunately we do not have permission as yet to share with the public. Maybe in the near future? Who knows?

But for now, here are some announcements that will make local animation lovers salivate and wait with bated breath for the next Movie installment. The following is the input received:


"We are proud until now, we have excited the industries as we have proven, if it is properly done, it can be sustainable without depending on the government funds," he says.

According to Tn. Hj. Burhanuddin, Les Copaque only received a RM1 million grant from MOSTI for the film Geng: The Adventure Begins. Subsequent request were rejected because "they felt that we were rich."

"I personally invested RM4 million from my own pockets; most of  which has been recovered," he adds.

On expansion plans, Tn. Hj. says that Les Copaque is proud to have provided opportunities for young people to work.

"Today we have 140 personnel and we are targeting 200 staff by the end of the year. Every year we are producing 42 episodes of Upin & Ipin for television; with the biggest income from Indonesia. The Upin & Ipin tv series is our main source of income and therefore it is no 1 priority," Tn. Hj. Burhanuddin explains.

What's in store for this year? This year Les Copaque is looking into producing another series called "Pada Zaman Dahulu" (Once upon a time), which has been snapped up by the local and Indonesian TV broadcasters.

"We are planning the film which will include steroscopic techniques. The film is titled 'Laksamana Upin and Ipin' and the reason why we picked the theme is purely for commercial reasons due to difficulties of getting free finacial assistance," he answers further.

Well the last statement certainly explains a lot as one might think; although that is not the entire story to be let out for the time being.

The golden question now would be: so when can we see this?

"As this film is low priority (compared to the TV commitments), we are hoping that it can be completed towrds end of 2012," finishes Tn. Hj. Burhanuddin.

Well that puts to rest a lot of questions. We'll definitely won't be seeing the intrepid toddlers Upin & Ipin anytime soon. This year will be another uneventful one for the local animation scene *sigh* Here we thought we'd be able to see another Upin & Ipin movie in a few days time. Major bummer.

Of Silken Voices, Silver tongues and Golden Handshakes

A Ghost came by Zanimated and said some things that I have to admit caught me a bit off guard. But I do appreciate his frankness (sincerity is the ticket here) because all this going around the mulberry bush in trying to be nice can actually drive things to the ground so to speak. It also doesn't help anyone.

So there! Thanks for your comments and correcting the facts that I so carelessly assumed to be right due to a sudden spur to write in the wee hours of a morning. Mucho gracias, I sincerely appreciate it. I was taught to be a responsible writer, so I'd like to practice that!

How else is Zanimated supposed to grow if it decides to pooh-pooh away the truth; granted of course the mistake wasn't intentional.

The issue? I was told that for the K-Perak initiative, it wasn't actually inspired by the success of Upin and Ipin. It actually preceded the Les Copaque Geng movie hype.

Also that the K-Perak initiative is not only geared for animation only. It also encompasses a lot other ICT related stuff as well. I neglected to mention this. This is undeniably true of course.

The dark and seedy world of animation, digital special effects, creative content etc it seems (unsurprisingly) just like any other industry filled with pitfalls which includes lobbyists to a certain degree. It is business after all.

You either have deep pockets to help you through - which is the stamina to completion or you are small, lean and mean and yes hungry enough to tighten your belts.

Case in point, I once asked a friend from Les Copaque (mind you, I ain't in my young 20's anymore): "Say, if I wanted to go into animation, and I learned all this stuff; you think I can hack it?"

His reply? "You could technically be competent. But you won't make it. You won't have the stamina. You'd have to sleep in, go around the clock to finish things. Not really for a family man like you." (Well it was something to that effect I promise you).

Of course I was pissed (what? you're saying I'm too old?). But after I recovered from the initial bombardment received after my rhetorical question, I sort of understood it and agreed.

The animation industry is tough. It's not a bed of roses no matter how much the media tends to candy coat the successes and the telly let's you look through rose tinted glasses there are bound to be the great amount of sacrifices that these people had to endure to make their animation see the light of day.


Deep pockets? Who has em? Well some do and some don't. Those that don't might want to get a kick start from the various grants available from several government initiatives via certain government agencies. MDeC, MCMC and even MOSTI has some which can be applied - if you know how to make it work for you of course.

This is where it really, absolutely helps if your marketing and PR is top of the line. How many times have we seen good animation projects that fail to get funding merely because of poor presentation skills in front of panels? Quite a fair number. Trust me. Silken voices, silver tongues and golden handshakes are sometimes neccessary.

No I'm not implying those in the negative - it's the ability of those gifted enough to make their case clear. It helps to know the people first of course - the type of knowing where a handshake will instantly get a face followed by a name recognition/association. That's legwork and homework - no bluebirds allowed (bluebirds are just those that send stuff in without prior recognition; they're tonnes of bluebirds; luck is not always on this side).

Artists and animators at times lack this PR feature and they also lack the lingo and confidence in presenting. Especially in the business language called English (the proper spoken version, not the version that they're accustomed to). Again, I am not being overly critical.

Lobbying might be a dirty word here in this context, but it's been used to describe the current situation by some.

Me? I wanted to be a front man for some animation, involved in the business and dabbled with ideas and the character creation phase and a fair bit of writing as well. Tried it. But I guess it wasn't meant to be.

I love animation. I remember when my mom asked me when I was about 4 or 5, what I wanted to be. I said that I'd like to be the 'guy that makes cartoons.' That didn't happen of course; so I thought maybe after all these years I could be some sort of ambassador. This is one way I suppose.

Good evening Animation Malaysia. Zanimated wishes you great successes this year!