Les Copaque's Reason For Not Sending Upin & Ipin to Outerspace

Last we've heard from Les Copaque's head honcho, the esteemed Tuan Haji Burhanuddin that our intrepid animation industry pioneer was hard at work with other stuff; other than the movie that we were expecting this year.

Zanimated! was privileged enough to have gotten that nice morsel of information and there's still some more that we got from the proverbial horses mouth. It tells of a tale which paints the picture a little bleaker than most people would think. So if you think you are talented and want to go into animation, maybe there are more things to consider than just your grades and whether you can find a job in Malaysia (or Singapore for that matter).

"Actually, after we released our film and started to make the 42 episodes of Upin & Ipin in 2009, we were planning to start making another movie. The main reason was because the revenue stream from selling the TV series in Malaysia is not lucrative and the revenue from the movie is not enough to recover my investment. So were hoping that our seconnd film will bring enough revenue to recover my investments," Burhanuddin shares.

The small episodic morsels of Upin & Ipin made for the TV series were actually a Godsend reprieve. By August 2009, the series made its enterance into  Indonesia under a revenue sharing arrangement.

"Due to revenue sharing, we could not see the revenue stream until 4 months later. Since June 2009, we started developing the storyline and decided to produce the Angkasawan (movie) because we were trying to get TM to sponsor the production cost," says Burhanuddin.

Burhanuddin claims that the original second Geng movie's storyline was about Upin & Ipin going to outerspace and, get this, they are attacked by the aliens who are looking for coffee beans to sustain their power. This idea was scrapped after some major shifts within Les Copaque and some of the creative team leaving for greener pastures back in October 2009.

Being left in a lurch and with no finalised script to work on, Les Copaque had no other viable options but to regorganise and deal with management issues. According to Burhanuddin, there were voices saying that Les Copaque would collapse within 6 months after the leaving of some key personnel.

"We managed to honour our obligations for 2009 and by January 2010 we started new productions of the Upin & Ipin TV series. Due to limited resources, we had no time to start film production (for the second movie). By June 2010, we started to see huge revenues come from Indonesia due to the success of Upin & Ipin and the slots moved to prime time," Burhanuddin highlights to Zanimated!.

Due to the encouraging revenue, Les Copaque has expanded and developed new businesses from Upin & Ipin.

"We continued recruiting staff and now have already reached 140 people, with plans to hit 200 by end of the year. Now, we are capable of making the movie while producing the TV series as we have enough resources. As the boys do not want to use the old footprint (for the second movie) and taking in the commercial considerations, we changed the title to 'Laksamana Upin and Ipin.' It is easier to include story from the other side and attract big sponsors who are ready to commit," explains Burhanuddin.

So there you have it. There are always commercial considerations that you need to make when you're making a movie. Passion sadly enough, is not enough. You have to make it, on a balance, sellable in the first place. Lofty as the ambitions may sound, it isn't too stretching the possibilities. Indonesia is such a vast and interesting market to a lot of people in a lot of industries.

Burhanuddin also tells Zanimated! that he has asked TV3 (under the threat of legal action) to stop crediting others as the creators of Upin & Ipin. TV3 has complied of course.

No matter how the storm looks like in the teacup of the Malaysian animation industry, Burhanuddin seems positive in saying that he feels proud to have helped inspire the next. Proud as well to have contributed to the growth of the industry.

Still want to enter the animation industry? Well, this quote will sum it up from Les Copaque's head honcho:
"I believe you must realise that this business is 'indah khabar dari rupa' (sounds better than how it actually seems)." Pretty apt. Pretty short. But we sure as heck hope that things will get better for everyone.

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.

Upin & Ipin In Space? Errr maybe or maybe not...

Recently I received news from a source that it's out in certain media (in this case it was a children's publication) that Upin and Ipin in Space will be out this 10 February! OK. I'll be honest, the source was a very excited 11 year old boy who read it off a magazine at a convenience store rack...

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah...I just read it...Ermm...Now I'm not so sure" (Especially since you're looking at me funny right now).

"Oh. OK. Would be nice if that were so. I thought they scratched the idea"

Nevertheless, the first reaction a kid has, in most cases is a good and honest reaction. No pretension involved.

You know why I take into consideration children's opinions when it comes to animation? Well. They look at things rather differently. We need to take heed to how they view things if you want to make animation meant for them in the first place - for instance during the preview of Geng: The Adventure Begins at the MDeC HQ in Cyberjaya, I took my kids along; sure enough there were some scenes where they were laughing when the adults were not!

So I do put value to kid views. Not something totally radical or new. Just a good thing to take in mind...

Reading up online, sources on Yahoo!
 sort of confirms this. but going to the Les Copaque landing page meant for the space themed movie (http://www.upinipinangkasa.com) reroutes you to an updated page called http://www.laksamanaupinipin.com instead. Hmm. So how now brown cow? Well short of calling them up, it leaves a lot of questions in the mind does it not?


On Wiki there's this line: "Namun, setahun kemudian, filem Angkasa diumumkan batal dan diganti dengan Laksamana Upin & Ipin yang dijanjikan dalam bentuk filem 3D"  which sort of puts the entire matter to rest.

Oh well. The children's publication could be wrong - anyway it just means that the will be finally over! It would be great to watch another local animation work on the silver screen again after such a looooooong time!

Les Copaque's Sneak Media Preview

NOT really recently (I think it was 25th August, 2008), Les Copaque had a media-industry screening of its upcoming Geng: The Adventure Begins movie (here's a newer link to older preview and here's a newer link). I've been keeping tabs for a while now - animation was my forte' when I was with a tech section- of a local daily newspaper...

Your's truly was there to witness history in the making. The small auditorium at the MDeC HQ was packed to the brim. So far it looks great! What can I say - taking into consideration that this is a first effort. I guess, I should say that after seeing all that the team has gone through, I'm guilty of being a bit more forgiving. But still, I have some things to say, that might be potentially glaring to the avid 3D animation nit-picker - regular audience for a nice animated movie will not ponder too much and will defintely enjoy this marvelous, marvelous movie!

What I still remember though (and this might still change later still during the final cut) is that the movie was still a bit longish. Nizam and gang were all there to take note of the feedback that we all had. Some suggested that the editing needs to be tighter and the removed scenes can be made into a director's cut version on DVD - good idea.

The merchandise is key here people! Like Bill DuBay, used to say when I met him "It's the ancillaries that count. The lunch boxes, the bedsheets etc." Nice guy. Heard he's gone of to Pixar. He's a veteran with comics, Marvel Productions and buddies with Stan 'the Man' Lee. Already Les Copaque, has this in the roadmap. Kudos for them!

Geng: The Adventure Begins to my thinking has something to offer just about everybody in the audience. For good measure I took my kids along as well: my son aged 9 and my daughter aged 4 and my wife for good measure. Note: here's when you will notice that kids will laugh off queue compared to an adult audience. Some people would want to capitalise on these nuances- depends however to whom the movie is tagetted towards to.


My former editor, Ahmad Faiz Daro' Abd. Rahman, now a corp. comm. manager at Petronas, was also there. He noted that some of the scenes needed to be made punchier - true enough. He also suggested to change the character 'Kopek' to another usable name, for obvious reasons 'kopek' is also a slang word used to denote a woman's bust in certain *ahem* parts of the country. Sure enough this was taken note off, however the dilemma now is trying to find another name which will fit into the lip-synching for the word 'kopek' or 'kopet.'

Af for some of the self-inflicted injury or pain displayed by some of the forest creatures, I personally thought they were OK- simply because they were funny and taking into consideration of stretch and squash cartoon concept, they shouldn't be too offensive to animal lovers. They are caused by accidents and self-inflicted due to carelessness etc. Of course those scenes which could potentially cause animal lovers to cringe should be taken out. Can't remember any though.

The scene where the heroes enter the cave and leading in to that scene, a remiscent to several great moments in other movies: think Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom and even yes, the Ring Wraiths in search of Frodo in Lord of The Rings. Still cool though - it is after all a first time effort and using formulas that work will be the right thing to do. Besides, most kids wouldn't have known any better.

Another thing, that I didn't really think too hard about was the characters not changing clothes - suspense of disbelief sustained me enough to just put it away to rest. After all, who has time to change clothes with all the action going on?

The voice acting was actually relatively good and in some cases with regards to the smaller kid characters, I thought were actually really good, especially Upin, Ipin and Raju.

Storyline was engaging enough even if the implementation was in some scenes a bit draggy. However, I was pleased enough that I was surprised still of how certain scenes developed into what was a bit unexpected. Some scenes however, being a veteran *ahem* movie watcher, I was able to fathom the possible outcome - still let's not forget this is mainly for kids anyway.

Sound wasn't there yet as the mastering was not completed yet: sadly enough this still has to be done outside the country. Similarly so stuff like transferring to 2K plates for the final print for cinemas etc. (I might be off a bit on the technical specs, but there you go). Makes you wonder eh? This means local productions still need to be sent to Thailand or some other neighbouring country to make them usable for the local cinemas. Sad isn't it? Oh well, maybe someday someone will want to FINALLY do it and have someone FINALLY support the cost of doing it.

Overall, the boys and girls of Les Copaque did a really fine job transforming the story into great visuals crunched at MIMOS using some heavy duty cluster computing. We are still not where Shrek is, but this is a great start i.e. in comparison say to Singapore's Zodiac movie, I should say. That was of course a few years back...Nizam and the boys, for their age are quite proficient I might add on cinematic principles- I cannot help to be impressed: breaking the 4th wall and Chekov's gun are quite adhered to. Kudos to them and good luck to them!

As it is, I would give it overall 4 1/2 stars out of 5 based on the merits and what I've seen. Just can't wait to see the final cut!