Download pdf - Flanders Image

Recommendations

Info

© bart dewaele 20 The wild side of Disney ‘IT’S A LONg HISTORy. DO yOU HAVE TIME…’ BRUSSELS-BASED JAN BULTHEEL ASKS WHEN CALLED ON TO ExPLAIN THE LENgTHy JOURNEy TO SCREEN OF HIS ANIMATED TV SERIES, HAREPORT, ABOUT TWO yOUNg HARES WHO SET UP THEIR VERy OWN AIRPORT. By Geoffrey Macnab Flashback to january 1, 2004. bultheel is getting up on new year’s day with a slight hangover − ‘i had a very good party’ − and beginning to start a new life. at the end of 2003, bultheel had quit his old company pix & Motion after 15 years during which he had established himself as one of the most successful commercials directors in belgium. his credits there included hundreds of live- action and animated films for clients ranging from Mercedes to playstation, from cocacola to citroën. he travelled the world and earned plenty of money. ‘they were big companies and big commercials but, at a certain point, i was fed up,’ the director says of his many years as a hired hand for prestigious clients. ‘commercials are really fascinating. you have the best cameras, the best crews, the best everything... the only problem is that if you make a bad film, it is always your fault and if you make a good film, it is always the agency that takes the credit.’ INNOCENCE keen to make a clean break, the director sold his assets and prepared to start from scratch.
‘i thought, now - what am i going to do?’ animation had always been his passion. he studied the craft under animation legend raoul servais in ghent. his teenage son was keen on cartoons, too. he therefore decided to throw himself into the toon world. For a belgian, this is not an easy prospect. in <strong>Flanders</strong>, he suggests, ‘the options for doing animation are really very limited...’ nor was bultheel much enthused about trying to make a career in short films. that’s why he decided a tv series was the best option. ‘in my innocence i thought that would be possible. little did i know that it would take me five years to accomplish!’ his first step was to begin drawing... and drawing and drawing. eventually, he decided he wanted to make a series with hares. ‘a hare is a symbolic kind of animal because it’s not a rabbit. a hare is like a wild rabbit - a hare is the punk of the rabbit. that’s what i liked. it’s the wild side of the disney films.’ PEANUTS at the time he was doing his first hare pictures, there was a big debate in the belgian press about the noise and environmental impact of the national airport on brussels. that sparked the idea of the ‘hareport’. the first draft of the synopsis was finished almost five years ago. in the summer of 2004, bultheel headed off to the annecy Film Festival in search of backers. there, he met corinne kouper from French production company sparx. she was interested. however, sparx was bought by disney europe. kouper resigned and bultheel seemed to have lost one important potential supporter. he had approached several of the major belgian animation companies to help him make a pilot episode. it still rankles with him today that they all turned him down. ‘not one of the producers made me a serious offer.’ For a brief period, activity on the 'hareport' threatened to grind to a halt. bultheel was becoming increasingly frustrated. he had worked for two years ‘for peanuts’ and the project wasn’t anywhere near production. it was at this point that kouper called him. she had now formed a new company called teamto and was still keen to make the series. through kouper, Hareport was brought to French tv station tF1. slowly but surely, the project began to build up momentum. through his own outfit Filmwerken, bultheel managed to secure support from the <strong>Flanders</strong> audiovisual Fund (vaF). Finally, the director was able to make a two-minute pilot. tF1 expressed certain reservations. the French company was looking for a series that would appeal to 9 to 12 year olds but the pilot’s look and humour played to a younger audience. keen to keep tF1 on board, bultheel went back to the drawing board to redesign the characters and to rewrite the bible. AIRBORNE ‘after a while, i thought the tF1 guys were right,’ bultheel concedes. ‘i think the idea of an airport is better suited for an older public.’ when he presented the new Hareport pilot in cartoon Forum, the response from tF1 was altogether more enthusiastic and committed to funding the project. there were still hurdles to be overcome as kouper looked for international co-production partners in canada, the us and elsewhere. in the meantime, the project regularly got updated and reworked. eventually, vivi Film's viviane vanfleteren came on board as the belgian coproducer. ‘it was me who had started it, who had invested my time, my energy, my money since 2004, working for almost nothing during five years,’ bultheel says of his long battle to get Hareport airborne. early on, he was working largely on his own. when the series finally went into production, he suddenly found himself at the head of a small army of animation professionals. the final production of the series took about a year and a half with a crew of 12 in paris, 25 in valence and about a dozen in ghent. what now? a second series is on the cards. as for a feature film version of Hareport, bultheel says: ‘why not but it’s not for me to decide. the rights are with the producers.’ Five years on from that new year’s day in 2004, bultheel looks back with mixed feelings on his five year quest to get his project to the screen. ‘yes, it has been a very rewarding experience and i am very happy with it. but... with everything that i know now, i should have been able to do this in two years! with what i do know, i’ll do it better next time - and i won’t spend five years of my life on another series.’ Jan Bultheel (°1959) Hareport (2009, TV series) A DVD project of shorts: ‘About love cat. No. #1 to #12 (2000) Mi Corazon Venenoso (1998) Flamma Flamma (1996, short) Diana (1996, short) *selected filmography ????????????? ani.Be all stills Hareport 21
Page 1 and 2: #15 | Autumn 2009 | e 3,50 Ella-Jun
Page 3 and 4: Inside 04 WIDESCREEN Dorothée van
Page 5 and 6: 5 widescreen
Page 7 and 8: DECEMBER 2009 WILL SEE THE UNVEILIN
Page 9 and 10: example, Kids by larry clarke or Th
Page 11 and 12: © bart dewaele the chance to act i
Page 13 and 14: he describes the project as having
Page 15 and 16: Pinball Wizard Lost Persons Area wa
Page 17 and 18: The Misfortunates is based on an au
Page 19: didn’t emulate the characters in
Page 23: why did you become a film director?
Page 26 and 27: © alex vanhee 26 ALL THAT JEF
Page 28 and 29: © Kris dewitte 28 A Town Called CA
Page 30 and 31: © bart dewaele 30 under the influe
Page 32 and 33: © bart dewaele 32 Designed to be f
Page 34 and 35: Fans The Memory of a Killer FOCUS F
Page 36: Everything and everyone you need to

Download pdf - Flanders Image

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?