Singapore’s August Media, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, has teamed up with Manila’s Synergy Group to create a new animation studio called ASI Studios.
On the collaboration, August Media founder and CEO Jyotirmoy Saha said: “2D is still the mainstay for good animated comedy. While many Asian service studios seem to be chasing the CG train, I think there is still a lot of demand for good 2D studios. And when it comes to 2D animation, the talent pool in the Philippines has fantastic variety and size. This facility is just the first step towards what we think will end up to be a group of three such teams.”
ASI represents a complete rebranding and reconfiguration at the former Synergy88 animation studio. Beginning this month, August Media took over the studio’s operations and management, including constructing a new facility that will be completed later this month. Experienced talent from Canada, Europe and other territories will comprise ASI’s production and technology management team. The new studio will offer Flash and Toon Boom production pipelines. Out of the 145 staff members, there will be 50 game developers who work on Flash, HTML 5, Unity, Oculus Rift and other leading game platforms.
Synergy88 Group managing partner Jackeline Chua added: “We are excited about having August Media on board at the new studio. They will bring the experience needed for operating the studios with a producer’s care and mindset rather than a vendor’s production line. The new studio will also be home to some new projects in the pipeline that are targeted specifically at the Asian young adult audience.”
August Media and Synergy88 previously collaborated on the second season of George of the Jungle, which is slated to debut soon on TELETOON and Nickelodeon, among other networks.
