Ellipsanime Productions and TimpelPictures are developing adventure-spooky animated series Under the School (26×26′), an original project by Nicolas Bary. The 2D-rendered 3D animation series for seven to 12 year-olds is one of the projects presented at the Cartoon Forum.
Under the School raises the curtain on the hidden face of a unique boarding school, whose teaching methods have made world’s worst dunces the world’s best students. To do this, St Joseph’s has a secret, under the school’s floors is a ‘reconditioning’ system to put the kids ‘on the straight and narrow’, which is as efficient as it is mysterious. But they didn’t count on Bug and his little brother Doudou, two new pupils who aren’t going to go quietly!
“Through their adventures, the heroes and heroines have to learn how to trust each other and surpass themselves. It is a series where the children learn to bend the school’s strict rules to learn in a different way,” Ellipsanime Productions producer Arthur Colignon said.
“The series encourages the right to be different, to show that the academic education system does not suit everyone and that there are lots of ways of succeeding in life. That is what attracted us in particular about Nicolas Bary’s project,” he added.
Nicolas Bary a producer, writer and director is known for his works Trouble at Timpetill which is adapted from the novel by Henry Winterfeld, The Scapegoat that is adapted from Daniel Pennac’s bestseller, and Little Spirou, an adaptation of the famous cartoon books by Tome and Janry published by éditions Dupuis.
“I imagined the universe of the series over 15 years ago, delving into my memories as the dunce at the back of the class, having experienced life in a boarding school,” Bary said.
“Our ambition with the artistic team, Justine Cunha, the graphic author, Cyril Deydier, the co-writer, and Max Maléo, the director, is to plunge children into a retro-modern world: as realistic as it is spectacular with its sets. And at its heart is an investigation which will take them into the bowels of the school. No super-powers in our story, just the power of the imagination and everyone’s individual talents, which remains their greatest strength,” he added.
The series is also being adapted as a comic book, which will be co-edited by Dupuis and TimpelPictures. There will be three volumes, two of which have been written and are in the drawing phase.
