The global creative company BUCK studio has been in the business for almost a decade and its work on Netflix’s We the People has been highly appreciated for the vibrance and distinct 2D animation style. The creative minds of this multiple award-winning studio love to experiment and contribute to some amazing stories.
Their body of work have a really nice balance of 2D and 3D styles. Also, their live action work has grown tremendously over the past few years.
“From time to time, there are trends for certain animation techniques or styles, but these come and go rather quickly. Our focus on every project is to give life to great characters and strong stories,” BUCK studio’s original animation head Mike Rauch told Animation Xpress.
Talking about their style of work, BUCK’s content development head Jay Brooker explained that they are style-agnostic. “We proudly don’t have a house style,” he said. But they love to play in 2D, 3D, puppetry, stop-motion as well as live-action. “We are continually pushing ourselves to create work that doesn’t repeat itself.”
According to Brooker, the studio’s work is defined by how they make things, as much as it is by what they make. In We the People, each of the four episodes (created by Buck) teaches the basics of rights and active citizenship with upbeat songs by popular artists like Janelle Monáe, H.E.R., Adam Lambert, Brandi Carlile and more. The series is created by Chris Nee; and executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama and Kenya Barris.
The series took home a statue for Outstanding Short Form Program at the first annual Children’s and Family Emmy award show in 2022.
“Our work is incredibly diverse, colourful and typically blends humour with whimsy, and a touch of psychedelia,” Brooker said. And it’s visible in their Emmy-nominated series The Beepers. The fun shorts – created to help HBO Max launch their pre-school programming Cartoonito- shows a quirky group of instrumental sound-makers.
The studio believes in collaborative work culture. “Good ideas can come from anywhere,” Brooker said. And they are “a curious, creatively ambitious bunch who seek out new challenges.”
In May 2022, the studio used augmented reality (AR) to bring to life the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. For this first solo exhibition – titled Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow – which took place at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, BUCK had collaborated with Meta on six site-specific AR experiences.
Brooker was amazed to know that their 3D Ohana Flowers caught our attention. When arriving at the Broad Museum, visitors are greeted by large Ohana flowers (appearing in AR) that bloom and smile down at them. “The focus here was to accentuate Mr. Murakami’s work through placement and context, but without imbuing them with new meaning. We were mindful to maintain that balance,” Brooker revealed.
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The BUCK team believes that there is nothing more powerful than someone willing to learn and grow, in order to hone their craft. One of their most ambitious metaverse projects is Dream Stream – a full VR experience where one floats in a virtual inner tube down a psychedelic lazy river through five different themed ‘worlds’. “One out of every four artists at BUCK contributed in some way, and for many of them it was their first time working in creative tech,” Brooker shared.
The studio is always looking for talented and driven people who can join its teams as apprentices. “In fact, 35 per cent of our current team first joined us as apprentices. We now have department heads and group creative directors who have had their entire career at BUCK,” Rauch and Brooker said.
BUCK has also created Love Death + Robots’ S3 E4 “Night of the Mini Dead.” For this episode of the Netflix series, the studio has used a mix of CG and live action photography treated with a tilt shift effect.
AnimationXpress had earlier reported that the company inked a three-project deal with globally renowned Spanish illustrator and author María Ramos. The team is developing her popular kids’ books Tres Luces, BadBat and Bubble Gum Boy. While the latter two will be a kids’ series, Tres Luces (Three Little Lights in English) marks their debut in the animated feature film world and is currently in the early writing and visual development stage.
Constant innovation demands constant learning. Hence, the studio launched Story Lab – a series of workshops and short sprint projects where their employees can get hands-on experience in development, writing, design and production for series and film.
For this diverse range of work, the studio has grabbed multiple Emmy wins, Annie Award nominations and over 150 additional accolades from competitions around the world.
The studio has offices in the USA, Europe and Australia, but none in Asia. Rauch and Brooker said that at the moment, their Sydney studio is the closest point of contact for enquiries from Asia.
“Our future plans are to continue creating engaging stories that resonate with audiences around the world,” Brooker said. And for a studio that constantly works to find new ways to create concepts, we can’t wait to see what’s more in store!