Medialab
| Medialab | |
|---|---|
| |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Current president | Jacques Peyrache |
Medialab was a French animation studio founded in 1990. It animated the first two seasons of Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Planet, and commercials for the series.
History[edit]
Medialab was spun off from Videosystem in 1990 to focus on 3D animation for post-production work and the production of Starwatcher, a 3D animation movie done in cooperation with artist Moebius[1]. Following the death of founder Alain Guiot in a car accident in 1992, Medialab was acquired by Canal+, which canceled Starwatcher and focused the studio on TV animation[1].
The company acquired the rights to produce a Donkey Kong Country animated series from Nintendo[2], but fired the original writers after they produced scripts that were judged terrible and featured content unacceptable for a children's program[2]. Medialab contacted Nelvana for assistance in producing the show[2], and insisted it features singing and dancing sequences in each episode[2]. Parralel to Donkey Kong Country, Medialab also produced La planète de Donkey Kong for France 2, a post modern programming block for France 2's children programming. The company's work on its two Donkey Kong shows pioneered the use of magnetic motion capture in TV animation[3].
The company was reacquired by Videosystem in 1999, and filled for bankruptcy in 2000[1].
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Entry on the Histoire 3D wiki. The wiki was created and maintained by the Paris ACM SIGGRAPH. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Retrojunk page for Donkey Kong Country (August 5, 2008). Erika Strobel's comment is under the username "canuckgirl1966" (Retrieved April 24, 2016)
- ^ Ron Fischer, The History and Current State of motion capture. Motion Capture Society. Retrieved October 8, 2015
