Tag Archives: Ayodele Elegba

Elegba unveils Area Daddy

Spoof Animation’s Ayodele Elegba reveals how his new animated series Area Daddy delves into the generation gap in the African family.

Ayodele Elegba

Ayodele Elegba, president of the Association of Comic Makers of Nigeria and MD of Lagos-based Spoof Animation, is launching a new animated series called Area Daddy (10×6’).

The cartoon is produced by Spoof, France’s Lagardère Studios and its Senegal subsidiary Keewu Productions, and is based on a show that won Elegba the first edition of Digital Lab Africa’s transmedia category in 2016.

What inspired you to create Area Daddy?
At Spoof Animation, we are driven by our core values, namely passion, love, excellence, accountability, speed and consistency in delivering quality content. By creating Area Daddy, we are bringing the challenges of the generation gap in the African family setting to the screen using the medium of animation.

What message is the show passing across to its audience?
Area Daddy is the story of a typical African family who have to deal with the modern day technological advancements and moral values. It is the story of a strict retired soldier, General Koko, who is still stuck in the glories of his generation’s past, and manages the day-to-day challenges of running his family in the modern age of social norms and tech advances.

Area Daddy

His wife, Loretta, who doubles as a mother, also tries as much as possible to bridge the gap between the perspective of her children – Vivian, Boniface and Jojo – and her husband’s ancient one.

The series received international funding for its pilot episode but we are currently working on a 10-episode family TV series.

What other shows are you working on?
Our other upcoming animated content includes Hero Corp, which is an animated television series franchise that features a team of fictional superheroes. This is an action-packed TV series featuring Spoof’s comic characters like Vantage, Boxsa and Strikeguard and Jinx, bringing together their hero recruitment effort to defeat the unprecedented threat to earth. We have other episodes lined up which will be produced but we are sourcing for sponsorships.

We emerged winner for the 2016 Digital Lab Africa Competition. Spoof has also been nominated in several animation film festivals and has worked with such brands as Coca-Cola, Heineken and Learn Africa. Our animated 2D short for the Strikeguard comic book adaptation was also globally received in 2017 at the Lagos Comic Convention, among other 2D shorts created.

Ayodele Elegba is the president of the Association of Comic Makers of Nigeria, a body that seeks to promote the interest of Nigerian comic creators all over the globe. He is also founder and MD of Spoof Animation, a leading animation and content producer in Nigeria, which he founded in 2015.

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Animators speak out at NITV

Somto Ajuluchukwu, Ayodele Elegba and Kola Olarewaju at the animation roundtable

Animation is an often-neglected part of Nigeria’s media industry but this is beginning to change, delegates at Nigeria International Television (NITV) Summit heard.

In a roundtable discussion at the Wednesday event, studio heads and animators discussed the uniqueness of the animation industry as well as the challenges.

Mbuotidem Johnson

Speakers included Mbuotidem Johnson, CEO of Basement Animation; Ayodele Elegba, CEO of Spoof Animation; Kola Olarewaju, CEO at Komotion Studios; and Niyi Akinmolayan, CEO of Anthill Studios. The session was moderated by Somto Ajuluchukwu, MD of C3 African Network.

Highlighting the challenges facing the industry, panelists agreed that one of the major issues is electrical power, saying that the use of high-powered computers and other technology necessitates constant light, which is costly in Nigeria.

According to Akinmolayan, talent is also difficult to come by because there are no training schools in Nigeria, so it falls on the animation studios to train animators, which is a long and costly process.

“Finding the right person to do your job is not easy because there are no qualified people and no training schools. Therefore, that responsibility lies on us, so we train and do the job simultaneously because that is the best tactic,” he said.

Agreeing with this, Johnson, who is also the founder of trade body Animation Nigeria, said: “I came from a background of 3D animation but as I considered my options, I switched to 2D. With 2D I can finish a project and train faster. Within a month a trained person can execute 2D renderings well enough, but 3D takes about five to six months of training and you’ve hardly begun.

“Finding investors is also one of the hardest thing to do. So to stay in this industry you have to do things in unusual ways.”

For Akinmolayan, director of The Wedding Party, the right approach to sustaining an animation studio is to get other jobs to keep the cash flowing.

“Do something on the side. I make money as a film director. If you call me to do wedding videos, I will do it. Anything to keep the money flowing in, because animation is a long-term investment and I’m not giving up.”

Olarewaju highlighted the issue of religion and animation. “When we did [short film] Sango, many people said it was fetish. They liked it but would badmouth it because of their religion. They do not see it as a work of art but as something fetish, which is mostly how Nigerians react to something out of the norm,” he said.

“The audience demand in the international market and here in Nigeria varies. Animation in the international market is often created for younger audiences, for under-nines, or nine- to 13-year-olds. However, here it appeals more to adults, so to break the market in Nigeria we are often forced to create content for adults, which is kind of restricting,” said Johnson.

Elegba, also founder of Lagos Comic Con (LCC), advised on the right strategy for getting investors. “If you are only thinking of how good your content is, you will run down,” he said. “You have to think of the business side – think distribution, coproduction, and more.”

LCC, of which Content Nigeria is a media partner, takes place at the Landmark Centre, VI, Lagos on September 15.

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Lagos Comic Con is back and bigger

The Lagos Comic Convention (LCC) is set to take place this weekend, and organisers say the event is bigger than ever.

Ayodele Elegba

On Saturday, September 15, the seventh edition of the LCC will be hosted at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Popularly known as Africa’s biggest geek and pop culture event, the annual convention will be attended by over a thousand guests, exhibitors and buyers.

The one-day event features a number of activities, from master classes to pitches and costume (cosplay) competitions, as well as exhibitions and networking opportunities.

This year’s convention focuses on the theme; Aspire, Dream, Prosper. Attendance is free but one must register to have access to the various master classes from different sectors of the creative industry.

“Being the seventh edition this year, we want to give every attendee the experience of a lifetime. The fun will be seven times bigger. At the end of the event all who came will leave without a doubt they were in truly the biggest gathering of geeks and pop culture fans in Africa,” said LCC founder Ayodele Elegba.

Other aspects of the event include: Nollycon (a film plenary), Comiccon (for artists, animators, illustrators to showcase their projects), Gamezone (for gaming enthusiasts), Rendacon (plenary and seminars discussing the business of comics) and Bookicon (access to author signings and publishing workshops).

Kids aged between six and 12 also get a chance to learn about animation and illustration at dedicated workshops at the Kids Zone.

Speakers include: Niyi Akinmolayan, Mbuotidem Johnson, Osas Asemota, Toke Makinwa, Juliana Oloyede and Jeanne Blasberg. Click here to purchase tickets for the master classes and Kids Zone.

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