MIAM! animation’s Edmond and Lucy to Debut This Summer

Edmond and Lucy, produced by MIAM! animation with the participation of France Télévisions and HR/KiKA, is slated to debut on July 8 on Okoo and in September on France 5.

Touted as the first animated series to be made almost entirely in real-time CGI, Edmond and Lucy aims to reconnect children to the forest through four seasons. Each episode is written in collaboration with three expert naturalists to choose the major themes and ensure the wildlife and nature content is accurate.

The experts who offer insights are Louise Browaeys, argonomic engineer, CSR expert and author; Gaëlle Bouttier Guérive, author and head of the education department at the NGO Under the pôle; and Didier Moreau, naturalist, ethnobotanist and specialist in experimental ecology.

The series is based on the Edmond and friends book series by Astrid Desbordes and Marc Boutavant, which has been translated into 15 languages and sold in 20 countries. It was made in France by MIAM! studio, Jungler and Artefacts with the real-time CGI rendering engine Unity. The real-time CGI rendering machine only produces 0.15 kg of CO2 for an 11-minute episode, as opposed to 336 kg of CO2 for an 11-minute episode made with traditional CGI.

MIAM! distribution has presold Edmond and Lucy to RTS (French-speaking Switzerland), VRT (Flemish-speaking Belgium), TV5 Monde (French-speaking world except Canada), SVT (Sweden), SYN (Iceland), PULS (Poland), MTVA (Hungary), LTV (Latvia), LMT (Latvia) and RTVS (Slovenia).

Amandine Roussel, deputy director of digital channels for France Télévisions, said: “Since 2018, France Télévisions has been working closely with the team from MIAM! animation in developing and producing the series Edmond and Lucy. Fully in line with the sustainable approach initiated by MIAM! animation at an industrial level, and after 5 years of work, Edmond and Lucy comes at a key moment for Okoo, since we have decided that France Télévisions’ offer for children should speed up its decarbonization. We’ll continue telling children enchanting stories about the world around them and encouraging them to protect it. We want to go even further and move faster with all our producer partners on eco-friendly content broadcast on the Okoo platform and act on the carbon footprint of our broadcasting facilities. The release of the series Edmond and Lucy marks the beginning of this very determined approach. We are very happy to have this series on Okoo this summer.”

Patricia Vasapollo, head of fiction and family at HR—Hessischer Rundfunk, commented: “We are very pleased to be a part of the innovative and very charming new preschool series Edmond and Lucy. Together with our reliable partners at MIAM! animation, we are proud to follow new paths by co-producing the first-ever animation series made in real-time animation for a public television channel here in Germany. With Edmond and Lucy, we will not only bring the beloved characters of Marc Boutavant’s books to life, but we will also be able to embed the nature curriculum through interactive storytelling and gamification, making respect for nature accessible to your young audience in an entertaining way.”

François Narboux, director and artistic director at MIAM! animation, said: “Our project was to get children behind their screens to experience the pleasure of being outside. We wanted to give life to the forest and reach the wealth of atmospheres, textures, vegetation worthy of the most demanding art critic: graphic author Marc Boutavant! Real-time 3D was the ideal technical solution. By almost totally removing the very time- and money-consuming traditional phases of CGI image calculation, we obtained an iterative production pipeline. This pipeline enables us to get almost unlimited enrichment of our images. Cherry on the cake: the real-time engine we used brought a considerable cut in global production carbon waste and thus is fully in line with our concept. Marc is thrilled and so are we!”

Hanna Mouchez, CEO of MIAM! animation and executive producer, added: “Edmond and Lucy is MIAM!’s first production; the upcoming broadcast of the show will be quite a moving moment for us! This project has rooted our whole entrepreneurial approach. The concept of reconnecting children with nature resonates with the sustainable production pipeline we have created with our partners. We have produced a better-quality series, with a controlled budget, while substantially cutting our environmental impact. This is a real revolution. At a time when calculating the carbon spend on any production will become mandatory for everyone in the industry, the use of real-time 3D is a solid competitive asset. France Télévisions and the CNC are historic partners without whom we would not have been able to complete this R&D work. We are most grateful to them!”