{"id":9635,"date":"2016-03-04T10:39:02","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T15:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/darrall-macqueens-billy-macqueen\/"},"modified":"2016-03-07T08:45:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T13:45:03","slug":"darrall-macqueens-billy-macqueen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/darrall-macqueens-billy-macqueen\/","title":{"rendered":"Darrall Macqueen\u2019s Billy Macqueen"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.K.\u00a0independent production company’s co-founder talks about the new\u00a0iteration of <\/em>Teletubbies.<\/em><\/p>\n

When DHX Media was looking to bring back\u00a0Teletubbies<\/em>\u00a0with an updated and upgraded version, it turned to British indie Darrall Macqueen to produce the new episodes. Known for such preschool hits as\u00a0Topsy and Tim\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Baby Jake<\/em>, the company, co-founded by Billy Macqueen, reinvigorated the perennially popular series using CGI and future-proofed the show in 4K to be enjoyed by generations to come.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong>\u00a0How did Darrall Macqueen become involved as producers on the new\u00a0Teletubbies\u00a0<\/em>series?
\n\"Image\"MACQUEEN:<\/strong>\u00a0It was off the back of [a show we produced called]\u00a0Topsy and Tim<\/em>, which is still the number one preschool series in the U.K. DHX picked it up to distribute globally. They thought we had a really interesting and different creative viewpoint. They asked us what we thought about doing\u00a0Teletubbies\u00a0<\/em>as a CGI series. We went, You don\u2019t want to mess with it! [Laughs<\/em>] We had concerns about CGI Teletubbies replacing the costume-character Teletubbies, that we\u2019d lose the tactile nature of the show and the immediacy between director and performer and, of course, the overall dynamic of four Teletubbies physically playing together. We proposed a refreshed and very modern approach that protected the costume-character performance. We were scared stiff when DHX went for our approach because\u00a0Teletubbies<\/em>\u00a0is such a fantastic iconic series and we knew we would be under the spotlight. My business partner [Maddy Darrall] came up with a great line: It was a privilege to be able to polish the crown jewels.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong>\u00a0How did you approach the show with a creative focus that pays homage to its original heritage?
\nMACQUEEN:<\/strong>\u00a0We worked with a lot of the original team who worked on the first series. Our director of photography was the original camera operator on the first series. One of the original performers was our movement coach. [The person who played the original] Po did some script consulting for us. We brought back some fantastic key creatives. Niki Lyons was the original costume designer. She also did the costumes for the feature film\u00a0Where the Wild Things Are<\/em>, which were just stunning. We were delighted to get her back, at 73 years old, to design and make brand-new costumes.<\/p>\n

We knew that we wouldn\u2019t be able to film outside because of the unreliable U.K. weather, which would put pressure on our shooting schedule, so we moved production inside, creating a model of the Teletubby green hills that gave us a magical and believable landscape.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong>\u00a0What does the use of CGI bring to the show?
\nMACQUEEN:<\/strong>\u00a0We applied a mix of visual effects and CGI in two areas. Cutting-edge visual effects enabled us to composite 3-meter-high live-action Teletubbies onto 3-centimeter model hills with fantastic contact shadows and freedom of movement for our cameras. CGI enhanced this magical land further; there were around 60,000 digitally printed flowers on the model set, each smaller than the size of a fingernail. As the Teletubbies run past them, the flowers can turn and follow. There\u2019s another lovely element of CGI, when Laa-Laa hugs a tree it bursts into blossom.<\/p>\n

We tried to use the latest technology to complement our stories but not to distract in any way from our storytelling. The CGI work was very complex and very painstaking but we were focused throughout the process on an end result that looked visually simple.<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong>\u00a0How did the experience of working on the new\u00a0Teletubbies\u00a0<\/em>differ from other projects Darrall Macqueen has worked on?
\nMACQUEEN:<\/strong>\u00a0We attracted people from the feature-film industry to\u00a0Teletubbies<\/em>\u00a0when they heard about our approach. The team at Lola Post Production, who won an Academy Award for visual effects for\u00a0Gladiator,\u00a0<\/em>looked after all the visual effects. A digital printing company called Propshop, which worked on\u00a0Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/em>, 3D printed the Teletubbyland model. There were a host of technicians from the feature-film side. It was really fun seeing people from feature films getting excited and saying, You\u2019ve pushed us on to something new! We haven\u2019t tried this! They were coming off feature films and dealing with how to make beautiful tactile 3-meter-tall Tinky Winky look perfect when performing on a little 2-centimeter model hillock!<\/p>\n

TV KIDS:<\/strong>\u00a0What other projects is Darrall Macqueen working on?
\nMACQUEEN:<\/strong>\u00a0We\u2019re in development on two projects. One is a preschool project that we are developing with DHX. We\u2019re just going out to market with it now and will be sharing more details soon.<\/p>\n

The other one is called\u00a0Hello Tickle Monsters<\/em>. It\u2019s a preschool and family sitcom, with live action and puppets. It\u2019s about a family facing the challenges of integrating a couple of incredibly mischievous and untrainable tickle monsters into their everyday home life. They\u2019ve got to keep them a secret from the very grumbly family next door who think that something is wrong\u2026and it is! We just developed the bible and first two scripts with CBeebies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.K. independent production company’s co-founder talks about the new iteration of Teletubbies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":9636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,21],"tags":[784,783,200],"class_list":["post-9635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-billy-macqueen","tag-darrall-macqueen","tag-teletubbies","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nDarrall Macqueen\u2019s Billy Macqueen - TVKIDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/darrall-macqueens-billy-macqueen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Darrall Macqueen\u2019s Billy Macqueen - 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