Another point in common that these characters have is that they are very Argentine, so it is striking that the signal turns their adventures to the entire region. "Isidoro and Patoruzito have global attributes to be able to be animated and broadcast in Latin America. We are confident that adults and children will enjoy them a lot," felipe de Stefani, vice president of marketing and new media at Cartoon Network Latin America, said in a company press release. This position is shared by José Luis Massa, director of the production company in charge, who assures that "they are characters with classic global characteristics, such as mischief or nobility".
In addition, it is being studied to make differentiated dubbing for each market. There will be versions in Portuguese for Brazil, in English for the United States and in neutral Spanish for Latin America, while the porteño and the idioms of the Rio de la Plata will be present in the version for Argentina.
And the choice of voices has been a problem, since being such a popular comic strip and with so much roots in people, it can be said that each reader imagines the way of speaking of each of the characters in very different ways. "For Patoruzito I discarded about 300 voices, and the last 20 selected I had to see them against the image, to give me a more complete idea of how close they were to what I had figured in my mind," Massa confirms.
The absence of a dubbing market for cartoons in Argentina proved an additional complication. "There are no dubbing schools here, we do not have the variety or the wealth of professionals that there are in other markets. This becomes more difficult, in particular, when you have to work with voices for children," says Massa, for whom the voice selection activity "was one of the most stressful of the whole project. This stress will be enhanced with the selection of Isidoro, because "unlike Patoruzito, who has more action and adventure, this character has more text," concludes Massa.
Big experience
Last year, Red Lojo Entertainment, together with Patagonik Film Group and TELEFE, premiered in cinema the feature film "Patoruzito", which was made entirely in Argentina and which occupied for almost a year of intensive work to 126 people, including artists and technicians: cartoonists, animators, editors, musicians, digital imaging experts and sound artists. The film was directed by Massa himself, had a script by Axel Nacher, animation direction by Franco Bittolo and Alberto Grisolía, film adaptation by Omar Quiroga and executive production by Juan Pablo Buscarini. The distribution was in charge of Buena Vista International.
And the brave cacique marked a milestone by bringing to theaters just over two and a half million spectators, an unusual figure for films that are released in the country. It was precisely this large number of people interested in the product that aroused the interest of Cartoon Network. "We believe that as a company we have moved well, after the success obtained by Patoruzito in cinema, when it comes to establishing new alliances," says Massa.
Around 70 people are working for the television proposal. "Patoruzito's experience gives a lot of training to the animators, since they have been drawing it for two years. With Isidoro, on the other hand, we are just in a previous stage, of character development, "says the director.
The animators find in this project an extra incentive. "They are aware that this product is going to be seen all over the world, which significantly increases the level of self-demand," says Massa, while explaining that Cartoon Network has determined quality standards in terms of scripts, images and voices and that approval processes are going through for each of these items. "They visit us regularly to check the progress of the project. In addition, those who work in the local subsidiary of Cartoon Network are very interested in everything related to this product," says Massa.
The animation is done in a traditional way, in two dimensions, with two work teams of four people each. Combustion, Tunes and SoftImage are the tools used for composition, while AVID's Adrenaline is used in the editing stage and the DS Nitris, from the same company, for color.
This won't be Cartoon Network's first experience to regionalize local productions. He has already done it with some shorts that were based on a comic from the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, in Brazil, and with Santo, a Mexican catch wrestler.
The cable signal for boys will thus bring to all of Latin America the Creole nobility, embodied in someone capable of giving everything for the good of their peers, and the liveliness of Buenos Aires, starring a character who will take advantage every time the opportunity crosses him. In a way, Patoruzito and Isidoro represent the face and mint of the Argentine stereotype.
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