Thomas Pool: Elk Studios is part of Ireland’s fast-growing animation industry. What can you tell us about the organisation, its history, mission, and where it’s going?
Aisling Conroy: We are a boutique animation studio, nestled in the heart of Dundalk that brings a wealth of experience from other high-profile studios and projects. The studio was founded by Producer Ian Hamilton in 2017 with the team growing its core to nine people since then. Ian wanted to do something a little different and setup a studio away from the usual animation hubs in the country. Elk is a studio that emphasises work/life balance and recognises young, up-and-coming artists. We are currently beginning to crew up for a long form TV series, which means we will have close to 60 people working in the studio for this project. It’s a very exciting time for the studio and the town of Dundalk.
Your recent animated short film, The Last Set (2023), has received critical acclaim at film festivals, including the Galway Film Fleadh, where it premiered last July. The film differs from your usual productions in that it seems geared towards a more mature audience. Is this a new direction, or do you see Elk Studios continuing to create productions for both younger and older audiences?
The Last Set was Elk’s first ‘Frameworks’ film, an initiative funded by Screen Ireland and RTÉ to highlight new filmmaking talent within the Irish animation industry. It probably seemed like a departure from preschool-oriented titles for the studio, but at Elk we are open to exploring both the conventional children’s animated content and more mature subject matters. We find that this can be a great opportunity for our crew as they get to experience a wider range of styles and themes. We had a crew of very talented artists working on The Last Set and this allowed us to steer the creative direction of the studio into new territory, and see new possibilities for potential projects. We intend on continuing that trend of both children’s and mature content. The upcoming project will be our first long-form TV series based on a well-known children’s book IP for young adults (8+). It’s a comedy, action/adventure but it also has a co-viewing element, so it will be relatable for children and have that extra comedic edge for adults too.
Could you walk us through the more intricate details of the production process? What goes into making your animations?
The animation process is a very laborious process, which is why it’s so costly. In the case of a 2D TV series, it will take over two years to make. Many stages happen at the same time, or there are crossovers so there’s a lot to manage, which is why having an experienced production team to manage schedules for the artists is key to a tight and successful production.
In the early development stage, scripting begins with the Head Writer and Directors in a ‘Writers Room’ to have the main story arc and story outlines for each episode. There may be a number of rewrites and edits from the script editor. Next, the casting of voice actors will begin and these actors will work with the Director to get the voice records down. The musical score and sound design will also begin. In the ‘Visual Development’ stage, the Production Designer works with the Directors and Art Director to establish the style of the show to include character design, key locations, and props.
Once scripts have been approved, they move onto the storyboarding team. The Directors (Series Director, Episodic Directors, Art Director) work closely with the storyboarding team to establish the storytelling approach of each scene. The Animation Director will also be consulted during this process to make sure certain approaches are feasible. The storyboard becomes an animatic once it is given to the editor to add timing and temporary sound (scratch track). This will show the building blocks of the animation and give an idea of the pacing of the show as well as how the voiceover will match up with the visuals.
During this time, the clients will usually want to see some animation tests, before all the storyboards have been approved. The Animation Director along with a Lead Animator will animate some key acting scenes working with the Series Director to demonstrate and establish the animation and acting style of the show. The Art Department will begin the process of producing background art and props for the show. Scene prep will begin at the same time – this role is a very important step to animation and involves constructing the scene by bringing in the characters, props, background, and layout and setting up and animating cameras using the animation software.
Once these stages are completed or have progressed along, we move into the animation process, crewing up with as many as 15 animators, consisting of a Supervisor, Leads, Seniors and Junior animators. There will be a number of episodes being animated at any one time, as the animators are split into teams. The Editors work closely with the Directors, and production team are responsible for exporting daily edits with the latest production artwork and animation. The Directors approve and sign off the animation before it goes into the post-production stage, where we add special effects and in some cases colour grade (although this is less so in animation as the Art Director has already done this job in the initial stages of design).
The score and sound design for the show has already begun back in the development stage and this will come to fruition for the final mix of each episode. The final mix is the very last review by the Series Director to make minor adjustments and tweaks. During this whole process, client reviews and feedback happen on a weekly basis. Once all is approved and any final adjustments have been made, the project files are rendered and delivered to the client.
How do you maintain a balance between creating studio-driven projects and client-driven projects?
This is a difficult thing to do when you are tied between trying to realise creative projects, but also needing to keep the lights on and make sure everyone stays employed. It’s a struggle for all studios. We have been very lucky so far, in that we have only worked with projects that we really enjoyed or have meaning for us. Also I think having good working relationships and culture in the studio has really helped in choosing the right projects while keeping the Elk ethos in mind, which is based on fairness, diversity and inclusivity.
Since the beginning, Ian has actively encouraged and supported our crew and management team to engage with mentoring, training, and continued professional development, and this has really strengthened the studio. Because of these foundations, we have always been striving to champion the ideas and talents of new creators, creating safe spaces for new talent to progress in the animation industry. I believe this is how we strike that balance between studio-driven vs client-driven. It’s very exciting to be in a thriving creative studio and see so much talent come onboard.
How do you see the animation industry evolving in Ireland over the next decade?
The next decade is certainly going to be a very interesting one for animation in Ireland, with many opportunities and challenges presenting themselves. On the positive side of things, access to information and digital learning is really giving Ireland’s new talent a boost as they are coming out of college, higher skilled and with far better developed talent than ever before. This will allow the Irish animation workforce to grow locally, which will benefit the studios overall. The makeup of the employers has already seen a shift in the last four years and we think it’s going to continue. Smaller, independent studios are entering the market each year, many of them bringing valuable experience from the larger studios, which are generally scaling back the size of their workforce and becoming nimbler. Employees have more choice of studio than ever, and we see that continuing and becoming normal for staff to move between studios as contract work pops up.
The biggest challenge for the next ten years is certainly the advent and dominance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps, which can generate imagery and animations. There is a real risk that specialist skills like drawing, composition, layout, and colour theory will atrophy, especially if younger talent rely on AI as a tool. However, we at Elk are confident that there will always need to be real people at the heart of any production – AI can only remix what is already created. AI will have its moment of interest and then we believe audiences will want more genuine stories and art, something we are seeing already with the move back to more traditional animation techniques, like hand drawn and stop motion, in recent years. Audiences are smarter than we give them credit for and they are already fatigued by seeing constant computer generated imagery. On an island of storytellers, we will always have new people and new stories to tell. That is something that machines cannot replace and we will always champion real people in our studio.
Aisling Conroy is an artist and the Development Director of Elk Studios.
