If you’ve been keeping your eyes on the interwebs and the local rumours buzzing the currents, you’ll have seen this project flooding the web by storm and it is going from strength to strength. The story of Kariba is one of the best things to happening on the internet and we had the awesome chance to get an interview with the team behind this wonderful creation.

If you have not heard or seen anything of Kariba yet – watch this trailer and then you can thank us later.

 

Please tell us about your team, who are the people behind Kariba?

Blue Forest Collective are currently:

• Daniel Clarke (director)
• Jac Hamman (animation director)
• Daniel Snaddon (co-director)
• Charl Collocott (Compositor)
• and Sarah Scrimgeour (campaign manager)

We all met while working on various projects at Triggerfish Animation Studios in Cape Town!

Please tell us about the legend that inspired the story of Kariba

Sure! During the construction of the Kariba dam, the (largest civil engineering project of it’s time) the people of the area told the engineers that Nyaminyami, the great spirit of the Zambezi would not allow them to complete the dam, as it was separating him from his wife further downstream!To the surprise of the engineers, a freak flood took out the dam when it was nearing completion!

To the surprise of the engineers, a freak flood took out the dam when it was nearing completion!

When experts were called in, they assured the engineers that this was a once in 1000 year event and that they could start building again with confidence. But the following year,  another flood destroyed the wall again!

When did you start working on this project?

Dan Clarke started originating the concept back in early 2013 doing concept art.
We started work on the trailer in October 2014.

Which team member drinks the most coffee?

Metro the cat. He has a serious problem.

 

Please tell us what you are aiming for with Kariba regarding your transmedia goal of a feature film & graphic novel

[Editor Neal: Why are you choosing this route?]

Our goal is to make a really beautiful 2D animated feature film.  Though we’re excited about the graphic novel and want it to stand on its own as a great book, the goal is definitely the movie!

We’re choosing this route in order to maintain creative control, and to make sure we start the movie with a solid story foundation.

You recently launched a Kickstarter campaign – where can we go donate and contribute to the making of Kariba?

Yes! We’re actually sitting at 150% of our goal right now so we are thrilled with the response!

People who’d like to pre-order the book (we still have a couple of super fancy signed limited edition hardcovers left!) can go to:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/blueforestcollective/kariba-the-graphic-novel

Will you be selling Art of Kariba books?

(I want to buy one)

Best we can do is the graphic novel for now!

But as we managed to hit our first stretch goal, that will include bonus art pages!

 

What has been the biggest challenge for you to overcome as a team with Kariba?

Lack of time and funding, which is what Kickstarter has afforded us! We know that making a movie is a long and arduous task, so we’re just very happy to be off to such a great start!

 

What has been the funniest moment you have experienced?

Some of the comments on our trailer”s Reddit thread were  really funny (in both good and bad ways)! We can’t print them here, but you can check them out here

Be warned, the internet is a strange place…

 

Where can we follow Kariba online?

Sure, sign up for Kariba news on our website here

 

Do you have any thoughts or words of wisdom that you want to share?

This is for any artists who would like to follow in your footsteps and make a story of their own? OR Do you have any thoughts or advice for upcoming producers looking to get their stories produced?

Do what you love, not only what you think people are going to like/buy! Find good collaborators, and break up your big audacious dreams into small achievable goals, and of course the most important part is to just do them!

 

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