TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA - THE TV SERIES

Tales from Outer Suburbia is a 10 x 22 minute animated TV series for children, drawing upon elements of the original book without being an adaptation in the strict sense. Characters such as the water buffalo, the grandparents, diver and dugong, for instance, appear in different roles and contexts, with different possible meanings, and a new array of characters and situations are introduced.

I was involved as part of a small writing team, developing a script which evolved over two or three years. I also provided some character and environment drawings (see below), a relatively minor contribution to the vast amount of design and animation work produced by the team at Flying Bark Productions in Sydney, Siamese in Perth, and Digitoonz in India.

Big thanks to all involved for capturing the spirit of the original stories while pursuing a unique vision and style. I’ve always been very open to adaptation of my work, with many books forming the basis of music, theatre  and film productions, The Lost Thing, The Arrival, The Red Tree, Rules of Summer and more. My approach has always been to allow any interested creative team to do their own thing, follow new storylines, reimagine a world and its actors so long as the foundational tone and openness to interpretation respects the original material. I’ve always been interested in visual stories that are not overly explained or narrated, where an audience has space to consider their own impressions of a world that is both familiar and strange. How that might be achieved always remains an open question.

Much of the initial discussion with producers and the creative team at Flying Bark involved finding a suitable narrative and visual style along these lines, then testing multiple ideas through script, storyboard and animation design. Many revisions later, with a lot of shifting characters and environments, the TV series found its footing and different artists, animators, voice actors, sound and lighting designers, composers and umpteen other creatives could work within a common language, while still evolving its look and meaning, adding their own innovations.

 I certainly learned a great deal about TV production, its complexity, logistics and constraints as well as possibilities. I’ve been hugely impressed by the work produced, even more so with an understanding of the difficult balancing act behind the scenes. Big thanks to all involved for their faith and commitment to this strange little world.

Further Links:

Flying Bark Productions

Resources for teachers (TBC)

 PRODUCTION DETAILS

Tales from Outer Suburbia is a co-production between Highly Spirited and Flying Bark Productions for ABC and BYUtv. Major production investment from Screen Australia and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation in association with the ABC and BYUtv. Produced in New South Wales and Western Australia with Siamese and financed with support from Screenwest. International sales by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation. Adapted from Shaun Tan's multi-award-winning book Tales from Outer Suburbia. Directed by Noel Cleary. Creative Director: Shaun Tan. Producers: Sophie Byrne and Alexia Gates-Foale. Co-producer: Francesca Hope. Executive Producers: Barbara Stephen, Bernadette O’Mahony, Andra Johnson Duke, Francesca Hope, Jeff Simpson, Julia Adams, Karen Vermeulen, Libbie Doherty.