NZ Herald and NZ On Air have given new life to a cartoon strip from the Herald’s now defunct music magazine Volume, taking it from paper to an animated web series called Hook Ups on the Herald website.
The 10-episode web series follows twins Kowhai (voiced by Jessica Hansell) and Monty (Rizvan Tu’itahi) on their quest for musical fame in Aroha Bridge (a play on Mangere Bridge). Madeleine Sami and Frankie Stevens also make appearances as the twins’ parents. The first episode can be seen here.
The series is the brainchild of Hansell, who is a musician herself going by the stagename Coco Solid. The show is produced by Fumes Production, which was behind TV3 comedy Super City.
Hook Ups launched yesterday along with an accompanying iOS app. The app lets users collaborate with friends to create simple music tracks which can be shared with on Facebook and through SoundCloud. If they’re really good, the songs can be submitted and featured in the soundtrack for the next week’s episode.
Hook Ups received $44,950 of funding from NZ On Air last year towards the 10 three-minute episodes. The show airs every Thursday at 4pm at nzherald.co.nz/hookupstv and is ad-supported, this week’s show featuring a TVC from Meridian Energy.
Credits:
Creator and writer: Jessica Hansell
Director: Simon Ward
Producer: Carthew Neal (Fumes Production)
Illustrations: Don Brooker
Starring: Jessica Hansell, Rizvan Tu’itahi, Madeleine Sami, Scotty Cotter & Frankie Stevens
Music: Disasteradio, Coco Solid, Sam Moore and Jizmatron
App developers: Daniel Too and Tim Checkley