Can crowd-funded steampunk adventure help save hand-drawn animation from extinction?
Veteran Disney animator James Lopez, whose credits include such films as ‘The Lion King,’ ‘The Princess and the Frog,’ ‘Pocahontas,’ ‘Hercules,’ ‘The Emperor’s New Groove,’ and the Oscar-winning ‘Paperman,’ is looking to revive the art of 2D (hand-drawn) animation, launching an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to raise $80,000 (€61,000) in order to produce a proof-of-concept short for his steampunk adventure ‘Hullabaloo.’
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Straight from the Indiegogo page, ‘Hullabaloo’ is the story of Veronica Daring, a brilliant young scientist who returns home from an elite finishing school to find her father–the eccentric inventor Jonathan Daring–missing without a trace! The only clue left behind points Veronica toward Daring Adventures, an abandoned amusement park used by her father to test his fantastical steam-powered inventions. There she discovers a strange girl named Jules, a fellow inventor who agrees to help Veronica in locating her missing father and discovering the secrets of his work.
Together, Veronica and Jules learn that Jonathan Daring has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of influential persons, who seek to use his latest invention for nefarious purposes. These villains are wealthy and influential and neither Veronica nor Jules can stop them openly. But determined to save her father and holding true to the family creed that technology should be used for the good of all, not the greed of some, Veronica assumes the secret identity of “Hullabaloo”, a goggled crusader who uses wits and science to combat evil and oppose the nefarious conspiracy that has taken her father.
But the question remains: what are the villains up to? What do they plan to do with Jonathan Daring’s mysterious new technology? And will Veronica and Jules be able to stop them in time?
Lopez’s creative force includes the talents fellow animation vets Bruce Smith, Rick Farmiloe, Minkyu Lee, Sandro Cleuzo, Sarah Airriess, Alexa Summerfield Goriup, Joffery Black, and Leo Oliveto.
To see more on ‘Hullabaloo’ and help play your part in keeping 2D hand-drawn animation alive, head over to Indiegogo page and check out the project’s official website here.