Blue Zoo Animation Studio

Now that we're into 2025, we would love to know what YOU want to see from us! Comment below if you have more suggestions 😊

How can stopping help? By giving you a moment to think 💭 A huge thank you to everyone who has watched Wonderblocks this week 💚 Tune in now on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer!

It's time to go go go!! Absolutely delighted today to share Wonderblocks with the world on CBeebies - a passion project dreamed up by Blocks creator Joe Elliot and BZ co-founder Tom Box! 🌟 Follow Wonderblocks Go and Stop, and a whole host of lovable characters, as they learn to think for themselves and work together to solve any problem that comes their way!! After dreaming up the idea of a coding-focused version of Numberblocks, the team worked with CBeebies, pitched just before lockdown in 2020, to create a show teaching pre-schoolers about coding. The amazing crew - from Emma Goto crafting the learning journey, to Andrew Barnett-Jones and Ciaran Murtagh weaving complex concepts into fun stories, Simon Taylor bringing it all to life through direction, Jovan de Melo's beautiful designs, and Ben Lee-Delisle's catchy tunes - poured their hearts into creating something special. With our wonderful production team of Zoe Kerswell, Chiara Cannata, Divya Sachdeva, and Stephen Cannon, we've created a show that we hope will spark coding magic in the next generation. Watch it now on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer! https://lnkd.in/eVmAi3vK

This project has been brewing for 40 years and has now launched on CBeebies - welcome to the world of Wonderblocks! In 1985, when I was in infant school, one day, my Dad brought home a BBC Micro, its instructions manual wasn't how to use its apps; it was a book on how to code it. Tinkering with that code instantly set off a lightbulb moment in head - that you could program and control this black box (or beige and orange!) to do anything you could think of?!! That feeling was ✨magical✨ Moving on 30 years , Joe Elliot and I had discussed our shared dream of a coding version of Numberblocks, so in 2019, we finally put our heads together to work out how it could work. Then just before the world shut down in March 2020 we pitched it to the team at Cbeebies, who were intrigued as to how we could make a show about coding for pre-schoolers, and through the intelligent minimalism of the Blocks approach, they instantly got it - big shout out to Joel & co at the BBC who made it happen. Over the next few years, Emma Goto helped us shape the computational thinking learning outcomes covering EYFS/KS1, Andrew Barnett-Jones & Ciaran Murtagh masterfully led the writing team, translating very advanced concepts (abstraction, algorithms, decomposition and more!) into joyful stories and song lyrics, and Simon Taylor's directing wizardry brought everything together in the most perfect way, gorgeously designed by Jovan with musical ear-worms by Ben Lee-Delisle, together constructing a world where everything beautifully clicks, with the production slickly managed by Zoe Kerswell/Chiara Cannata at BZ and Divya Sachdeva/Stephen Cannon at AB. 🙌 But I need to thank every single person on the cast, crew and supporting teams who helped make it - at Alphablocks Ltd, Blue Zoo Animation Studio and CBeebies - animation production really is a team sport! I really can’t wait to see how modern 5-year-olds engage with it, and its interactive counterpart, hopefully setting off the same lightbulb moment that I had 40 years ago, helping shape a whole new generation of thinkers and tinkerers, so whenever they are faced with a problem, just thinking “what would the Wonderblocks do?” will help them out forever. Watch it on CBeebies and iPlayer!

WE'RE HIRING! Product Development & Approvals Coordinator (9-month maternity cover) - London/Hybrid Ideal for someone who: 🌟 Has strong Adobe Creative Suite skills 🌟 Fantastic at managing product development & brand approvals 🌟 Super organized and great with stakeholder communication 🌟 Has a passion for children's entertainment brands Join us in bringing Alphablocks & Numberblocks to life! Apply here: https://lnkd.in/eAcasCwf

WE'RE HIRING! Product Development & Approvals Coordinator (9-month maternity cover) - London/Hybrid Ideal for someone who: 🌟 Has strong Adobe Creative Suite skills 🌟 Fantastic at managing product development & brand approvals 🌟 Super organized and great with stakeholder communication 🌟 Has a passion for children's entertainment brands Join us in bringing Alphablocks & Numberblocks to life! Apply here: https://lnkd.in/eAcasCwf

Something brilliant is coming ... meet Wonderblocks! 🌟 Super excited to share what we've been cooking up with our friends at BBC and Alphablocks Ltd! This new educational animation series follows Go, Stop, and the Do Blocks on their problem-solving adventures. Through fun and engaging stories, young viewers will develop critical thinking and pre-coding skills. Wonderblocks will be going out on CBeebies from the 20th January at 8.20am and with five new episodes a week available on the BBC iPlayer! Follow @WonderblocksOfficial on Instagram for the latest updates. SO proud of this show and can't wait for you to see it!! https://lnkd.in/epsS_dgV #Wonderblocks #Animation #KidsTV #CBeebies

Have a (nut) cracking Christmas! 🎄🌰 Love from Blue Zoo ✨ Concept and look development - Cassandra Haulot Animation - Dane Winn Lighting and comp - Jack McEntire #animation #3danimation #bluezoo

What a ride 2024 has been! ✨ Here's a little peek at the magic our teams cooked up this year - and trust us, there's SO much more where that came from!! Shoutout to our wonderful BZ’ers, awesome clients, and our incredible support squad of family & friends who makes it all possible! 💙 We hope you have a wonderful Christmas break - catch you next year!

I am producing and hosting a couple of online panels for Film London at the LONDON INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL this weekend. Please take a look and reserve a space if you are interested. Fish Where The Fish Are Saturday 30th at 4:00pm Panelists; Rob Doherty 🔜 FESTIVUS LONDON David Kleeman Jo Redfern Paul Pattison "Recent audience research highlights that an increasing proportion of the kids’ audience that consumes animation on TV has left the building. It’s a pressing need for the animation sector to adapt and find them where they are now. To survive, studios have to find a way to navigate social gaming platforms like Roblox and YouTube and social media destinations such as TikTok and Instagram. Are these platforms commercially viable for studios now? If not, what needs to change, and how can you make them work for you?" https://lnkd.in/eZJberAy Neurodiversity in Animation - What's Changed? Sunday 1st December at 10:00am Panelists: Simon Taylor Ari Atack Heloise Beaton Sophie Johnson Alex Davies "During LIAF in 2023, we sat down with a group of animators who identify as neurodiverse and the studios they work with. We discussed the challenges of being neurodiverse in an animated world and what studios could be doing to help neurodiverse talent deliver the best work they can. Over the last twelve months, public and professional awareness of neurodiversity has dramatically increased. But has anything changed in the world of animation? We talk to people who continue to work hard to make a difference and those who still face challenges, asking if awareness is enough?" https://lnkd.in/eUAMUqyp