What does Fopspeen do?
 
Animation

We do any kind of animation for film, television programming, commercials, music videos, training videos, theatre productions and so on.

Sound & Music

We compose and record music, record sound effects, do sound design, and final mix for any kind of production.

What does 'Fopspeen' mean, and what inspired the name?

Fopspeen is an Afrikaans word for a baby’s dummy, or pacifier.  A baby sucks on it to calm down, or as a substitute for the real thing. Art is a dummy or pacifier for life.

Who is Fopspeen? 

Diek Grobler trained as an artist, and has been painting and exhibiting professionally since 1988. He has also ventured into performance art and avant garde theatre over the past twenty years, which eventually led him to animation.

“My paintings were always narrative, so it was a natural progression from painting. In a film I can explore my narratives further than in the single frame of a painting. And I prefer animation to live theatre for the distance it affords: The audience can’t throw things at me any more.”

Charles Badenhorst is a musician and animator. He didn’t start out that way, but that is a long story. He released his debut solo album Bloed vir ontbyt in 2007. Charles spent three weeks in 2006 with Aardman Animation in Bristol UK, getting a crash course in claymation, which primarily entailed playing with Gromit’s ears. He is also a philosopher: “Hoe rouer, hoe beter. Ek glo hoe verder mens van ‘n punt af wegbeweeg, hoe verder beweeg mens van die punt af.”

(pic to come)

Jansen Lourens joined Fopspeen to work on “The Justice Gang”, as the brief asked for a Marvel Comics kind of style.  Jansen is more a Manga Man (Marvel is for sissies), but we thought he would do nicely.  And he does.
 
Transient labour ‘Assistants’ drift in and out, often students who want some experience or don’t have a life.  If we like them, they stay a while, and make a contribution.  And a lot of tea. And we don’t mind the cheap labour.

Where is Fopspeen situated?

Fopspeen creates their magic in Pretoria, within spitting distance of the Union buildings.  We see convoys of dignitaries charge past, we hear marches of protest steaming up the hill, we hear songs of celebration resounding from the Union building gardens.  We keep our ears on the ground and hope nobody marches over our heads.  And we are always in the light, as we are on the same power grid as the president.

Hopes and dreams?

We have too many projects boiling in our heads to realize within the next 10 years.  But we will try our best. Somewhere amongst all those bright ideas is a feature length animation movie, in a truly South African idiom.  So none of that awful 3D Computer generated American kind of crap. And “Sanna’s Garden”, the project closest to our heart, must get completed SOON.
 
And we want World Peace.