Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit
The Line
Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit was conceived in the ambitious mind of a ten year old Wesley Louis, now co-founder and director at London based animation powerhouse, The Line. The project is an impassioned homage to Saturday morning cartoons of the 80s and 90s. Nods to Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Centurions are clear and were the driving force behind Wes’s childhood comic character. Some 24 years later it was released into the world as an animated title sequence and VR experience.
Following a successful launch event in London, the video has gone viral and featured by the likes of Vice, Vimeo and Motionographer.
The initial draft of the theme tune was written and performed by Rina May. Our role was to then develop and produce the track into something that rang true to 90s cartoon intros. Early versions were predominantly synth led but as the track developed we began to lean towards layers of electric guitar and a bolder trumpet motif. As we listened back to references, the live instrument approach seemed more in line with actual animated intros of the time. The trumpet motif evolved into an amalgamation of the original synth trumpet and a more realistic sample, providing a timbre that reflected the sonic qualities of that era.
Other than the choice of instrumentation, mixing was key in achieving an authentic sound. We were referring back to a lot of the original shows and listening to how they were produced. Re-recording back via analogue tape was ultimately abandoned due to limited effect and we had more luck mastering via some analogue outboard gear in our API Lunchbox to get that elusive vintage warmth. The hoax version of the soundtrack was also effected with VHS emulation software to aid in the illusion of an old video recording.
The SFX were largely influenced by anime, kung fu movies and intros from shows like Thundercats and Centurions. This inevitably involved lot of high pitched phshiiiiiinnnggs and slliiiisssch's. These SFX exhibit a very brittle, almost badly produced quality that hark back to Eastern production of the era. We also looked to use vintage SFX that have been hanging around the major sound libraries for years, things like lightning, gun shots and explosions that are easily recognisable from similar productions. Many of the vintage SFX were lightly augmented with contemporary cinematic sounds to achieve a slightly modernised production quality for the official full release.
We also had the pleasure of meeting Wes’s nephews who came in to record the voices for the WTL logo. A contract was written up and they were paid handsomely in Jaffa Cakes.
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