INTERVIEW WITH : MOHD NIZAM ABD RAZAK CEO AND FOUNDER OF ANIMONSTA SDN BHD KNOWN AS MONSTA NOW (BOBOIBOY ANIMATION)
INTERVIEWER : MR SHIDI FOUNDER OF CONTENTPRENEUR.COM, PUSTAKA.MY AND CO-WRITER OF SAMURAI KAMPUNG MEDAN.
Bismillahirahmanirrahim.
Assalamualaikum and a good day.
BOBOIBOY as we already know is a popular Malaysian animated series produced by Animonsta Studios. An animated series about a boy with the power to split into multiple elements. Together with his friends fighting against Aliens who are invading earth for cocoa. It has become popular in other countries as Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Singapore too. Their first movie will be launching on this 3rd March 2016 in 103 cinemas nationwide. So let us know the person behind this animation and how it started.
ABOUT THE CREATOR OF BOBOIBOY – MOHD NIZAM ABD RAZAK
Birth August 14, 1983. Graduated from Multimedia University (MMU) majoring in Film and Animation.
Before starting Animonsta Studios in 2009, he is one of the people who worked with UPIN AND IPIN along Kee Yong Pin, Safwan Karim and Anas Abdul Aziz, his most well known role is being the Director of the 3D animated movie “Geng the Adventure Begins”.
“ We actually started in 2009 but the series of BOBOIBOY is aired on TV in 2011. At first we were planning to make a movie but we realized we have to make BOBOIBOY a name to be recognizable first. Otherwise we have to invest a lot of money in promoting the movie. So we come out an idea to make it an animated tv series in order to build up a big fanbase”.
HOW BOBOIBOY MANAGE TO GATHER FAN FROM THE ASIAN COUNTRY
“ we are able to translate BOBOIBOY in Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin by working with our broadcasting partners in respective country. We are planning to put more effort into localization for countries like Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, China, etc.
AFTER A MOVIE, WHAT IS NEXT
BOBOIBOY now is celebrating the 5th anniversary. It already has its own series of animation, movie and full range of merchandise. What is next ?.
“BOBOIBOY will be part of Movie Animation Park Studio (MAPS Perak), the first animation theme park in Asia which will be launched mid of this year. It will feature BOBOIBOY 4D Adventure, BOBOIBOY Hero Academy, as well as Tok Aba Kokotiam. The whole area will be named as The Home of BoBoiBoy. This is the first time a local animation be part of a theme park.
It will be together with other big animation brands such as CASPER, SMURF, MEGAMIND and other foreign animation.”
HOW YOU SEE OUR LOCAL TALENT
“ It is enough in a quantity but lack in quality. They are not really prepared and ready. However, we have a production pipeline that can let the talent adapt easily providing that they have the right attitude.”
WHAT IS FUTURE PLAN TO MAKE BOBOIBOY BEING RECOGNIZED INTERNATIONALLY.
“ In September this year, we will re-brand BOBOIBOY into BOBOIBOY GALAXY in order to make the brand fits more perfectly into international market. The stories will go deeper and it will be more interesting. We will have a new enemy, new problem arise and a lot more.
HOW TO CREATE A GOOD STORIES
“ People who created this stories need to understand media, have to have a lot of idea, understanding the concepts and the most important thing is to have a talent and discipline. We didn’t invite any outside writer to write our story.”
THINGS WE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT BOBOIBOY
“ First name of BOBOIBOY is BO, BOI and BOY as we thought he need to have three names as he changed to three character but it is to complex so we make it just into one name BOBOIBOY”.
“ First concept is supposedly its about an Aliens invading earth for coffee, then after a few presentation we have been advised it’s a sensitive issue as it can encourage children to drink coffee , so we changed it to cocoa instead”.
“ Other characters name such as ADUDU is taken by ‘DADU’ name as its is square like dice. In Malay we call dice.. “DADU”.
BORARA character name is taken by BORAK.. THE meaning is always like to talk so much, but the main reason all this name being put is , it is easier for kids to pronounce them”.
“ Me, Safwan Karim, Anas Abdul Aziz and Kee Yong Pin have started this Animonsta studio based on friendship. I have known Safwan since 14 years old. He is my schoolmates. Then been separated for a while when he went to science school and I have move to Pandan Indah. Then we met again in MMU. Anas was my housemate while I am studying in MMU. Yong Pin is my Junior in MMU. He was a best student there. So basically we have known each other for a long time”.
7 thing that a lot of BoBoiBoy’s Fans don’t know yet until today.
- At the initial idea we decided that the Aliens will be searching for coffee instead of Cocoa. But we changed it after considering it might be a bad influence for kids to drink coffee as the audience targeting is kids.
- The idea to change from Coffee to Cocoa come from Executive Director of Disney Channel at that time when our team showed the series to them.
- Tok Aba and BoBoiBoy’s Cocoa Shop did not yet register with Malaysian Cocoa Board.
- Founder and Co-Founder of Animonsta Studios know each other since they were 14 years old.
- The story behind name are wordplay name with rhythm. For instance the name of Adu Du’s are because his head is like “dadu” (dice). Then the alien Bora Ra name also have rhythm and taken from work “Borak” mean “to brag” is pretty much.
- Animonsta Studios visitors are not allowed to have a selfie at BOBOIBOY studios or sharing any work in progress inside the studios.
- Any artist that is talented in comic maker are welcome to join the team as said by Monsta CEO because comics are good medium used to express ideas by images, often combined with text and good storyline.
So I end up my interview with this 33 year old young animator and CEO and founder of Animonsta or Monsta studio with just one word to summarize it. TERBAIK as their slogan are. I am proud Malaysian. So lets us support and see this upcoming movie together in cinemas on this 3rd of march 2016.
Leave a Reply