OVERVIEW
Founded over 20 years ago in Vancouver, Canada, Bardel Entertainment has consistently delivered leading edge media and entertainment for children and families. The company has a strong track record of adapting to the changing trends in animation and media production, and continues this tradition today as it further expands into convergent and interactive properties.
Bardel began as a service provider for theatrical, Direct-To-Video and television projects for all major US studios. One of Bardel’s largest projects to date was the complete animation production for Dreamworks’ Joseph, King of Dreams. Other notable Bardel feature film work includes Dreamworks’ Prince of Egypt, Adam Sandler’s 8 Crazy Nights for Sony, Anastasia for Fox, Space Jam for Warner Brothers and Bébé’s Kids for Paramount. Bardel employs a highly talented team of artists, technicians and managers, many from around the globe, to ensure world-class production values.
Bardel was one of the first studios to successfully transition from traditional animation services to Flash animation and CG animation capabilities. The company also created some of the first convergent content available both on TV and online. Bardel animated the world’s first television Flash series, Mucha Lucha (Warner Bros.), as well as The Buzz on Maggie (Disney). Bardel also provided CG animation for features such as Happily N’ever After, starring the voices of Sigourney Weaver and George Carlin. Most recently, Bardel has upgraded its digital 2D software to Harmony and has provided animation services on the primetime TV series Bob’s Burgers for Fox, and Neighbors From Hell for Dreamworks. Bardel’s CG crew is currently in production on the hit TV series Planet Sheen for Nickelodeon.
In addition to being a sought-after service provider, Bardel has created and developed engaging entertainment properties through proprietary productions, co-productions and joint ventures with companies in the US, UK and Australia such as 4Kids Entertainment, Avrill Stark Entertainment and Mega Bloks. Most recently, Bardel won the ELAN Award (leading awards for animation & video games) two years in a row for Best Animated Television Production and Best Art Direction for Zeke’s Pad and Edgar & Ellen. Other key properties include Silverwing, the television series and movie trilogy based on the books from award winning author Kenneth Oppel, The Christmas Orange, an annual holiday family favorite and Viva Piñata and Chaotic, two television series that have brand extensions into an Xbox 360 game and trading cards, respectively.
Bardel’s programs have been successfully sold around the world. Through Bardel’s distribution arm, Bardel Distribution, its proprietary programs have been seen in over 140 different countries, including on major television networks such as Disney, Cartoon Network, BBC, Ki.ka, Rai, TPS Jeunesse, CBC, Teletoon, and YTV.
The Future
Today, audiences are moving away from consuming linear content on movie and television to content on computers, game consoles and mobile devices. Bardel is growing with its audience by continuing to create strong brands for children and families with new extensions across multiple platforms. Each project is evaluated, and based on its core strengths, strategically launched on the appropriate platform and extended across multiple platforms. Television or film no longer needs to be the only platforms to initially launch a new property.
Kid Riot Digital, Inc.
Kid Riot Digital is Bardel’s new division focused on developing convergent technologies and content to create fun and innovative experiences for youth and families. Conceived to address the convergent ways audiences consume media today, Kid Riot Digital creates properties that can work well on multiple platforms from TV to online, theatrical, mobile, gaming and publishing. Projects leverage the power of social media to garner community involvement and feedback, which guides the on-going development of the property. Kid Riot Digital launched its first virtual environment, TokiWorld in beta in January 2010. This new virtual world and social networking site has attracted other organizations interested in either becoming TokiWorld partners or harnessing the knowledge and capabilities of the Kid Riot team for service work on new interactive projects, including Seek Your Own Proof for Discovery Kids/CIE, and the Vancouver H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. Recently, Kid Riot has branched out to mobile interactive properties by becoming an approved Apple developer, creating its first iPad application, All in a Hay’s Work.
