LoliRock

LoliRock
LoliRock logo in cursive writing outlined in yellow
Genre
Created by
  • David Michel
  • Jean-Louis Vandestoc
Written by Madellaine Paxson
Directed by Jean Louis-Vandestoc
Voices of
Theme music composer Nobert Gilbert
Opening theme
  • "Higher" by Yasmin Shah (English)
  • "Rêve Idéal" by Cassandre Berger (French)
Ending theme (instrumental of opening theme)
Composer(s) Nobert Gilbert
Country of origin France
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 52 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) Jean Louis Vandestoc
Running time 22 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor Zodiak Kids
Release
Original network France 3, France 4, Netflix
Picture format 1080i: HDTV
Original release 18 October 2014 (2014-10-18) – present (present)
External links
LoliRock official website www.lolirock.fr
LoliRock production blog teamlolirock.tumblr.com

LoliRock is a French animated television series produced by Marathon Media and Zodiak Kids. It was created by Jean Louis-Vandestoc and written by Madellaine Paxson.[1] It first aired in France on 18 October 2014 on France 3, and has expanded to television channels in Europe.[2] It has also been licensed worldwide, with an English dub released to Netflix on 1 May 2016.

Plot

Iris is a teenage girl who likes to sing and help others. However, when she sings, strange events happen. Encouraged by her best friend Nathaniel, Iris auditions for a girl rock band, but her power destroys the room and she is later attacked by two strangers. The judges at the audition, Talia and Auriana, come to help her, and they explain to her that she is actually a princess with magical powers who must save her kingdom of Ephedia from the clutches of Gramorr, who has taken over. The only way to save it is to master her powers and to find the Oracle Gems of the Royal Crown of Ephedia, which are scattered across the Earth. Over the course of the series, the three girls try to live as both ordinary teenagers as well as rock stars of the all-girl band "LoliRock", while training Iris in secret and gathering the gems. But when Gramorr sends twin siblings Praxina and Mephisto to fight them and summon monsters to cause chaos, the girls must work together as magical girl warrior princesses.

In season 2, the three girls are joined by Ephedian girls Carissa and Lyna, who also transform into warrior princesses, but are not part of the band. The girls continue gathering Oracle Gems while helping those in need, but Gramorr and the evil twins continue to get stronger as well. When the last oracle gem is collected, Iris faces the reality of having to say goodbye to Nathaniel and returning to Ephedia, but when Gramorr claims the final gem and is freed, the girls work together to face him in one last battle.

Characters

Tabitha St. Germain voiced several of the key characters in LoliRock including Auriana, Amaru, Aunt Ellen, and Carissa

Production

Conception

Jean-Louis Vandestoc drew inspiration for LoliRock from watching anime in his childhood that was broadcast on the French channels, including Sherlock Hound, Space Adventure Cobra, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, and Dragon Ball, but his most influential title he watched was Magical Princess Minky Momo. He wrote "I loved the very core of it : a child transforming into an adult, helping people and making good deeds, the nice chara design, and finally the tone of the show : it could be funny and light, but also dramatic and tearful at other times. My soul was marked forever." After working on French cartoons Monster Buster Club and Rekkit Rabbit he wanted to make a magical girl show. He chose Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure as references for the magical girl part, and Jem and the Holograms for the music career part. [27]

Character design

Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey, character reference for Iris
Amber Stevens West, character reference for Talia
Ariana Grande performs as Cat Valentine with cast of Victorious, character reference for Auriana

The producers at Marathon Media asked designers to draw Iris for a magical girl project as a teenage alien princess with ice/crystal powers. Character designer Bertrand Todesco drew inspiration from Betty Autier, a French fashion blogger of "le blog de betty". She had dark hair and straight bangs, but Todesco figured the producers wanted a blonde girl for a lead, so he went with the look of Jenny Humphrey of the TV series Gossip Girl, portrayed by Taylor Momsen. The producers also wanted the girls' irises to be star-shaped. Autier's appearance as well as her wardrobe was retained for Talia.[8]

Following the initial picture, Todesco needed to design a princess/rockstar outfit, of which he chose a green dress worn by Blake Lively. The color was changed to pink as green was not suitable for merchandising. Todeco added a magical pet creature in the custom of Sailor Moon, which would later become Amaru. He designed in the hair streaks for when the girls were rock stars, and dresses that weren't so frilly that they would be complicated to draw.[8]

In designing Talia and the then-named Aurora, Todesco originally started with a black girl and an Asian girl with typical hairstyles, but later changed his mind.[10] He then found inspirations from other Gossip Girl characters as well as actresses Amber Stevens West and Ariana Grande, the latter of whom was how she acted in the teen sitcom Victorious rather than her current pop singer image. He also referenced Keri Hilson and Alicia Keys. Victorious was also the inspiration for some of the key visuals he used in promoting the series to get funding.[9]

Early promotions of the series pictured the antagonist named Gromar to be an evil uncle of Iris who imprisoned the king and queen, and that he sent his two evil twin nephews to Earth to thwart Lolirock and take the gems.[2] Paxson said that they abandoned the idea as it would have made him more of a stereotype.[15] Todesco originally conceived of antagonists Praxina and Mephisto to have guitar playing sound powers that would counter the girls' singing voice powers but the idea was abandoned.[17] After several iterations, Praxina's final design was approved where she would have a butterfly brooch and motif, while Mephisto's was approved later, after director Jean-Louis had suggested he have a snake motif and a half-covered face.[17][18] Eventually Gramorr would have the covered face,[14][18]

The design for the crystal magic circles and related animation was first done in 2D based off some reference pictures. Different colors and symbols were assigned to each character. It was later created in CGI.[6] Animation tools used include Toon Boom Harmony, Adobe After Effects, and Blender.[28]

Themes and writing

LoliRock head writer Madellaine Paxson, who had worked on children's shows Making Fiends, Power Rangers RPM as well as the horror film Blood Punch, described the themes of the show as: friendship and love, magic, singing / music, and good vs. evil. She said the hardest part in writing an episode is the beginning and also in integrating the themes along with a story with a person that needs help. Her favorite scenes from the show were where the princesses are together doing ordinary teenage girl things as they had opportunities for comedy. She summarized the show as having something for everybody, very girly, but good action too.[29] In the press release, Zodiak Kids describe the show as having a "cast of characters that are aspirational role models for a generation of children for whom justice has become a core value".[30] Jean-Louis Vandestoc chose a band concept for the series as it was different from his other shows which involved characters that went to school and then saved the world. The school part was replaced by the girls training or rehearsing for the concert.[31]

According to posts on the production Tumblr, LoliRock is classified as somewhere between a script-driven and storyboard-driven show. They started with a full script and then recorded lines with scratch voices or final voices, as re-recording after storyboarding would be costlier. The storyboard is then worked on, and some of the storyboard artists and supervisor adding and changing things they felt were important such as with the kiss scene in the Shanila episode and the Iris becoming a dark princess. Storyboard stage also included fixes for continuity and plot holes.[32]

Music and voice-over

The music score was composed and produced by Norbert "Yellowshark" Gilbert, with about 600 tracks over the course of the 52 26-minute episodes.[33] Five recurring songs (including the theme song) were recorded for each season. Due to limited resources in production, the team posted that Iris would be the only one singing on those songs, so they recorded Yasmin Shah in English and then developed the music videos. After realizing that it would be unnatural for the other girls to not sing, they designed Iris to have a microphone while the others would just sing along. They considered recording singing for Talia and Auriana but were constrained by budget. Cassandre Berger provided the singing on the French dub. The voices were then mixed. As the dialog was done later, the voice actors only sang on the incidental bits such as rehearsals.[34]

The episodes were written and dubbed in English first and then adapted into French.[35] For season 1, the English voices were recorded at Vida Spark Productions in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,[3] while the French voices were recorded at Lylo studios in Paris, France.[4]

Marketing and promotion

Zodiak Media announced LoliRock in April 2013 at the MIPTV event in Cannes, France.[36] Early promotions included the idea of princesses with magical singing voices.[5] The demographic target audience is girls ages 6 to 12, and the group has partnered with France Televisions and Disney Channel France.[36] Marathon Media CEO Vincent Chalvron-Demersay and General Manager David Michel said that "LoliRock is a fresh, contemporary take on what it is to be a girl today, infused with music and magical adventures and the all-important notion of justice in today's teenage world. It's a perfect companion piece to Totally Spies!, which has been so successful in this same space."[37] In comparing the promotion of the show to that of Totally Spies!, Zodiak senior vice-president Patricia de Wilde said that Zodiak made sure the premise was made clear for the new show.[2]

The five songs were publicized as music videos on YouTube.[2] Plans were also made to create live-action LoliRock bands in various markets,[37] such as Super TV's contest held online[38][39] and among major cities in Italy. A website was launched with videos, games, and message boards. Promotional toys were also offered at Quick restaurants as well as McDonald's.[30][40][41][42] An app was developed for the music which Zodiak senior vice-president Patricia de Wilde said was a "sort of cross between K-Pop and Katy Perry."[2]

Broadcast

The show premiered on France 3 on 18 October 2014.[43][44] running for 13 episodes until March 2015.[45] On 26 January 2016, Zodiak Kids published an article officially announcing that BatteryPOP had acquired AVOD (streaming) rights to LoliRock for one year.[46][47]

On 1 April, France Televisions announced the release of episodes on France 4, and Disney France. Zodiak also reported that Italy would launch LoliRock on De Agostini Editore's Super! DTT channel.[48] France 4 began broadcasting the 13 episodes on 4 April 2016.[49] On 1 May, the first season of the series was released on Netflix,[50][51] whose service reaches over 190 countries.[52]

The LoliRock producers pre-released the four episodes of season 2 on YouTube on December 2016.[53] Netflix released the English dub of the season 2 episodes on 5 January 2017.[54] It was broadcast on France 4 in February with two episodes per weekday.

Episodes

SeriesEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
12618 October 2014 (2014-10-18)29 April 2016 (2016-04-29)
2265 January 2017 (2017-01-05) (Netflix)
13 February 2017 (France 4)		5 January 2017 (2017-01-05) (Netflix)
2 March 2017 (France 4)

Reception

Ella Anders of BSC Kids wrote that LoliRock "plays it clear as a magical girl series and even nods other iconic shows in the genera" such as Pretty Cure and Sailor Moon, but that it is "grand in its own right and should be held up as a great magical girl series". She liked the diverse cast, plot, humor and background story, the last of which she had not seen since My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and that it was a type of show she would have loved growing up.[55]

Heather Newman of Forbes magazine described the series as "A French animated series about an impossibly thin, stylish, magical girl who sings."[56]

When asked whether LoliRock would have a cross-over episode with French superhero show Miraculous Ladybug from Zagtoon, Thomas Astruc, who was the creator and director on Miraculous and a storyboarder on LoliRock,[57] said it was unlikely given they are from two different production companies, but that the animation community is small and that both companies share the same love of animation. He has posted about the two being cousin shows.[58][59]

Other media

A LoliRock video game, available on iOS and Android, was released by Bulkypix in 2014. The game lets players sing to the songs featured on the show, record performances, and customize a sound studio and pick the girls' outfits.[60]

Zodiak has also worked a deal with publishing company Hachette Jeunesse to create novels, activity books, stationery, and e-books.[61]

Notes

  1. ↑ The ages for the other characters are listed at the LoliRock production Tumblr: Team LoliRock (8 April 2016). "Team LoliRock — I always wonder how old is izira, mephisto,...". Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.

References

  1. ↑ Getzler, Wendy Goldman (25 March 2013). "Marathon to bring music to girls’ ears with Lolirock". Kidscreen.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jenkins, Bob (1 October 2013). "Lolirock Gets Ready to Rock". License! Global. UBM. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Team LoliRock (26 November 2015). "LoliRock Season 1 - Full english voice cast". Retrieved 13 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Team LoliRock (26 November 2015). "LoliRock Season 1 - Full french cast". Retrieved 17 June 2016 – via Tubmlr.
  5. 1 2 "Kids Catalogue". issuu.com. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Team LoliRock (11 May 2016). "LoliRock Research & Development : The Crystal Magic". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  7. 1 2 Team LoliRock (29 April 2016). "Now that we are talking about magic circles I need...". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Todesco, Bertrand (4 September 2015). "Back to 2011! The creation of LoliRock - Part 1: Iris Genesis". Retrieved 13 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Todesco, Bertrand (7 September 2015). "Back to 2011! The creation of LoliRock – Part 3: Finalizing main characters". Retrieved 13 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  10. 1 2 Todesco, Bertrand (5 September 2015). "Back to 2011! The creation of LoliRock – Part 2: Talia and Aurora". Retrieved 13 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  11. ↑ "LoliRock – Magical Girls à la française". Tu auras les yeux carrés – via Wordpress.
  12. ↑ Team LoliRock (29 April 2016). "Hello, I have two questions, 1 is black crystal...". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr. Now, the Battle Arena. It’s a pocket dimension that Amaru is able to summon at will, bringing with him the people nearby. How does he do it ? It’s very mysterious. The main purpose for the Arena is to allow the princesses to fight with their full power without worrying of consequences : there are no civilians (usually) nor anything valuable (buildings, vehicules, etc) in the Arena.
  13. 1 2 Team LoliRock (26 May 2016). "S01.E06 - Xeris". Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  14. 1 2 3 Team LoliRock (31 October 2015). "LoliRock characters 7: Gramorr and Banes". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  15. 1 2 Team LoliRock (14 July 2015). "Interview with Writer Madellaine Paxson - Behind the Scenes - LoliRock". Retrieved 16 January 2017 – via Tumblr.
  16. 1 2 Team LoliRock (2 June 2016). "If black magic harms both the caster and the...". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr. Praxina prefers demonstrations of raw power, like big explosion spells and huge monster summoning. And she’s good at that. Mephisto prefers more elaborate spells and tricks (he likes to brag how he’s a genius, remember ?), like trying to put all princesses to sleep, or removing Iris’ memory, things like that. He however is as capable as her to summon monsters and freeze people in black crystal. And she is also capable of being more subtle when needed. That’s why they make a pretty good team.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Todesco, Betrand (1 February 2016). "Back to 2011! The creation of LoliRock – Part 5: Villains!". Retrieved 13 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Todesco, Bertrand (4 February 2016). "Back to 2011! The creation of LoliRock – Part 6: Finding Mephisto and Praxina". Retrieved 13 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  19. ↑ "Nessym Guetat". RS Doublage.com (in French).
  20. ↑ "Sorry if you've been asked this before, but was...". 30 May 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr. You might find it surprising, but no. Missy was not based on Mandy. However, we fully admit she looks a lot like Mandy, and knew a lot of people would notice that too. ... We needed a love rival / pest for Iris, and most of the time, when your heroïne is blonde, you get a brunette as a rival… And vice versa. ... It’s just a “classic trope” here. ;)
  21. ↑ Team LoliRock (12 April 2016). "Talia's Realm (From S01E06 "Xeris") Backgrounds...". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  22. 1 2 3 Team LoliRock (27 April 2016). "Magic Circles part 3 - The Resistance Team Here...". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  23. ↑ Team LoliRock (26 May 2016). "Lev - Character model sheet A mysterious Ephedian...". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Team LoliRock (30 March 2016). "Lyna & Carissa's Resistance Cloak and Magical..." – via Tumblr.
  25. ↑ Team LoliRock. "Lyna, Princess of Borealis : Transformation...". Retrieved 10 February 2017 – via Tumble.
  26. ↑ Team LoliRock (20 October 2016). "happykuri: Aaaand here’s Carissa!! I love this...". Retrieved 10 February 2017 – via Tumblr.
  27. ↑ Jean-Louis Vandestoc / Team LoliRock (15 July 2015). "Back to the roots". Retrieved 19 January 2017 – via Tumblr.
  28. ↑ Team LoliRock (14 July 2016). "Hello! I started watching Lolirock on Netfilx with our daughter. We really enjoy it:) I was wondering what program is used to animate Lolirock?". Retrieved 4 October 2016 – via Tumblr. LoliRock is animated with Toonboom Harmony. The compositing is done with Adobe After Effect. And the CGI parts (vehicules, crystals, and some props) is created with Blender.
  29. ↑ LoliRock (9 July 2015). "Interview with Writer Madellaine Paxson - Behind the Scenes - LoliRock". Retrieved 18 June 2016 – via YouTube.
  30. 1 2 Zodiak Media (27 March 2015). "FRANCE: McDonalds signs up as promotional partner for Zodiak Kids’ Lolirock" (Press release). Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  31. ↑ Team LoliRock (2 January 2017). "From where will come the idea of this band??". Retrieved 16 January 2017 – via Tumblr.
  32. ↑ Team LoliRock (20 May 2016). "Hi! I hope you had a good day :D I was wondering,...". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  33. ↑ "Team LoliRock — Lolirock Score Show Reel (by Yellowshark) And...". 18 April 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  34. ↑ Team LoliRock (16 November 2015). "Team LoliRock — LoliRockers FanQuestions : Songs and Lyrics". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  35. ↑ "Team LoliRock — whoiam989: It's official. LoliRock is written and...". tumblr.com. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  36. 1 2 Davis, Nicole (1 May 2013). "MIPTV: Kids Rule in Cannes". License! Global. UBM. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  37. 1 2 Milligan, Mercedes (25 March 2013). "Zodiak to Launch 'LoliRock' at MIPTV". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  38. ↑ MagicLoliRock (12 April 2016). "Super TV! Holds a LoliRock Contest!". Retrieved 18 June 2016 – via Blogspot.
  39. ↑ "Canta con le LoliRock: Più Su! - Super! TV". supertv.it. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  40. ↑ "LoliRock Success in France & Italy". Zodiak Media (Press release). 31 March 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  41. ↑ References to Quick restaurant:
  42. ↑ "‘LoliRock’ Arrives in Happy Meals". License! Global. UBM. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  43. ↑ "France 5 : emissions, programme tv, infos et jeux" (PDF). france5.fr. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  44. ↑ "LoliRock - L'audition - Samedi 18 Octobre 10h22 - Accueil". France 3 (in French). 21 October 2014. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  45. ↑ "LoliRock - Coup de foudre - Episode 7 - Samedi 7 Mars 07h27". France 3 (in French). Archived from the original on 20 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  46. ↑ "batteryPOP picks up AVOD rights to LoliRock and Get Blake!". Zodiak Kids.
  47. ↑ "BatteryPop unwraps LoliRock". c21media.net. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  48. ↑ "‘LoliRock’ Attunes to France and Italy". animationmagazine.net. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  49. ↑ "LoliRock - L'audition - Saison 1 - Episode 1 - Lundi 4 Avril 13h35". france4.fr. Archived from the original on 20 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  50. ↑ Bishop, Bryan (29 April 2016). "Everything coming to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Now in May". The Verge. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  51. ↑ Team LoliRock (1 May 2016). "Team LoliRock — Today's the day. :)". Retrieved 15 June 2016 – via Tumblr.
  52. ↑ Mihalcik, Carrie (14 January 2016). "Forget about streaming US Netflix content abroad". CNET. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  53. ↑ "Omg season 2, the first episode, it was so...". tumblr.com. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  54. ↑ "So, Season 2 on Netflix...". tumblr.com. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  55. ↑ "Lolirock Arrives At Long Last to US". bsckids.com. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  56. ↑ Newman, Heather (29 April 2016). "New On Netflix: 'Sherlock' Doc, 'Grace And Frankie,' 'Sixteen Candles'". Forbes. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  57. ↑ "Thomas Astruc - LinkedIn". linkedin.com. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  58. ↑ "Countdown to Miraculous Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Is On". bsckids.com. 5 December 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  59. ↑ No Spoiler-Man (Thomas Astruc) [@thomas_astruc] (22 October 2015). "We #miraculers must support our cousin show Lolirock \o/" (Tweet). Retrieved 19 June 2016 – via Twitter.
  60. ↑ AndrewH. "LoliRock arrives onto Android so you can sing along to their songs". droidgamers.com.
  61. ↑ "Zodiak Kids and Hachette Jeunesse sign LOLIROCK Publishing deal". Zodiak Media (Press release). 15 October 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
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