Fidel Studios is an independent animation and interactive studio based in Montreal, Canada that produces evocative, expressive and relevant content for a variety of platforms such as, advertising, online gaming, entertainment and multimedia. With a background in film, animation and multimedia combined with agency and production experience, Fidel Studios’ goal is to provide clients and talent with an intimate environment for ideas to be developed and achieved.
Fidel Studios is an independent animation and interactive studio based in Montreal, Canada that produces evocative, expressive and relevant content for a variety of platforms such as, advertising, online gaming, entertainment and multimedia. With a background in film, animation and multimedia combined with agency and production experience, Fidel Studios’ goal is to provide clients and talent with an intimate environment for ideas to be developed and achieved.
Lead by Alex Gueriguian and David Nadezhdin (co-founders), Fidel Studios team is comprised of a variety of talent such as 2D animators, multimedia designers, developers and producers.
What makes Fidel Studios different from other companies is its ability to offer a range of services, from traditional to emerging media such as animated content, graphic design, online virtual worlds, online games, interactive applications, and more recently mobile applications for the iPhone. The ability to combine quality animations and interactive applications makes Fidel Studios appealing to advertizing agencies and entertainment industries.
"It’s not about traditional vs digital. It’s about change and we have noticed that the advertising and the entertainment industries are faced with new ways when creating and planning projects. We believe that a collaborative approach to engage the consumer into an experience is relevant for the success of any project. Our expertise in the field of animation, interactive and entertainment provides great insight on the strategy to adopt and deliver quality work all under one roof," stated Alex Gueriguian.
"Our cross-discipline approach takes into perspective multiple aspects of a brand, business, experience and environment allowing us to break the boundaries between different mediums," he continued.
Fidel Studios offers a complete digital animation pipeline (paperless and full animation process). Their philosophy is based on the methods of the Golden Age of 1940’s Cartoons. To do so, Fidel Studios has equipped itself with Toon Boom Digital Pro and Storyboard Pro.
Each unit is appointed a Director with their own team to bring out the most of every project and the most of every team member. Their objective is to produce long lasting projects and develop talent that will grow creatively together.
Fidel Studios team relies on three main attributes which makes it innovative and consistent with the market’s need to have its content evolve across multiple platforms.
Alex Gueriguian, co-founder and digital director, has served the film and advertizing industries in terms of digital content. With a background in storytelling, design, animation, online gaming and entertainment, his expertise come to play in terms of how to develop and deploy content across digital platforms to maximize exposure and user experience.
David Nadezhdin, co-founder and interactive director, was a previous owner of an interactive firm before co-founding Fidel Studios. His expertise in user experience, technical knowledge, and creative execution allows for every digital and interactive project to come together and attain its objectives.
A wonderful asset newly arrived at Fidel Studios is Chantal Bedard, a veteran and leader in the animation industry. She played an important role in helping the cartoon industry adopt digital technologies. Over the last 12 years, Chantal has directed and produced many animated television series. Chantal also headed Oasis Animation one of the largest animation studios in Montreal. Some projects include, the popular series 6teen and a daily episode On s’écoute parler (François Perusse) as a director.
Fidel Studios is currently developing PedPals, an online virtual world for kids (ages 6 to 12) that provides them with the ability to create their own avatars, explore the world, play online games and join a social network. The project offers a back door approach to education, well-being and the discovery of new cultures with fun and games.
For PedPals Fidel Studios used a paperless process in Digital Pro to design rich and detailed characters, props and backgrounds helping to achieve the level of detail required for the project. "The project could have been drawn and animated in Flash, but Toon Boom offered more possibilities in the long run for the overall scalability of the project," shared Chantal Bedard.
The Fidel Studios team of 2D artists was split into different groups. "A part of our artists would work on game play, backgrounds and props, while others, on the avatars, interior and exterior locations. This simple structure helped us achieve an efficient production pipeline and reach the expected quality for the overall project. The lead artist collaborated with our interactive team to ensure a quick and efficient integration from all of the animations into the platform for development," she continued.
Parallel to this project, Fidel Studios is also developing an animated teaser to promote the platform. "It is a great challenge to combine an interactive and animated experience using a compelling story to promote the online content," stated Alex.
In addition, Fidel Studios is currently finalizing the production of Eagle Creek, an animated feature film for a mature audience. Eagle Creek is a conceptual road movie that takes place on a golf course fairway where playing golf leads to a high body count. The film was produced using Digital Pro with a team of six animators over the course of 15 months. It was a first for Fidel Studios.
Unique in its genre, Eagle Creek is sure to catch the attention of its audience with its edgy content and visual style. Using painted backgrounds and realistic looking characters, the director and lead animator, Keven Synnott, a Montreal based artist, tackled the project with passion and dedication. "It was possible to achieve such a surprising result in such a short lapse of time because our animation unit was providing creative and technical insight at every stage of the production. Toon Boom provided us with the ability to create a traditional animation style that was very fluid," explained Chantal.
Fidel Studios’ success is primarily based on the fact that they take the time and make the effort by investing into their talent and projects. "Allowing time for research, development and optimization gives us an overall edge in delivering memorable projects that are high in quality, scalable and cross-platform," concluded Alex.
Fidel Studios has certainly set a solid foundation to create unique content ready for delivery on-air, online and on-device, which perfectly falls into current and future entertainment needs. Congrats!
