Harking back to the Saturday mornings of our youth with a humorous take on 90s action cartoon synth rock. And, obviously, some big pig snarls and exploding cars.
When director Darcy Woodbridge sent us the ident for his, as yet non-existent, animation studio, our very first comment was that it was “a sound designer’s dream”. A mix of over-the-top action and slapstick comedy, it’s a real opportunity to flex some sonic storytelling muscle.
"A sound designer's dream"
~Us, Skillbard
For the music, Darcy suggested “a daggy 90s TV soundtrack kind of vibe” which, after consulting a dictionary of Australian slang, seemed to align perfectly with what we had in mind.
To recapture the sounds of our childhood Saturday mornings, we took a trip down memory lane and watched episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. We observed the atmosphere, listened carefully to identify synths and generally studied how musical cues were used to underscore story beats.
Spud Music
Our biggest challenge was to compose music in the right tone to successfully land the jokes. The protagonist's introduction, for example, needed to strike a balance of heroism and comedic nonchalance, serving as both a setup for the climactic end gag and a punchline, itself, for the ident’s opening scene. We tried a few directions before landing on the super cruddy sounding, ToeJam-and-Earl-inspired funk of the final result.
