Firewalker
Firewalker is an animated web series set in a deserted world left behind by an ancient civilization. The story revolves around Iara, a young girl raised by a tribe of sabretooth tigers. Iara’s natural curiosity leads her to explore the forbidden ruins over and over again, and she decides to solve the mystery of the long-gone people who inhabited them thousands of years ago.
The search for the truth leads Iara and her companions far away from their tribe with only a handful of clues. The further they venture, the more secrets they uncover – and the truth is more astounding than Iara could ever have guessed.
Firewalker is based on the fantasy novel ‘Tiikerien Tytär’ published by Publishing House Jalava in 1998. It’s always been the author’s dream to bring the story to life as an animation, and thanks to crowdfunding it’s finally a real possibility. The amount of work however is immense, and because watching Firewalker will always be free we will depend entirely on funding and donations to make this happen. The animation is estimated to run for five seasons, each of which will consist of ten 7-10 minute episodes. New episodes will be aired roughly every two months on the project website (http://www.firewalkersaga.com
The visual style of Firewalker has been inspired by Disney, Japanese anime and the massively popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra. Because our budget is very small the first season will be created as limited animation, like an animated storybook. Instead of fluid animation we will focus on extremely high quality artwork, music and voice acting. If we reach our stretch goals and the first season is well received, our ultimate goal is to make Firewalker into a stunning, full framerate TV quality production.
THE CREW
Although Firewalker originates from Finland, it’s very much an international production. The animation is written, directed and drawn by the Helsinki-based Eve Andersson whose novel the story is based on. The role of Iara is played by the American actress Christine Haeberman who has already featured in many sci-fi and horror films. The other roles of the pilot episode are filled by Marlon Dance-Hooi, known from the Australian version of the Beauty and the Geek and numerous short films, and two other established Australian actors, Robyn Makhoul and Patrick Connolly. The score is by the American composers Sean Haeberman and Matthew Pablo. Although the animation is in English, Finnish subtitles will be available.
ESTIMATED COSTS PER EPISODE
A full time animator’s salary for 2 months: 4500 euros
Background artists’ fees (15 images / episode * 150 euros): 2250 euros
The composer’s fee: 500 euros
The voice actors’ fees: 1200 euros
Sound effects: 300 euros
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Total: 8750 euros
Because the pilot episode is almost complete, our maximum goal of 35000 euros will cover the costs for the next three episodes. The more funds we can raise, the more episodes we can create!
