This Creator’s Cartoon Series Goes Prehistoric!
Creators corner
with Sierra Vanderdeen
Want to take an adventure back to the time of the Dinosaurs? Ben Bisanti has made a series that you’ll really enjoy! With so many colourful and witty characters, there’s a lot of crazy clashes and stirring moments! It’s a very unique show and we hope you go and watch it!
I asked Ben about the creation of the show:
Sierra: What inspired you to make this series?
Ben: My inspiration for Dinosaur Realm is the original Don Bluth Classic The Land Before Time. As a kid I always wanted to do a story similar to that great animated legend, because my god the animation and the story is simple, but man does it take you in for a ride. That’s my main source of inspiration. Other sources include The BBC Walking with Dinosaur series and of course Jurassic Park!
Sierra: How would you describe it to someone who hasn’t seen it?
Ben: Dinosaur Realm is a collaborative effort by Colm (From Cmtgamers Productions) and I (BBproductions). The premise is about the life of Allo and his strive to handle responsibility, humility and strength.
Sierra: How did you start animating and drawing?
Ben: I started drawing way back in early 2018. I started to practice sketching and art. Since then I've improved on my work but that doesn’t mean I can't strive further on and improve more on it!
Sierra: Have there been any challenges in making the show? How have you overcome them?
Ben: The challenge to be quite frank with you is that, how would this be animated. I did have an idea for how it would be animated but I didn't know how I would pull it off. But then I did some research on YouTube on several animated styles. I chose the one that seemed easiest to me (for now at least) to do it as an animatic.
Sierra: How many people provide their voice talents to the show?
Ben: I got mostly fourteen individuals in my operation that provide the voices for our characters and my god, I don't deserve the talent behind these people because these people are quite good. I’m so honored that they accepted a role in this series because without them….well let’s just say the first episode wouldn’t have come on out on the day that it did.
Sierra: Do you animate it all yourself or do you work with others to make the animations?
Ben: I animate it all on my own. In the past on my own time after I got home from Spectrum Productions, but now that I don’t have the commute time I can have a consistent upload schedule of every second month.
Sierra: What’s your favourite part of making the show?
Ben: My most favorite part of making the show is that Colm and I get to tell a story independently
Also seeing it all come together into a series. Also drawing the characters and coming up with the shots for it.Also I get really giddy when I get the voice lines from my actors because it feels like i’m running an actual production. It’s like I'm actually at my own animation studio working as hard as I can.
Sierra: Do you have any other shows you’re working on?
Ben: I’m currently working on a series Called Kaiju Roomate, a series that’s about a Bounty Hunter and his roommate that happens to be a Kaiju and their adventures in the beautiful city of Montreal. For this series it’s gonna be fully animated frame by frame animation. I know it seems crazy that a one-man animator is gonna do a series that has that type of animation but I'm willing to strive onward through this challenge because not only do I want to improve on my art but I also want to branch out onto different animation styles!
Thanks to Ben for answering all my questions and for putting such hard work into his videos!
You can watch Dinosaur Realm and all his other work here
“ I started drawing way back in early 2018. I started to practice sketching and art. Since then I’ve improved on my work but that doesn’t mean I can’t strive further on and improve more on it!”
Sierra Lynne -
About the author
Sierra is a long-time producer at Spectrum and is a journalism student in British Columbia.