Contest winners Brady, Cameron, Ethan, Michael, Reese and Reilly recently took a private tour behind the scenes of Teletoon’s GROJBAND. They were walked through the tricks of the trade as the show’s creators, Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton, explained how GROJBAND was conceived and brought to life. The tour also featured the GROJBAND website’s development team and artists, including illustrator Paul Watling and Lyon Smith, the voice behind the lead character Corey Riffen, who shared how voice acting and design fuel each episode.
Hosted at the cool downtown offices of Secret Location, the GROJBAND website developer, the Magazine’s contest winners and their friends enjoyed a sneak peek at a behind the scenes video about the making of GROJBAND. They met the creators and the team responsible for the show and the site, gaining insight into the workflow that turns ideas into animated scenes.
They hung out with the creators of the show and the website team, along with the artists and Lyon Smith, who voices the lead character Corey Riffen. The visitors received an insider scoop and even glimpsed rough drafts of the series before it hit TV screens.
Each participant left the event with a customized illustration drawn on actual GROJBAND storyboard pages, created on site by illustrator Paul Watling.
Fun facts from behind the scenes of GROJBAND:
- The show was almost named ANGST.
- The lead character Corey almost had brown hair instead of blue.
- The character Laney Penn was named after a Beatles song called Penny Lane.
- When Lyon Smith, who voices Corey, was younger, he had blue hair just like the character.
- Graeme Cornies, the voice of Nick Mallory, wrote all the songs for the Wicked Cool Transition scenes. The boys also got a look at how the GROJBAND website was built. The site lets fans play games as the characters and even try out for a role on the show. Playing the games earns points that unlock materials to assemble a Wicked Cool Transition scene, which could be selected to air on GROJBAND.
The visitors also explored how the GROJBAND website was designed and developed. The interactive site invites fans to play as the characters and to pursue a chance to work on the show themselves. Earning points by playing the games enables fans to collect pieces to construct a Wicked Cool Transition scene that could appear in a future episode of GROJBAND.
After learning about the inner workings of the show and enjoying some snacks, Brady, Cameron, Ethan, Michael, Reese and Reilly headed home, each with prize packs and autographed copies of the storyboards. The day closed with a group photo to commemorate the experience, featuring Paul Watling, Adam Drake, Kai Salminen, Lyon Smith, Todd Kauffman, Mark Thornton, Noora Abu Eitah, Reese, Cameron, Reilly, Ethan, Michael and Brady.
GROJBAND airs on Teletoon, Thursdays at 7pm ET/PT, and fans can join in the excitement on the GROJBAND website for a chance to rock out with the cast and crew.