Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1505195
this page (top): Each main character in Fright Krewe has their own Lwa, a spirit emissary between the human and the divine; (bottom): Based on Cajun legend, the Rougarou is said to haunt the swamps of greater New Orleans. FEAR FACTORS "We wanted the show to be spooky and scary but not so terrifying it's traumatic," Roth says. Finding that balance was a major goal for Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco, Fright Krewe's Executive Producers and Showrunners. As self-proclaimed scaredy-cats, they had no choice but to dive deep into horror research, a genre with a surprisingly large number of subgenres: slasher, creature, psychological, and comedic, to name just a few. Because of the age group, Broadcast Standards and Practices limits blood and guts, "so we avoided the classic gory horror tropes," says Lewis. "[Instead, we allowed] our characters to have really dark moments and cry and yell and react in a visceral away that I think a lot of Western children's media doesn't often delve into." The Fright Krewe story centers on five kids in New Orleans who are unwillingly brought together doing graveyard cleanup for detention. When one of them, horror buff Soleil, accidentally undoes a spell cast by her ancestor, she awakens a demonic being and his henchmen. The being—no spoiler here—wants to destroy the world. This in turn awakens the Lwa, spirits in the voodoo tradition that serve as intermediaries between humans and the divine. Each kid has their own Lwa. Not only does this Lwa help them fight the demons, but it also serves as their core strength and contributes to their character growth. "The relationship our kids develop with their respective Lwa opens up this culture that a lot of people aren't familiar with," says Leah Artwick, who served as a Director and then Supervising Director for the series. A respectful approach to voodoo turns the tables on the typical Hollywood portrayal of the religion as something for villains to use in nefarious ways. It also reflects one of the show's themes: "The perception of something versus what it really is," says Songco. "Good or evil, what does that actually mean? Everything's not as black and white as you think it is." The kids grapple with complex concepts, and "being able to draw and direct F E AT U R E 26 KEYFRAME