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13.06.06
11:20PM
[mood: Alive]
[craving: Holiday]
I can't believe its nearly mid June & I haven't updated since then! Well, couldn't help it really with all the change I've been passing through.. my demanding job.. my hectic studies.. special committments here & there.. and the fact that I vowed my next update will be an exclusive interview with Mohamed Harib a.k.a Lammtara.. ;)
Some of you know him since a long time, especially if you have been hanging around the cyber world frequently, others got to hear about him through various media especially after the announcement of the famous Freej local cartoons.. & if you have never, ever heard of him.. well.. *cough* you must be living under a rock! lol
Anyways will leave you with the interview:
[Kitten:] You’ve come a long way since I last interviewed you in my “Spotlight” section.. In a nutshell, tell us what changes you’ve passed through and what you have been doing?
[Mohamed Harib:] That is a very long story but I will try to be brief. Well, I left the short-lived agency that me and my cousin were working in and headed to Dubai Media City’s Marketing department where I started off as an Administrator then a Brand Coordinator before shifting to Tecom Investments where I took on the role of a Marcom Specialist. Finally, I assumed the role of Art Director for the entire technology and media free zone (DIC, DMC, Knowledge Village, Dubai Studio City etc…).In those odd two years, I worked on various projects such as IBDA’A media students award both in the marketing bucket and as the head of the UAE school’s team. I also worked on the inaugural Dubai International Film Festival as part of the branding team, I assumed the role of Below the Line Marketing manager for the second edition of the festival and I am the proud owner of the festival’s logo, along side three other logos in the DUBAI HOLDING roaster. In February of 2006, I officially left Tecom Investments and created my own production house “Lammtara Pictures” under the Sheikh Mohammed Establishment for Young Business Leaders (SME) and the role of this new company will be to overlook several “creative” projects with FREEJ (3D Animated Series) being its first offering.
[Kitten:] Wow, you have been busy.. lol With your famous “Freej” cartoons, you have been officially associated throughout the country.. tell us more about FREEJ.. What made you think of the “3eeyayez” (old women) and the whole story around them?
[Mohamed Harib:] The Idea of FREEJ sprung up while I was majoring in General Arts and Animation at Northeastern University Boston, MA, USA. I was doing a project for my Animation class and the brief to us was to come up with our version of a super hero; a figure that will be inspired by whatever culture we came from. I looked into my culture and dug up many super hero candidates (i.e. Alladin, Sindibad, Ali Baba, Salah Al Din etc..) but those were known characters that have been used and reused many times and they were confined by actual stories around them, but most importantly they were dead! A super hero should never die, so I went back to the drawing boards and took on a new fresh approach towards the subject and thought in more simpler terms till it hit me that we Arabs hold a unique a family pattern where the entire family is very closely knit together with the grandparents being the centre of this strong web. The decision to choose the grand mother figure over her male counterpart was an easy one. A grandmother was always known to be the story teller in the family, she also holds an intriguing “Dress Code”; a look and feel that lends itself to further character development, especially when you add the mask they wear in the mix. The mask makes such a character stand out and it raises curiosity to know more about it and why it’s worn. All in all, this grandmother character and personality held unique “Heroic” characteristics that begged to be further developed as an animated character.
[Kitten:] That's very interesting! Can you tell us more about the Freej characters.. are they inspired from any real life characters? (Maybe a neighbour, family friend or was it purely from scratch? Don’t worry, I’m sure they won’t check!) =P Also, who from them is your personal favorite and why?
[Mohamed Harib:]The FREEJ characters are a group of versatile personas that go from the wise to the crazy, the illiterate and the most educated, the kind and the very stingy. It’s basically a slice of our society that I thought would be interesting to shed light on and talk about. With the four main characters we were able to find a mix that relied heavily on many real time personalities. Each character is a blend of many grandmothers in one. As a result, I had many comments about how Um Saeed looks like someone’s grandmother or how Um Allawi looks and acts like someone’s neighbor. This kind of mix is important as it will allow the viewers to relate more to FREEJ and like the show because maybe their grandmother is in it somewhere. As for my personal favourite, that will be hard to answer as I worked very hard on them and each of them took their sweet time in development but I will have to say Um Saeed as she is the first created and was always a reference point when we I started developing the other characters. My love to her is apparent in her name as she is named after the real Um Saeed, my own remaining grandmother.
[Kitten:] Allah y7fa'6 your grandmother oo y6awel fy 3mrha.. So tell us, what do you hope to achieve from Freej?
[Mohamed Harib:]There are many objectives for a project such as FREEJ. You have business objectives, industry objectives, social objectives and finally personal objectives. For the business side of things we hope to offer a product that will benefit the companies that choose to support it and tie it in with whatever products they have to offer, as FREEJ delivers a new “Medium” to the market (Animation) and that excites the big brands that want to either ride on such a wave and place their products in or around our show or choose to support the first ever national animated series and associate their brand with nationalism and a creative pioneering project. Such ties should reap financial rewards to “Lammtara Pictures” which will later enable us to make season 2 and 3 and establish us as a leader in the “Creative Content” segment.
For the industry objectives, FREEJ will mark the first ever 3D animated series anywhere in the Pan-Arab region and the first ever national animated series. This product will help create in creating an animation business and will force TV stations to rethink their approach towards animation in general as they will have to think seriously in catering for what best suits their viewers and not just buy important dubbed cartoons and broadcast it because it’s a cheaper alternative. FREEJ should also stimulate the creative talent in the UAE as already with the our first season we had 100 volunteers and more than 60 media professionals from all over the uae, all taking part for the first time in creating this product. I hope this kind of involvement will encourage all those animation major students to press on and start thinking seriously about creating their own respective project, knowing that small ideas can translate to successful projects. FREEJ’s social objectives are clear and simple. We aim to archive and document local culture in a format that can be used and enjoyed by generations to come. Audiences twenty years from now would have a historic reference on how the people of Dubai and the UAE lived and functioned. Another strong objective for us is to export our values as a culture to other nations that might have a negative understanding about the region and there is no better medium than animation to do that and bridge cultures, as animation has the qualities of crossing boundaries easily (i.e. I am more likely to watch and enjoy a Japanese animation more than a Japanese movie) Finally, for me personally, FREEJ is my chance to write a few pages in my country’s history books and go in it as the maker of the first and best national animation project. That alone is worth taking major risks for.
[Kitten:] Allow me to express how impressed I am with how popular it is amongst the UAE youth even before it began showing on TV! So *loud applause* on the successful marketing strategy you adopted for this show.. Can you tell us more about what you did to promote the show & any interesting stories you experienced while doing that..
[Mohamed Harib:]With FREEJ we are working on tight budgets and we don’t have the liberty of spending a lot of money on Marketing and PR. We knew a show like that would require a lot of advertising to fully achieve it’s goals and we also knew that with a product like this, there is no way to judge the reactions of our main target audience (18-35) as no clear viewing habits were available in the market. So, from the onset we decided that the best thing to do is to actually involve the audience in the making of this project and update them regularly on how this project progresses and the challenges surrounding it. To achieve this we toured seven universities across the UAE and handed out a survey that asked the students what they liked to watch on TV and if FREEJ was something they would be interested to watch. This small exercise gave us an insight on our target audience’s viewing patterns and it told us something about what to do with out project. It also acted as a direct marketing exercise where we actually hyped up the students and allowed them to interact and suggest ideas to us. Phase two of this exercise had has enroll 100 students in our volunteer program, where they worked on the research and development of this project. These 100 volunteers would later tell their friends and parents who is return will tell their friends and other friends and soon, word spreads like wild fire. On a separate note, we were also blessed to have the media interested in this project because of its pioneering nature. International media such as the BBC, Reuters, Dubai TV, Jumeirah Beach Magazine, Sourah Magazine, Time Out Dubai, UAE Digest, Ahlan and many others conducted interviews with me and ran short update articles around FREEJ. Finally, I always try to update my own web blog (www.lammtown.com/blog) and give the online audience a run down of what has been happening with the project in its various stages.
[Kitten:] You have been quite active going around colleges, schools and even companies promoting Freej.. How did that go? Are you going for more “tours” anytime soon? If yes, where?
[Mohamed Harib:]As I mentioned before, we did tour 7 universities and showed them the FREEJ Demo that is also available online at www.freej.ae. I was also invited to be a guest speaker for two successive years in the Careers UAE Fair. I don’t think there would be anymore presentations taking place before the product’s launch next Ramadan as I don’t see the need for it and I would anyway be focusing more on finishing the project itself. After launch, we will be touring again to get feedback and listen to what our audience has to say about our product and this will ensure that we learn from our mistakes and come up with a better product next time.
[Kitten:] Will there be a Freej Fan Club opening soon? Will you be selling any more Freej items? Where & when?
[Mohamed Harib:] The fan club question I can’t answer because fan clubs are usually created by the fans themselves but if that happens then it will also be a good sign about the shows impact on youth and “Lammtara Pictures” will fully support any such sites. Regarding the FREEJ items, we are in final talks with Gulf Greetings to fully understand what are the requirements for this market and I do have to thank them for their support as they, like us believe that the market does need a local brand that caters for nationals and tourists alike.
[Kitten:] A while ago, you had some Freej items up for auction? Can you tell us more about that? Are you going to auction any unique stuff soon again?
[Mohamed Harib:] The FREEJ auctioned Items (a hand made lamp and a sketch) were part of an exercise to gage awareness levels and hype within our target market. The total revenue for this exercise was around 11,000 Dirhams and all proceedings were given to charity. More Items will be auctioned off once the FREEJ brand is fully developed in the near future.
[Kitten:] So when is Freej going to come out anyway and on which channel?
[Mohamed Harib:] Initially, our deal is with Dubai TV exclusively for six months, starting in Ramadan. Show times and reruns are not yet finalized. Sama Dubai is more likely to show it also after Dubai TV, as both channels are from the same organization. The show will spill over to other Pan-Arab Channels once the exclusivity deal with Dubai TV expires in March 2007.
[Kitten:] Would you also have some Freej episodes streaming online for those who are abroad or who missed the episodes on TV? (Btw I super highly recommend this!)
[Mohamed Harib:] That is actually a very good suggestion; it would be possible if we followed the current download method offered on ITUNES. Free download and streaming is not an option as this will affect us financially and we would like to protect our interests and our copyrights.
[Kitten:] So who are your biggest supporters? (Besides me ofcourse!) lol
[Mohamed Harib:] I am very happy to say that everyone that knows about this project is a supporter. From my friends and colleagues to people who volunteered on this project. From the big decision makers in Dubai to the old unsophisticated grandmothers that allowed me to sit with them and be inspired. From my father and family to my online friends and followers who always gave me an idea or just shared a thought. Every one of those had an influence on me and that translated to tremendous support.
[Kitten:] Do you have any other projects besides Freej? If yes, spill your beans please!
[Mohamed Harib:] Well I do have several projects in the pipeline but it is best to divide them into two; Lammtara Pictures Projects and my own personal projects.Lammtara Pictures has a 5 year strategy and through it we will rollout several projects that cater to creative content and the nurturing of national talent. We will continue to support our FREEJ product and branch it out to several other mediums that will help strengthen the brand. I can’t reveal any other projects under the Lammtara Pictures umbrella because it’s too early to speak about them.
When it comes to my personal projects, they are few and not that many. I finished shooting the photography TV program that will air on SAMA DUBAI in the end of June. It took us one full year and I co presenting with Ammani Al Jumairi and Yousif Al Tajer, the show is being directed by Aisha Al Muhairi. It was a neat learning experience for me and I got in touch with my photography side and learnt more about the technical aspects of that field. I also just finished reworking the Dubai International Film Festival Logo, where it is now more developed and mature in line with the festival’s new position. I will also continue to work on the third edition of the festival, under the branding banner. Finally, I am excited to go into yet another photo shoot and pose for my dear friend Saoud Al Daisi who was chosen as a digital photography finalist in this year’s IBDA’A Media Students Award through his collection “Psychological Circus” for which I also posed. I would like to say here that these photo shoots are my runaway activities which allow me to have fun and push the envelope when it comes to how we nationals are perceived. Many people criticized us and marked our ventures as “unmanly” and that exact feedback is what makes me going as I love to see my vision through and prove that if things were done respectfully and right, they will elevate us to success and open up many doors. “Psychological Circus” is the best example as it crowned innovative thinking and being chosen for an award gave the photographer the needed push to excel in his future work and gave me the opportunity to be in yet another success story without lending criticizers a listening ear.
[Kitten:] That was such a delightful interview, it's been a pleasure putting you under the spotlight again.. ;) Now, if visitors had more questions posted in my comment box for you, would be kind enough to reply to them? =P
[Mohamed Harib:] Sure!! :)
If you have any more questions for Mohamed, please post them in the comment box! =)
[Final whisper: The Mirage: Are you happy now? =P]
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