Cartoon Network Europe's Casillas Era

On 30 September 2002, Cartoon Network Europe introduced its brand new rebrand package - "Casillas" (means "Boxes" or "Squares" in Spanish) which replaced the European version of Cartoon Network USA's Powerhouse presentation package. Casillas was developed by Madrid, Spain based design studio – Ink Apache, the rebrand was very creative but yet simple as it made use of existing archive footage of Cartoon Network’s animated shows interacting with each other, contained in each square contained a clip from a Cartoon Network show, or a classic animated show from the Warner Bros. Animation, Hanna-Barbera or MGM libraries. In terms of interaction between the squares, the same character could move from square to square, or their action is taken over by another character in the next square, or the action of a character in one square affects the actions of another character in another square. Bumpers usually have a white or black background.

The ident bumpers usually feature a configuration of either 6, 4 or 2 squares. For longer bumpers, the animated clips in each square can change to something else. Changeover actions can include Hong Kong Phooey jumping out of his filing cabinet and his action is taken over by Fred Flintstone making a quick getaway in his car in the next square, same character actions include Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory traveling around his Lab in different parts of his transportation tube, which can also include a changeover with Bugs Bunny jumping out of a hole. A lot of actions include running, jumping (sometimes diagonally) and falling or even up and down in a U-bend. Sometimes, there is no changeover or no characters moving from square to square but the same action happens simultaneously in each square.

Cartoon Network's Casillas presentation package was critically acclaimed and won several Promax awards (basically the Oscars of Entertainment Marketing and Design, which includes Television Presentation), including Promax Gold awards for Total Package Design, Best On Air Branding and Best Children's Promo.

The branding package offered some continuity from the previous rebrand (the European version of Powerhouse), as the Interstate typeface (most particular the Interstate Black Condensed font) continued to be used, although text was quite minimal during this era, as symbols were used to denote "Next" and "Later" with an arrow pointing the right with a single arrowhead for Next and for Later, the same, except for a double arrow head or a number to denote how long left under the next show e.g. "30" for 30 minutes in Interstate Black Condensed font. These symbols appeared on ECPs (End Credit Promotions) as Next Bumpers were non-existent during this era. However, Cartoon Network Spain (the home country of the rebrand package) and CEE actually had Now/Later/Next bumpers during the Casillas era.

After the Casillas branding package was retired completely in 2006, Ink Apache went on to make some European bumpers as an extension to the City era, which was originally made by Australian CGI design house - Animal Logic. Ink Apache also created Boing Spain's 2012 rebrand presentation by producing Flash Animation and Rotoscopes, with 3D2Dfrente doing the Design, 3D, post-production and visual effects.

## Credits

Director: Javier Morales

 Animation: Javier Peces, Javier Ara, Viti Ortiz

Post Production: Abel Sánchez (Cartoon Network Europe, Spain, later founded Tricefalo Studio), Alexey Krivosheev (Cartoon Network Europe, Spain)

Sound Designer: Oscar Maceda (Alson Comunicaciones)

Art Direction and Editing/Creative Manager: James Walpole (Cartoon Network Europe, UK)

## Awards Won

PROMAX GOLD AWARD FOR “TOTAL PACKAGE DESIGN” IN 2002

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “ON AIR ID CAMPAIGN IN HOUSE” IN 2002

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “BEST AUDIO DESIGN” IN 2003

PROMAX GOLD AWARD FOR “BEST ON AIR BRANDING” IN 2003

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “BEST TV IMAGE CAMPAIGN” IN 2003

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “BEST ON AIR IDENT (IN HOUSE)” IN 2003

PROMAX GOLD AWARD FOR “TOTAL PACKAGE DESIGN” IN 2003

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “ON AIR CAPAIGN IN HOUSE” IN 2003

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “CHILDREN’S PROGRAM PROMOTION” IN 2004

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “BEST USE OF CUSTOM MADE/ MUSIC” IN 2004

PROMAX GOLD AWARD FOR ” BEST ON AIR BRANDING” IN 2004

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “PROMO NETWORK OR BLOCK” IN 2004

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “BEST STING” IN 2004

PROMAX GOLD AWARD FOR “BEST CHILDREN PROMO” IN 2006

PROMAX SILVER AWARD FOR “BEST CHILDREN PROMO” IN 2006

## Videos

Casillas Bumper Collection

Casillas Bumper Collection "Revolution"

Casillas Bumper "Cepillos" ("Toothbrush")

Casillas Bumper Collection "Reload"

Casillas Bumper "Pinball"

Casillas Bumper "The Powerpuff Girls"

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