The Children’s Media Conference 2012 – Part One
Sheffield recently showcased the return of the hugely successful annual Children’s Media Conference. Aimed at all areas of children’s media; from television and film, to games and literature, the conference boasts three jam packed days of sessions, workshops and conversations, featuring over 150 speakers for 820+ delegates. More importantly though. in an age of rapid technological growth, the conference also offers highly researched information and ideas of where and how children’s media is likely to progress in the next few years.
Skwigly were there to attend the conference and are pleased to share with you key information and discussions from several of its sessions.
Never Ending Story
Nowadays, with children being subject to advancing and expanding media outlets is there still a need for a story to be told traditionally, with a beginning middle and end? Likewise, with internet and on demand viewing can we really pinpoint a definitive end to a story? Children are now accessing the material at their own choosing and with an option to replay a show again and again if they desire.
This session tackled these issues and, with the aid of a panel of content creators from different areas of children’s media, aimed to explain what it is like to tell stories to children today?
Author Laura Dockrill began the discussion, stating that although she had been encouraged by her agent to keep the story relatively open at the end of her new book, she still recognises the importance of resolution. Laura believes there is and always will be a need for an ending, as for the reader it is essential that they feel they have accomplished something through reading a book.
Another panellist Sophie Sampson took a different stance, stating that the idea of her work for galleries and museums is for each person to choose their own narrative as well as their own resolution. This is largely due to people experiencing the work in different ways, some spending a great deal of time reading all the information and digesting it, while others may just absorb the visual element and move on.
Interestingly, the panel also featured Tom Turcan, Founder of Runcat Consulting, who has recently helped set up of the interactive site Pottermore. Although obviously drawing on the books by JK Rowling, Tom was quick to point out how the site does not continue, extend of alter the plot of the much loved stories, but instead offers fans a chance to delve deeper into the context of them. Collaborating and with the author herself and using material cut from the original stories or written specifically for the project, Pottermore offers a digital expression of the story, in which the first book is broke into 43 key moments. From this, a player can extend their knowledge and understanding of the fictional world of Harry Potter. Although a long way off yet, Tom acknowledges that eventually the players will reach an end. Yet he remains confident that the social aspect of the site will allow it to continue to be enjoyed, with wizard duels and potion making encouraging players to return to the site. Similarly, he stated that the site also aims to bridge the gap between this and future generations of Potter fans, therefore never really ending the opportunities for the stories to develop.
Will Jewell, screenwriter and director at Fractured Films, also refers to the difficulty with the internet to provide a definable ending, as the audience are not likely to watch the programme at the same time. However, he states that narrative endings will always be important, no matter the context of the viewing as without a resolution, particularly in drama, a programme quickly becomes less engaging to watch.
This is similar to the views of the final panellist John Davison, creative director of gaming company Kanoti, who stated the difficulty with games to define an ending. Some players may dip in and out of a game, losing interest and then returning to it again, while other might complete it but still want to revisit the story. Like Laura and Will, John too felt the importance of the game, regardless of whether it would be replayed, to have an ending, as it is through this they gain a sense of completion. Similarly he recognised how social games, such as Farmville, have been designed in such a way as to become addictive, with no real closure of resolution obtainable through them.
The session highlighted two things of great importance; that with new technology allowing the viewer more in control of what and how they digest media, creating an definite ending has become harder. However, this does not by any sense suggest that a resolution is not important anymore, as endings are provided for an audience and will continue to serve a purpose to them regardless of how they are viewing content.
BAFTA: The Amazing World of Gumball
This session sponsored by BAFTA provided an insight into the making of the hugely successful children’s television programme The Amazing World of Gumball. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Cartoon Network show it combines both 2D and 3D computer animation, the characters taking a 2D form before being fused with lifelike 3D backgrounds.
The talk opened with a screening of an episode from the highly anticipated second series. From the first few minutes of this episode it was clear that the commission of the show for another series had spurred on its creators to produce an even funnier, engaging show. The episode follows a dejected Gumball who confronts boring school friend Hector after he rejects his facebook friendship request. However, after getting an insight into Hectors life and realising how controlling his mothers is, Gumball has a change of heart, aiming instead to help Hector transform into a fun, rebellious teen like himself. What Gumball seems to have forgotten is that Hector is a giant gorilla with extreme emotions and, having wound him up by calling him boring, he must now find a way to calm him down again before he tears the town to pieces.
There is no doubt that The Amazing World of Gumball is contemporary; with up-to-date language and themes that appeal directly to its target audience. However, its quick witted and tongue in cheek humour make it just as funny and accessible for an adult audience. Hector’s mother, for example, is a brilliant character. Small, hunched and grumpy, she is referred to by Gumball as a witch and hilariously reveals he is right towards the end of the episode, producing her magic brooms for the team to fly on.
The shows creator Ben Bocquelent, who used to work making commercials for AKA, refers to how the characters originated from his own family. He felt this general everyday concept could be used effectively as jumping off point for the show to grow and develop. This, although providing the basis for a completely crazy, adventurous storylines, ensures the show retains its warmth and is able to produce compelling, cinematic narratives in what is more than often difficult with a limited 11 minute running time.
As mentioned previously, it is the visual approach which makes the show completely unique. Although changing quite dramatically since the original pitch, (the character of Darwin was originally in 3D) Daniel Lennard, Vice President of Original Series & Development at Turner Broadcasting, states that this interesting visual style what drew him to the project. However, with this ambitious style comes complications. For the first series each episode took 8 weeks to make, with the different styles of animation sent to different animations houses across Europe. This meant that storyboards had to be sent out and animations then loaded on top of them, often leading to the scaling or composition of the characters not working when it was put together. Nowadays, the show’s studio has its own layout department, allowing the two to be done together which, with a lot of the backgrounds being matt paintings, stock library pictures or real photos, has allowed camera movements to become a possibility and create more depth.
The Amazing World of Gumball has been phenomenally successful, with amazing feedback from research groups, its investors Turner coming up with plans for merchandise and high potential for spin-off games from the show in the future.
PJ’s Playlist
The last session of the day that I attended featured screenings from the Prix Jeunesse. The longest running, most prestigious festival aims to explore the role of the media in our culture, receiving 350 entries from 60 countries. Rather than the session’s producer David Kleeman, President of ACCM selecting the clips, they were instead chosen by colleagues who went to the festival who each provided a lovely introduction to why they chose the films.
The clips ranged from insightful to educational and moving to, well, plain weird! Although mostly live action, two animations were selected both of which were equally as interesting for different reasons. The first Duck, Death and the Tulip from Germany (based on the book of the same name) followed the heartwarming story of a duck forming an unlikely friendship with Death. With an uncomfortable subject matter that is usually not broached in children’s media, this animation manages to effectively answer questions about life and explain death in a way that for once is not patronising or simplified. The film was directed by Matthias Bruhn and has won numerous awards including Best Children‘s Animated Film at the 2011 Stuttgart‘s Festival of Animated Film.
The second animation chosen from the Prix Jeunesse was the more obscure Design Ah! from Japan. The show aims to make its audience rethink their way of viewing the world, by taking mundane everyday objects and encouraging us to view them completely differently from a design point of view. This is not only visually interesting as the objects are recognisable, but it is also educational for children and adults alike. I found myself amazed in that I have never noticed the design element of such everyday items. In this particular clip we saw the traditional Japanese food sushi being made in stages, the process was then reversed, shot from a different angle, ordered in a line or pattern and so on. Another sequence saw a pack of playing card’s numbers and symbols escaping the cards themselves, taking a new life of their own before ordering themselves into columns. Although undeniable strange Design Ah! is a truly magnificent concept for a children’s show and it succeed in being both interesting, educational and engaging, I encourage you to find it, watch it and be amazed!