So this is our 2019 end of year rundown … a little late I know (we’re not even still in January) but better late than never right?! It has turned out quite lengthy, but I had lots to say and I hope it’s interesting and even better, a little bit helpful to some.
This is an account of a few choice happenings that really did make a big difference to us in 2019, it’s also a little about what we learned along the way. 2019 saw us building our understanding of what it is we do and also what it is we actually want to do.
I'll start with ‘NED: The Love Machine’. We made NED for Valentine’s Day (February 14th) last year. We challenged ourselves to make an animation short from scratch in a really tight time frame (we gave ourselves 1 week). NED is about a fantastical contraption that samples emotions to understand the nature of love.… It was a really fun project and we learned a lot about our working technique and how we can speed up the process without losing any of the detail, care, attention we want to give a project. If you missed him last year, here he is below (though we will be airing him again in a couple of weeks)!
In March Tapocketa was featured in Computer Arts Magazine in an article about how we made ‘Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie’. This was the first time our work has been featured in a national magazine and it was a big deal for us!
March also saw us appear on the first London Book Fair podcast for a ‘fireside chat’ session with Bradley Metrock for his Roundtable podcast, we were on the panel alongside friend and colleague Bee Kapitan of Interactive Bee Media. The topic was the role of Voice First technology, a rapidly growing sector, and how we see it being utilized in the digital book industry. Voice First seems to be a topic that divides opinion and one which remains a fervent topic of conversation; there is so much that can be useful though many have real concerns of security. A live interview on stage in front of an audience was also a first for us!
In late spring we decided to ‘go local’ and took part in both the Hertford Art Trail and Craft Market. The Hertford Art Trail is a collaboration between the town’s businesses and local artists organised by Courtyard Arts and the local council. We were given the chance to show our work in the window of McMullens Brewery for a month. Through our work being shown in the window, we connected up with a number of key people also working in the town previously unknown to us. It was also really interesting to see what else is on our doorstep!
We also took ‘Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie’ to the Teddy Bears Picnic event at Hertford Castle. We recognised the huge importance of connecting with the local community with a chance of getting first-hand feedback about our work. It was fantastic to hear from both local residents and businesses and build long-lasting relationships.
In May we won gold at the Independent Publishers Book Awards in NYC for Galdo’s Gift in the Best Children’s e-book category. This is great recognition for our achievements with Galdo’s Gift where we pushed the boundaries of a super-enhanced ebook in an industry that was new to us.
Early summer, we took a trip to Banbury to see a small touring exhibition about automata called the Mechanical Circus. It was a great show; the pieces made with real skill and often with a really perceptive wry humour (see our blog from June 2019). The show was an inspiration to us and reinforced the importance of getting out of the studio and seeing more ‘other’ stuff in real life! We are planning a series of ‘Inspiration trips’ for not only for our own benefit :-) but also for our blog and YouTube channel through 2020. So if you know of any inspiring, eccentric, interesting shows touring the UK in 2020 please do let us know!
Summer also saw us complete a 30-second advert for a Toll Tag company in Dallas US. Completed in just 12 days, we drew on our experience gained from making NED earlier in the year. If you’d like to read more about this project please see our blog from July.
In September we were delighted to be featured in the Affinity Spotlight. The Affinity Suite is a trio of programs from Serif that we use extensively in our work. It was great to be featured as it propelled our work in front of a whole new group of people.
A really big deal for us was being Keynote Speakers at the annual Digital Book World conference in Nashville, Tennesse. In 2018 we won 4 out of 6 nominations with ‘Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie’ and, as a result, were invited to speak about Galdo’s Gift and our work at the 2019 conference. We presented to almost 1000 people and it was the debut showing of ‘The Locksmith’ trailer (an exciting project now underway).
Whilst there we also met some great people and it was really interesting to see the wide scope of the digital book sphere as well as the enthusiasm and commitment those in the industry have. We also had a special invite to see the new facilities for teenagers at Nashville Public Library. It was a great opportunity to meet with Rebecca and Nick from Studio NPL which is the teen wing of the Nashville Public Library. We blogged about this back in October but suffice to say the facilities and thought process behind the program is fantastic and we came away incredibly impressed and wishing more libraries were able to offer these opportunities to teenagers across the world.
Early November saw us attending AdventureX at The British Library, London. AdventureX is the UK’s only convention dedicated to narrative gaming, bringing together creativity, indie development, and geek with all those with a passion for interactive storytelling. We really enjoyed the talks, interviews, and games (particularly ‘A Juggler’s Tale’ and ‘Haiku Adventure’). Talks of note included one form Charles Cecil (from ‘Beneath a Steel Sky’ fame) and an enjoyable discussion from the makers (Inkle) of the hugely popular game ‘80 Days’. The crowd was really open, inclusive and friendly and we’ll definitely be going again in 2020.
Throughout 2019 we had a steady build of Tapocketa work seeing us rise in profile and building connections across disciplines. I should add here that not all the things we pursued in 2019 produced the results we wanted. We had our fair share of disappointments and apparent dead-ends. Some things we enthusiastically went after just weren’t right whilst others turned into time wasters. These instances we have put down to gaining experience and they have been very useful in terms of learning valuable lessons. A disappointment we are still working hard on is getting ‘Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie’ available on android devices; we have more ideas in the pipeline on this front so keep watching!
The year drew to a close with us planning out not one but two new and very exciting projects for 2020 - ‘The Locksmith’ and ‘Origins’ (input welcome!) please see our in-house projects page for more info.
Not only does the year 2020 sound good but I think it’s going to be fantastic. We’re feeling very positive for the year and decade ahead and are looking forward to connecting with / meeting more fantastic people in 2020. Please do get in touch with any comments or suggestions for our inspiration trips in 2020, or input for the ‘Origins’ project.
Lastly, a massive THANK YOU to all of those who have supported us and are interested in our work. Being able to make our animations for people to enjoy is our dream, and we endeavor to develop our visions and ideas into stories and products that will intrigue, entertain and hopefully inspire the curious mind!
