Hello and welcome to Tapocketa’s end of year round up.
Tapocketa’s Showreel
This short summary of our year should be of interest to anyone who wants a glimpse behind the scenes of a fledgling creative company; the highs and lows, triumphs and mistakes.
It’s also for those who have followed our work and are interested in the ways we are looking to find inventive methods to tell stories and embellish our animation style.
Pandemic
Everyone’s favourite year started with news of something that had us all very concerned about what the implications would be. We were no different. After the first two difficult years of Tapocketa, building up our work style and client base, we had real worries that 2020’s pandemic would wipe that away.
A Wizard GIF created for Bibliophile
As a process that can be completed remotely, animation has weathered the storm, but we didn’t know for sure (as newbies to the animation world) how it would work out. Thankfully the demand for animation kept strong.
We perhaps saw more of a shift from corporate work towards commissions from private individuals. But that in itself has allowed us more freedom to develop work within our own style.
Developing an Identity
One of the biggest mountains to climb can be finding your niche. In many ways it looks like something that comes naturally, and ideally it should, but for many of us it’s a roundabout journey of discovery.
When we first set up Tapocketa, we worked really hard to build an image, a brand, that would present the company as something highly professional and established. In the process we lost a little of what made us unique in our own right. In our efforts to present ourselves as a more corporate version of who we truly were and trying to cater for all possible outcomes, we misrepresented ourselves and our distinctive identity.
So this year we took a step back and examined how we had depicted ourselves to the world. Now, instead of the animation studio that can tackle anything from corporate videos to architectural visualisations (yep, we went that diverse!), we are Tapocketa, the animation duo, Eleanor and Trevor, innovating and inventing in the world of storytelling.
Now customers know that they will always be talking to the animator actually doing the work. They have a direct line to us and our experience in the creative world. It has made all the difference. This year we saw a turnaround after the (to be expected) lean setup years. We have a close connection with the people we work with and they keep coming back. In short, they know us.
The book that really did change our perspective is Seth Godin’s excellent This Is Marketing. This book helped us cut through all the marketing speak and clutter. He talks in basic terms about the real essence of finding your audience and presenting yourself.
Future Projects
At the end of this article, we will list some of the projects that we have been working on this year, but first we wanted to give an overview of where we are with our own in-house projects. Like everything else this year there has been rethinks. As wonderful as it is to have commissioned work (it really is), it does mean that the opportunity for those projects that we have carved out for ourselves do need to wait on the sidelines.
With less time for our in-house projects, we now look to create more manageable smaller creative ‘snippets’ that will build up to our next animated publication.
That means that the large scale projects we were working towards, such as The Locksmith, have been broken down into interactive elements that we can publish in their own right. What’s really exciting is that it is much more achievable and we have great ambitions in terms of the interactivity, animation and the way these snippets will be presented. We look forward to showing you as we progress.
Our in-house project Origins is also, at the moment, hovering on the sidelines and could develop in one of a many directions. We have made connections with a few great contacts this year and are slowly building on the idea. If you have any links or ideas which could help us get this planty project off the ground, do get in touch.
and… Happy 2021 !
Eleanor and I would like to take this moment to express our gratitude to you all for your support during a difficult year for everyone and we really do hope you all have a happy and healthy 2021 !
Some 2020 Highlights
Something Fishy
We are continuing work on an interactive animated publication that began in 2020. More to be revealed next year but in the meantime, here is some of the sketch work…
Dancing Lemons, Kids?
Eleanor and I broke style to work with Elise Lemon on her Miss Fizzy Sings animated singalong videos. Elise approached us after the to-and-fro with other online animators. She works with us directly and we have regular video calls to discuss the best way of creating her videos. We created the LemPops to dance alongside Miss Fizzy, working with her to perfect the look and colour palette and give her a distinctive look.
Tapocketa Animates Lemons
Animated Book Trailers
We’ve worked hard this year to consolidate our approach to animated book trailers and created a devoted page of our site to showing examples and creating two categories and price bands to make the process simpler and more approachable.
Cover Art Animation Showreel
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