Indie creative studio Tapocketa was awarded Innovate UK funding for its ground-breaking web-based animated storybook called Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie®, supported by UK Research and Innovation.
Hertfordshire-based micro-indie animation and media production studio, Tapocketa, have been awarded UK Research and Innovation funding to advance the inventive features of their animated storybook, Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie®.
“Ultimately, the success of Galdo’s Gift will be based on building the momentum in its reach, so devising innovative ways to encourage sharing is vital. The Innovate UK funding will make this possible.”
Eleanor Long RCA, artist/model-maker (The Borrowers, Pinocchio) and Trevor Young, a former film visual effects specialist (Harry Potter, Hunger Games) decided to start Tapocketa together to explore and push the boundaries of storytelling.
Puppet Masters
Preparing a puppet for motion capture
They developed their own visual style using motion-captured paper puppets, importing their creations into the digital realm to add lighting and sound effects. The result is a mesmerising mix of the real and the fantastical.
“The whole concept of Galdo’s Gift is to create a magical children’s storybook that comes to life with animation and involves the child in the story. It is an exciting prospect to know that it’s now possible to innovate this for the web.”
The Boovie®
Brian Murphy narrates
A Boovie® is Tapocketa’s term for a book-movie hybrid; a reference to the animated illustrations that adorn every page. The animated main character, King Galdo (voiced by British TV legend Brian Murphy), is also on hand to narrate the story. Children can make their way through the Boovie® at their own pace, with the trickier words explained by funny ‘pop up’ definitions that relate to the story.
Originally an ebook on the Apple Store (where it reached no. 3 in the kid’s charts among the Harry Potters and won a slew of awards), it has now been completely reconfigured and will be developed to work in web browsers on any device.
A scene from Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie®
The Right Time
“Almost a million children in the UK do not own a book” - National Literacy Trust report, 2023
“At GCSE, arts entries in the UK have declined by 47% since 2010” - Campaign for the Arts report, 2023
“Over 97% of family households in the UK are online” - Ofcom report, 2021
Galdo’s Gift will be a fully browser-based experience making it truly accessible to everyone, especially as browsers and devices are now sufficiently advanced to be able to support its features.
The ambition is to make sure no child is left behind in their journey to a love of literature, so the intention is to make the core Boovie® storybook free with the backing of sponsorship.
Inspiring Creativity
Tapocketa has learnt, having taken the Boovie® into schools, that children are fascinated to know how the storybook and animations were created.
Galdo’s Gift, with its paper cutout style, looks creatively achievable to children in a way that many big studio offerings do not. So it is important to Tapocketa that the Boovie® leads to bespoke paper activities that allow children to explore their own creativity and storytelling abilities.
The UKRI Innovate funding is the boost needed to take the Boovie® to the next level and inspire a new generation of hidden talent.
To find out more about Galdo’s Gift and be informed of its release go to Tapocketa’s dedicated site here.
