User Generated Content (UGC)

Can animation be used to generate UGC?

The Cookroaches is an online cookery show that teaches basic recipes to 16-34 year olds through comical animated films.  After watching the recipe, people are encouraged to film themselves preparing the meal and then upload it to Youtube as a video response.  This will demonstrate that the recipes are truly being followed and it is hoped that these videos will mirror the comedy of the animation.

Here is the original Cookroaches video:

And here is a video response showing a user following the recipe:

Project Outcomes
The guy in the second film has genuinely never cooked a roast chicken dinner before and this video demonstrates his first attempt.  The aim of the Cookroaches show is to encourage young people to adopt new recipes and pass them on, with their uploaded video responses documenting their participation.  By uploading their own videos, the public can express their enthusiasm for this project.  They are able to create content that they are proud to share through social media, which in turn, promotes the recipes and the over all Cookroaches project and its sponsors.

Entertainment

UGC also allows the public to express themselves creatively and develop their own style of entertainment.  Youtube is home to many user generated films that have attracted millions of views, such as Merton's Chat Roulette video:

The most notable aspect of the above Cookroaches UGC film is the comedy, which over-shadows the fact that the user is following a recipe.  By launching a project that encourages UGC, it is hoped that the public will express their comical and creative abilities and upload videos that not only show them following the recipe, but also show their ability to create original forms of entertainment and comedy. 

Using Animation to Encourage UGC
Launching shows online allows animators to further explore the concept of 'what makes an animated show?'  Animators can adopt styles that would not really work for a 30 minute broadcast TV show.  A good example of this is the Sticks series by Brothers Mcleod which is original and innovative in both its style of animation and its narrative.

Most film and animation shows launched online have a very low budget and appear in short films that use minimal sets and props.

Alan Partridge's Mid-Morning Matters, for example, has the same camera angles pointing into the same small set, and this is all this film requires as it attempts to mirror audience behaviour and online communication methods (such as video blogs and webcams).
When developing an animated show that is designed to encourage UGC, it is important to recognise that their is no need for detailed and complicated animation techniques.  When animating the Cookroaches I tried to create a film that looked as if it were user generated.  The walk cycles are very basic and I have allowed some shots to be out of focus and full of flickering light.  This will help the film to relate to the UGC, rather than having a professional style that alienates it from the UGC it is trying to encourage.

Writing for Multiplatform

How does script writing for an online project differ from writing for television?

From 2001 to 2007 I managed an animation studio that developed content for television.  I scripted all of my own films and created original ideas that fulfilled the commissioning briefs of TV networks.
'72a' (right) was developed for ITV in 2001 and it was designed to explore the brief, 'What is Space?.'
Apart from fulfilling this brief and producing something that was entertaining, my film did not need to meet any other requirements.

I have now moved away from developing films for television and moved into the development of online content.  I design animated shows that are launched within websites that provide a service to particular user groups.  This requires me to have a detailed understanding of how to best serve those target audiences.  If I develop an animated show that is built into an educational website that teaches mathematics to 4-7 year olds, it is essential for me to first team up with an organisation who can provide me with a solid understanding of how this age group learns and processes information, whereas TV networks already have a good understanding of this through their own market research and project development.

 

My current projects all required consultancy with external organisations who were able to ensure that their own aims and objectives were built into my scripts.

Team Alpha is an animated show that will be launched within a website that provides young users with information about local sports events and facilities.  When scripting the show, I worked with staff at UK Athletics to ensure that it agreed with government targets for encouraging young people to participate in sport.  The individuals I worked with loved the script and saw the show's potential for encouraging children into sports, but they also stated that I had failed to represent or promote para-olympians.

There feedback resulted in the creation of the character Tony (left) who will promote the para-olympics and encourage disabled children to participate in sport.

For the Seedlings project I collaborated with Education 4 Conservation.  E4C highlighted that rather than creating awareness of negative environmental issues (such as deforestation or river pollution) it was much more constructive to focus on the positive issues, and promote the natural environment as a fun place for exploration and adventure.  This advice radically changed the direction of the project and helped to ensure that it was compatible with what children were learning in the classroom.



These organisations are also essential when building the website.  They can provide educational content and help to identify routes to market.

Funding a Multiplatform Project

The projects that I am currently developing are not reliant on funding from TV networks or government funding schemes, so how do I cover the production costs?

There are two routes I am taking (these are not the only two available, but they are the two that I have chosen to take with my projects).

Advertising
The first method is to develop a project that can provide large companies with unique advertising opportunities.  A number of shows are now being broadcast online with no attachment to any TV network commission.  Here are two examples:

Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy is a series of short animated films that were originally sponsored by Burger King.  They had a short Burger King advert at the start of each film, along with Burger King advertisements on the Youtube channel's home page.  Seth's films have had millions of views, which meant that the Burger King adverts at the start of each film had also received millions of views.  The films have recently been re-uploaded with Nike advertisements at the start, and continue to secure hundreds of thousands of hits.

Also, Fosters have sponsored 12 episodes of Alan Partridge Mid-Morning Matters, with each video receiving over 250 000 views.

This new approach to production funding is not only giving film makers new routes to investment, but it is also beneficial to the sponsoring organisation by providing them with new ways of promoting their products to consumers.
 

I am currently producing 'The Cookroaches' which is a cookery show hosted  by stop-motion cockroaches who climb over the food and present basic recipes to 16-34 year olds through entertainment and comedy.  This project opens itself up to sponsorship from food manufacturers and retailers who can advertise through product placement or by placing advertisements on the website or at the start of each film.  A sponsoring food retailer could also tie their own promotional offers into the project and advertise in-store deals that relate to each recipe. 

Subscription Fees
I have developed two projects that generate income from users paying an annual subscription fee.  This does mean that initial production funding needs to be sought from elsewhere, but once launched, the subscription fees paid by users will generate a regular income that will recover the initial investment.

 The Seedlings is an animated show that is designed to be watched by 4-7 year olds during school time.  Via the Seedlings website, teachers show an episode of the show to their class and then download an arts and crafts lesson plan related to the viewed episode.  Inspired by the show, the students make their project and then the teachers photograph the finished work and upload it to their profile page on the website, creating an online gallery of student work and an information sharing system for teachers.

To use this service, each class will pay £1 per school term or £4 per academic year.  There are 66 000 classrooms across the UK that this service could target, so an annual, four term subcription from just 10% of the UK's 4-7 year old classrooms would generate £26 400.

Combining Both Models

Another of my projects is a sports-based animated show called Team Alpha which will be broadcast within a website that promotes local sports events and facilities to the young users who are watching the show.  Like the Seedlings project, the sports facilities pay a small subscription fee to promote their services, but this project is also open to online advertising from sports manufacturers and retailers.

What is a Multiplatform Project?

"You cannot launch an animated show online.  Why would audiences search for a show on the internet when they have so much choice on television?"

This was the advice given to me when I first explored the idea of applying my script writing and animation skills to the internet.  For 7 years I managed my own animation studio which had produced a number of short films for television.  Securing work usually involved waiting for a production fund to become available or hoping for a TV network to commission your idea.  As digital technology developed, I soon became intrigued by the possibilities that new media offered creative film makers.  Could the internet free animators from the competitive process of securing commissions from funding schemes and TV networks?
The above advice is true in the sense that a TV show launched online will gain a very small following, for example, few parents will search for a pre-school cartoon show online when they already have so much choice on TV.  But what if that animated show was integrated with an online service and existed within a website that offered more than just a show to sit and watch.  Could an animated show exist as a small part of a larger multiplatform experience that was completely detached from any TV network.
Previously, an author had presented me with her book and asked me to develop her idea into a TV show which was pitched to the BBC and soon rejected and shelved.  I revisited the project, and rather than designing a show to be pitched to a TV network I decided to redesign the idea as a multiplatform project.  This animated show was redesigned to be watched online by 4-7 year olds during school time: 

Via the website, teachers would show an episode of the show to their class and then download an arts and crafts lesson plan related to the viewed episode.  Inspired by the show, the students would make their project and then the teachers would photograph the finished work and upload it to their profile page on the website, creating an online gallery of student work and an information sharing system for teachers.

I felt that I had successfully refuted the negative advice given to me and I had proven that an animated show can be launched online if carefully build into a larger system where it played a small role along side other associated platforms. 
 In the coming weeks I will update you on the progress of my new production company and the projects it will develop.