For the first time in 20 years, Hooked on Phonics, has redesigned its flagship product, Learn to Read, and incorporated some of the latest reading and literacy research into proven lesson strategies and reading activities designed to teach children fundamental reading skills.
For the redesign of their flagship product, Hooked On Phonics turned to FlickerLab which created 13 hours of animation for the new series of nine Learn to Read DVD's.
FlickerLab, the New York design and animation studio, was involved in the creative development of the video materials from inception through delivery of the final authored DVD's. They created the content for the nine DVD videos that are integral to their new Learn to Read Program. The DVD's combine character animation, motion graphics and some live-action footage, "forming a critical part of a series of entertaining and educational reading programs for children ages 3-8 years. They are filled with hours of fun, brain-building activities -- three discs for pre-k, two for kindergarten, two for first grade and two for second grade.
FlickerLab Managing Partner/Creative Director Harold Moss explained the project. " Hooked on Phonics came to us for assistance with a major revamping of their existing Learn to Read system. This was the first time they incorporated video and animation directly into the learning system and they asked us to produce the DVD package and develop an entire visual system from the ground up. This included animating the type, developing of sense of character for each letter, making them fun to watch and also making sure that every sound effect, gag and motion helped carry the information. Developing a set of rules and ways of making every element playful was a challenge and a rather complex process as each choice had to reinforce the learning system."
"Last fall, the FlickerLab team began brainstorming and developing ideas with our clients Russell Ginns and Christopher Medellin, talking about how to make this work. Then Bryan Cox, our lead visual phonics designer, culled through the suggestions from the brainstorming sessions and made a series of design and animation tests for animating words and letters. On the aesthetic side, Alisa Harris and Thomas Smolenski did the initial animation tests with the characters and Alisa was the main designer who adapted the characters from the Hooked on Phonics story and workbooks to use in FlickerLab's series of character animations that made learning playful and entertaining," stated Franklin Zitter, FlickerLab Co-Executive Producer. "Working with the characters, Russell then wrote a song for each letter of the alphabet which is featured in the animated pre-K music videos. The project was a challenge but we knew we had hit the right note when a segment of type animation in a lesson was so joyful that we could not stop looping and re-watching it."
Zitter, who was responsible for the management of the workflow/production pipeline and the review process for all of the project elements, both in-house and with the clients, continued, "There were many thousands of interlocking pieces of media and curriculum that had to be tied in so this project was much larger than just creating 13 hours of animation. In many ways it had the complexity of designing a video game or a very complex interactive website."
Smarterville/Hooked on Phonics Senior Director of Product Development Russell Ginns said of his FlickerLab experience, "Working with FlickerLab was a unique partnership. They brought so many creative ideas to the table and together we applied them to all the goals of our reading program. The result is obvious. Their energy and thoughtfulness really shines through in all of our interactive lessons."
Smarterville Children's Product Producer/Senior Producer Christopher Medellin added, "I had the best working experience with FlickerLab so I can only give you a rave review. Working with them has been fantastic on very level. They are extremely creative, very cooperative and responsive. They built on every idea we gave and helped us create a wonderful new product."
Added FlickerLab Partner/Executive Producer Tammy Walters, "Russell and Christopher were dream clients to work with, bringing to us an this amazing new learning system and building a true creative partnership with FlickerLab that let us all bring our best to the table."
The FlickerLab creative team, led by Creative Director Harold Moss, Executive Producer Tammy Walters and Co-Executive Producer Franklin S. Zitter, included Associate Producer Kea Kelly Alcock; Lead Visual Phonics Text Designer And Animator Bryan Cox, Designer/Animators/Compositors Simon Ampel, Vanessa Appleby, Nick Bertonazzi, Thomas Bone, Chia Hui Hou, Bryan Cox, Dan Forgione, Alisa Harris, Andrew Kaiko, Philip Lockerby, Sean McBride, Nikolay Nachev, Nicole Navitsky, Mark Pecoraro, Adam Sacks, Thomas Sebastian Smolenski and Zartosht Soltani; Audio/Music/Sound Designer David Wilson with additional sound design by Nathan Manley; Editor Dan Rosen and Assistant Editor Stacey Burgay; and a Tutorial Video Crew including DP Ed David, Sound Mixer Kristian Boryservicz, Assistant Camera Albert Oh, Gaffer Huttenberg Nassar, Teleprompter Artisan NY , Wardrobe Stylist and Makeup Artist Sue Crystal.