Joachim Vlieghe

" I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot. " JDS

fastcompany:

And The Oscar For Best Short Film Goes To … An iPad App

Here’s the backstory on Morris Lessmore’s creators, Moonbot Studios:

At Moonbot’s Louisiana Studio, Hollywood Vets Dream Up Magical, Interactive Stories

With Moonbot Studios, a children’s animation star remakes the cinematic experience. And that’s just his first trick.

By John Pavlus:

Last night an unexpected masterpiece won the Oscar for best short film (also see: oscar.go.com/nominees). The real milestone: It was an iPad app. Also remarkable: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore was the brainchild of Moonbot Studios, a startup out of Shreveport, Louisiana. (…)

E-books are already a fraught subject for many readers, writers, publishers, and designers, but children’s e-books are even more so. Is it rotting their minds? Is it as good as good ol’ paper? Is it too interactive for their own good? Obviously there are no practical answers to such questions, but at least one children’s e-book/app/thingie (what do we call these things, again?) is doing it very, very right. It’s called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, and it’s like a well-written bedtime story and an immersive animated movie at once—without being “too much” of either.

This is most definitely an interesting development. Apparently ebooks are also becoming competitors in the film-industry. I guess this is an excellent example of media convergence and its effects on ‘older’ media and related institutions (like the Oscars).