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Plug-in Media and Kindle Entertainment have delivered a groundbreaking immersive 3D website commissioned by CBeebies for top-rated kids’ TV show: Big and Small, featuring the voices of Lenny Henry as Big and Small, and Imelda Staunton as Ruby and Twiba, their friends. The website (www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/bigandsmall), developed using Papervision3D technology, invites children to enter the house and engage with animated versions of Big and Small. The project is the first to emerge from this successful collaboration between TV production company and digital media agency. Big and Small burst onto the CBeebies Channel at the start of October and is already a huge hit. The two best friends are opposites in every way: Big is gentle, thoughtful and understanding. He is a very loyal friend. Small is exuberant and loud. He acts first and thinks later, usually much, much later. The show is a celebration of difference and friendship. Big and Small have very different perspectives on the world. This is extended on-line in a highly innovative and hugely playful way: the website is a real-time rendered 3D world that allows its young users to switch views at the click of the mouse and literally experience Big and Small’s house from the perspective of either character. The website has been built using Papervision3D, the latest innovation in delivering 3D on the web. Plug-in’s technical director Seb Lee-Delisle, himself an integral member of the international Papervision3D development team, has led Plug-in’s developers to push the boundaries of this hugely popular open source project. The environment that’s been created feels and looks exactly like the inside of Big and Small’s house that children see on the television. Animated versions of the show's main characters are seamlessly embedded into the 3D environment responding to the user’s interaction. The site is packed with a huge range of activities which both enhance the broadcast offering and also reflect the lives of its young users: players can use the Band Game to create up to 105 different variations of the show’s theme tune using instruments such as the ukulele, clarinet and tuba; or they can make a hand-painting using either Big’s purposeful paw prints or Small’s squelchy, paint-splattered imprints. As if this isn't enough to distract the most demanding pre-schoolers, in December and January the house will be extended even further with new rooms and more games: wake up Big by throwing cushions at him, and attempt to brush Small's teeth as he frantically rushes around the bathroom! Plug-in started its fruitful collaboration with Kindle Entertainment when both companies took part in SEMN’s Digital Horizons scheme last year. Each company has played to its strengths: Kindle’s TV series provides highly loveable characters, great stories packed with laugh-out-loud moments and wonderful songs together with Lenny Henry’s comic genius in voicing Big and Small. Plug-in Media delivers groundbreaking expertise in Flash and 3D technologies, combined with its long-established experience in producing work aimed at young children and its skills at translating linear narratives into interactive experiences. The result is a truly innovative website that little children will delight in using. |
