A Christian Action Series for Kids

[Salt&Light Pro]

Greetings from Salt & Light Productions,

I just made this accound so I'm still reading up on how to upload images and so forth. Our company is very young, but our goal is to create and publish Christian content that is educational and/or entertaining. One brand that we are working on is called Chronicles of Thunderbird.

The problem with most Christian brands for kids is that they are too unrealistic. Everyone is nice or having a good time and the real world doesn't work that way. So our goal was to create a series that a Christian child could be proud to watch when he is in 1st-4th grade.


I don't want to ramble on about legistics, but I would really appreciate some feedback on this video trailer we had made to introduce the brand. This is probably the best place for me to get feed back because our goal is to create a brand for the Christian youth who grow up watching anime and hoping a good Christian one will eventually come out. While we don't consider ourselves anime (due to art style) our episodic storylines will be able to compete with the best.

Here is the link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sammu7GibZQ&feature=feedlik


I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[TWWK]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

I do like the idea that you'll be addressing difficulties in life. I haven't seen many Christian cartoons, but even for secular media aimed at young kids, there's sometimes an issue with a too-cheery world being presented (I'm thinking particularly of Barney).

The characters look good and the artistic merit is high. I like that the show appears to be an adventure-of-the-week setup, with mainly the three main characters recurring from show to show.

My main concern is that the animation isn't smooth enough. The trick with getting a flash-type cartoon to appeal to viewers is to make it seem like a normal, flowing cartoon, rather than something created on a computer (even when it is). I don't know how technically difficult this is, but I imagine it must be hard. Shows like "Word Girl" and "Martha Speaks" on PBS do a very good of achieving this flow.

I'm looking forward to the actual episodes. Keep us updated!

[Mr. SmartyPants]

As well-intentioned as your peoject may be, I don't think it would appeal to the target demographic at all. Nor would I have particularly enjoyed this if I were in elementary school.

[Atria35]

My problem is that I can't really tell what the setup is or what the premise is- the preview seems very disjointed about what it's trying to say. One moment he's reading a Bible, the next there's a dinosaur playing basketball... what's the connection? It's completely out of place. The background song also got very repetitive and very irritating at about the halfway mark. It's a little too repetitive for such a long introduction. You might be better off with a mix or just plain music.

I'm also unsure of the appeal to the target demographic. From the preview it seems too simplistic for 3rd and 4th graders, and I most surely would have moved on to more mature shows by that age.

[Radical Dreamer]

I have to agree with the above two posts. I don't think it hits the target demographic at all; I would not have been interested in watching it at that age. I don't want to stray too far from constructive criticism here, but I assume that when you ask for our thoughts, you want the truth and not just compliments. That being said, nothing about this really strikes me as good work. From the choice in music (auto-tuned gospel music?) to the jerky animation to the somewhat awkward artwork, this project just doesn't look professional.

I can't say anything about the story, obviously, because the trailer is a little too vague to give me any idea of what that's like, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to make a quality product, even if your story is amazing. If your story is fabulous and it looks like you didn't put any work into the visual aspect of a show, people aren't going to take it seriously. And if you want people to take your message seriously, you're really shooting yourself in the foot if the visual aspect of the show is shoddily done.

I wish you the best in your endeavors, but I strongly suggest you take a good, hard look at the art direction and animation in this show before you take it any further. Any legitimate production or distribution company would tell you the same.

[Hiryu]

Since your intended demographic is elementary school kids, you don't have to go overboard with the artwork/animation. But I'm still in agreement with everyone that it could probably use more work.

How do you intend to distribute your cartoon?

I notice this video was uploaded almost a year ago. Is there any new or recent updates to the situation you'd like to share?

How long has this been in production? Do you have an anticipated date for the series to be finished?