SMP Q&A with Chantal Harvey from Netdreamer Publications

Profiled interview with Chantal Harvey, publisher and producer from virtual publishing company Netdreamer Publications

Social Media Portal (SMP): What is your name and what do you do there for Netdreamer Publications?

Chantal Harvey (CH): I?m Chantal Harvey, publisher and producer at Netdreamer Publications.  I create ebooks for children, using full animation. I co-write, film, edit, produce and market all this stuff together with my director Tony Dyson.

SMP: Briefly, tell us about Netdreamer Publications (for those that don?t know), what is it and what does the company do?

CH: We are a virtual publishing company, specialising in children?s books for educational and life experience.  We are publishing multiple formats using digital, printed and multi-media.

SMP: When did you start the company with Tony Dyson and why?

CH: We started in 2012. We have been working with real time animation since 2011 and believe it has a great potential as a teaching tool.  We are convinced that with the handheld devices that so many children have access to, the published material available today falls very short to its full potential. We see a market there, and want to fill that gap.  We should always be striving to capture the child?s imagination and trigger the inner magic and wonder that can be experienced by the inquiring mind.



SMP: Who are your target audience and why?

CH: We are aiming for teachers, parents and grandparents.  Ultimately the child, of course.  We believe that the children growing up nowadays will enjoy in-depth animation in ebooks.  So far, most animated ebooks for children show wriggling hippos and ducks that swim around a boat; we believe that real time animation is the next step.  

When a parent becomes involved in good animation, their enthusiasm will add to the fun and learning-experience of the child.  The more enjoyment and involvement of the parent while reading a story, the deeper the experience for the child.  It is a matter of raising the bar high, with full animation, which the teacher and parent will enjoy and then transfer to the child.  Think of movies like Shrek and Ice Age, the fact that parents enjoy it so much is one of the (many) success factors of these films.  Our Bobbekin characters are fun, and they represent only one of three worlds we are working on, the others being Fairyworld and RobotWorld.

SMP: How are you using online tools for digital storytelling and what sort of projects are you currently working on?

CH: We use word processors, dedicated ebook software, virtual worlds for real time animation and characterisation (our avatars are custom created and unique).  Our picture books use stills made in Second Life, where we have a dedicated sim called ?Toy City? ? a forever changing world, where our Bobbekin characters dwell. Their adventures are written by Tony Dyson, who also designed the sim. We have people from all over the world creating custom made animations for our avatars, and props.

I use screen capturing software and Adobe Premiere to edit.  Skype and online cloud storage is essential for communication between team members, as we all live in different countries (and even time-zones).  And of course social media to get the word out for five websites, educational software to prepare digital and printing formats.  We are currently working on our ebooks, focussing on our products and on our crowd funding on Indiegogo, as we see this as the perfect opportunity to pre-sell and test our products.

SMP: What are some of the projects that you are most proud of and why?

CH: So far, everything that Tony Dyson and I have achieved.  Many projects did lead up to the one we are working on right now.  We made several animations for contest and for clients, and most of them can be found on my website, but nothing beats the multi-media ebook with the Bobbekins.  It is an innovative 32 turn-page storybook for children, which fully complements our conviction that one should never teach children what they already know.  We never talk down to children, as we believe that the teaching interaction between the parent and the child adds to the experience (for both!)

SMP: How you are reaching out to online communities and environments?

CH: We engage in social media when and wherever we can.  The big outreach however, is crowd funding, for us.  We went to Indiegogo with our project, a perfect way to test and pre-sell our books.

My online activities from the past (my MMIF.org festival, the 48HFP machinima contest, the Linden Endowment for the arts in Second Life) involve a lot of virtual platforms and online games; I am reaching out to these communities.  I also reach out to groups and pages in Facebook, missions in Empire Avenue, Google+, Twitter, Plurk and Tumblr, Pinterest, Xeeme and many more. 

SMP: What are the low moments of what you have been doing so far?

CH: None! It is a matter of working hard and enjoying what we achieve.

SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far?

CH: Best moment for me, was when I saw the first demo of our BobbekinWorld ebook, complete with the film. The impact of all the work we did, with all the contributions of our team members, it was truly mind-blowing when it all came together.  Tony Dyson?s writing, Janet?s voice over work, Slimmie?s music, Sylvia?s cover design, and my film, it made the Bobbekins come alive.  The demo can be seen on the front page of http://netdreamer.com

SMP: You?re involved in Linden Lab, what do you make of the reduced interest in virtual worlds now (after the hype), do you think we?ll see interest return again?

CH: I am not really involved with Linden Lab, although I did some projects with them in the past.  I think it is a wonderful platform; virtual worlds are highly under-estimated.  I wish it upon everybody to experience the creative possibilities it offers.

SMP: Tell us a little about the MMIF Machinima festival; what is it and how are you involved?

CH: I founded the festival in 2009, as a non-profit platform to showcase international machinima.  It ran for three years (in Amsterdam and online) and is now a sleeping festival, as I am giving all of my attention to Netdreamer Publications.  It will be back though in the future!

SMP: What do you see as your biggest challenges and opportunities for what you do in your current role and the industry that you are now immersed within?

CH: Biggest challenge is getting the word out, to as many people as possible. We are a small company, with big dreams.  This truly is a brave new world for publishers and authors.  We believe in our creativity, and that our products are innovative. Families have a lot of choice, and when it comes to children?s books there is a lot of diversity.  However, we do find that within that niche, there is a gap for quality, animation and fun stories that can teach essential and basic lessons to a young child.  It is an exciting time; small companies can now approach a world market.

SMP: What is the most challenging part of building upon the brands presence in digital environments (including social media)?

CH: There is a huge opportunity for publishers when it comes to branding.  Branding is inexpensive compared to what it was in the past.  It was impossible for small companies to brand, in the past, but they can now start branding campaigns, online.
Most of all we want to give value for money. We hope people will like and recognise the Bobbekins.  We are getting positive feedback already; parents are appreciating the fact that their children can quickly recognise their favourite characters.  This is easy to understand, consider the vast success of Disney for example; character recognition is crucial in this day and age.

SMP: What?s going to be the most interesting aspect regarding social media / technology for the next 12 to 18-months ? what sort of impact does this have upon what you do?

CH: A fairly recent development in social media is crowd funding.  We started an Indiegogo project for our product, which runs till June 15, 2013.  It is not only a perfect way to pre-sell our books and give out special offers and perks, it also gives us the opportunity to stay independent from the big publishing houses.  We have a dream; we believe in our product and want to contribute to the world.

We show a demo of our book on the first page, and snippets of the films are posted in the gallery daily.

SMP: What are your top five predictions for digital and social media for the next 12 to 18-months?

CH: Can I stick to predicting my own top one?

1. Visuals will play a bigger role than ever.  That is why we want to bring out a new, advanced generation of ebooks.
2. Companies use more visual social networks, pushing out visual content on existing channels.  Even press releases are providing more and more visual content, as they get more traction when there is visual or multimedia content embedded.  I believe this trend will grow in 2013.
3. Using computer-generated films in children?s books surely will make a big difference in reading and learning experience.  So far the interactive and animated kid?s ebooks are a bit behind, this will change in 2013.
4. I love paper books, and we are in fact producing classical picture books amongst our many formats, but it cannot be compared with our BobbekinWorld multi-media book.
5. Traditional children?s books are in no competition to our ebooks, as they cannot hold animation.

SMP: Is there anything else we should know, or is there anything that you?d like to share?

CH: Yes. Please go to our crowd funding site and check out our product?  

SMP: Best way to contact you and Netdreamer Publications?

CH replies with:

Website: http://netdreamer.com
Facebook
Twitter @Bobbekinworld
Netdreamer Publications website
Tony Dyson's website
Chantel Harvey's website
Chantal Harvey on Twitter @mamachinima


SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch?  

CH: Black coffee on the balcony!

SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone?

CH: I contributed to somebody?s crowd funding project, helping them to achieve their dream.

SMP: If you weren?t working on Netdreamer Publications what would you be doing?

CH: Is there anything else?  

SMP: What was the best film you?ve seen recently and why?

CH: I watched ?Happy Feet? again ? because it made me giggle all the way through the film.

SMP: If you could direct or shoot anything, what would it be and why?

CH: An opera in Venice, using a mix of animations and real footage.

SMP: When and where did you go on your last holiday?

CH: I went to Miami (visited the film festival) and New York.

SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning?

CH: I celebrate a brand new day, open the balcony doors and drink lots of coffee, while my computer renders out the work we did on the previous day.

SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

CH: I would like to be able to teleport to and from any place I want to visit.
Surprise-surprise, here I am! I would surely visit you too, and bob in and out to places all over the world and beyond.

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