THE CHANNEL
|
ISSUE 1 2014
|
23
CHILDREN’S TV
|
THE CHANNEL
With
animation
you can
shed light
on those
things that
you can’t
film in the
wild
“
”
work is the way we look at animals:
not as objects but as fellow
creatures. What are they afraid of?
What are their favourite foods?
What makes them happy? What
makes them upset? This is the
overarching Kratt brothers’ view of
animals in the natural world.
In your latest series you mix live
action with animation. Why?
In doing our live‐action wildlife
shows, we realised there are so many
cool things about animals that you
can’t film in the wild; they’re too
difficult to get, like a battle between
a sperm whale and a giant squid
deep in the sea. No one has ever
filmed that. But with animation, we
can actually shed light on those
interesting behaviours.
Then there is the story element:
in our current show we look at
animals in terms of their “creature
powers”– the amazing abilities that
each animal has. One of the main
characters in the animated stories is
an inventor who creates all kinds of
gadgets. But her best invention is a
“creature power suit” which gives
the wearer the power of a particular
animal. So our heroes can use ‘giant
squid powers’ to dive deep into the
sea and watch that battle between
the whale and the squid. And they
can use the suit’s tentacle power to
fight a villain and rescue a
beleaguered animal as well.
How do you market your
programmes?
It was difficult to break into the
industry with a new idea. After
four successful series, that side of
things is not an issue any more. But
marketing is always very
important. We work with the
broadcasters on various
appearances, special events. We
love going on live stage tours
because we get valuable feedback
from different audiences. But you
have to present your brand on
many different platforms. We don’t
only do the TV show; we’ve got
Wild Kratt apps and toys and book
programmes on the way. We are
really making sure that kids are
able to take Wild Kratts into all
aspects of their lives.
So it’s a good story told with 21st
century technology?
You could say that is the appeal of
our brand. The show itself also
models a very technology‐based
world. For instance, there’s a main
base where the inventor and her
team come up with their animal‐
inspired inventions. They have big
screens to monitor the heroes’
situation. The characters use mobile
devices, called “creature pads” as a
way of communicating with each
other when the brothers are out on
an adventure. And we incorporate
live action wildlife footage within
the animated show by having it
appear on the characters’ invention
screens. We may be talking about a
cheetah in the animated story, and
then the inventor can pull up a live
action video clip of a cheetah. So
the viewer is able to see the
awesomeness of a cheetah running
in real life.
How important is gaming and
interactivity?
Our focus is mainly on games
because kids these days
increasingly want the opportunity
to play with and manipulate certain
content. In the interactive space, we
can take content to new places. For
example, if we do an episode on
frogfish, we can provide even more
information about this cool animal
online, or we can solidify some of
the content by having a game
where the kid can play the role of
the frogfish and progress to a
certain level to earn the frogfish’s
“creature power”. We’re constantly
experimenting on the interactive
side.
Our website attracts an
incredible amount of traffic. When
kids arrive at the site, they are able
to create an avatar and move
around the site playing games.
These are animal games in which
the player can earn “creature
powers”. Their avatar can load up
the “creature power” into their suit,
and they can explore the
landscapes with “kangaroo power”
or “orangutan power”. This is the
most highly visited website on PBS
Kids right now.
We are always keeping an eye
out for new technologies. At the
moment, we are transitioning the
content of the website to mobile
platforms which continue to see
increasing use patterns. We have
three apps out already and more on
the way, so we’re certainly
increasing our presence in the
mobile space.
What about the competition?
Of course, there are other wildlife
and animal shows out there. There
are whole channels like Animal
Planet and Discovery dedicated to
animals and wildlife. Kids’
television in general is competition
for us on a certain level. But
nobody does what we do in the
same way we do it. In the end, we
just try to make the best show we
possibly can – with good stories,
humour, and interesting content.
We love finding new ways to tell
people about animals and the
natural world, and we hope our
audiences continue to enjoy what
we come up with.
What is the parents’ feedback?
That is something we’re really
proud of: this is a safe show where
kids can learn about the world
around them. We love hearing
stories about how kids that watch
our show actually teach their
parents or teachers something new
about animals. That’s so
empowering for a kid. And lots of
adults seem to watch our show
because they can find out things
about animals that they didn’t
know!
Maybe the greatest thing of all is
the fact that lots of kids and their
parents say the experience
continues after they turn off the TV.
Because of the show, they go on
their own ‘creature adventures’ to
the local park or into the woods, as
a family. It’s really gratifying for us
to know that we can bring families
together around a fun activity –
creature adventuring.
Chris Kratt, thank you.
www.krattbrothers.com
