The Digital Skills Summit Lightning Talk #4: Juliet Tzabar (Plug-In Media)
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Lightning Talk from The Digital Skills Summit: Powered by Wired Sussex on Monday 23rd March 2015 @ Komedia, Brighton
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The Digital Skills Summit Lightning Talk #4: Juliet Tzabar (Plug-In Media)
- 2. The Company. Founded2003. “Superfused”business:teamof16 design, development &productionstaff,basedin Brighton,UK. Making digitalentertainmentforkids:apps,games,&animationforonline,mobile & broadcast.
- 3. Design:2D animation,3Danimation,illustration, graphicdesign, motiongraphics,characterdesign. Soundandmusic:sounddesign, editing, originalmusic composition,VO. Video:script-writing,editing, production (live action& animation). Technical:HTML5,Flash,Unity,Air, Flex, CSS,Javascript, Java,ObjectiveC, Haxe, C++,Cocos 2DX,augmented reality,motiondetection.AppsforiOS, Android,Windows. Linear:development, script-writing,editing, production(live action& animation). OurSkills.
- 4. Kidsexpecttheir favoriteentertainmentbrandson every device. Plug-in Media:busywork-for-hirestudioproducing apps,gamesandonline content. Plug-in Productions:transmediaproductioncompany, creatingplatform-agnosticoriginalIP, in the disrupted children’smediamarket. The Context. Oursectorhas seen atechnological revolution: devices, platforms,online, apps-a diverseand fragile ecology. Theshiftin ourbusinessmodel has further compoundedthis flux.
- 6. To this…
- 7. As leaders,weshouldthinkof ourselvesasteachersand trytocreatecompaniesin which teaching is seen as a valuedwaytocontributetothe successofthe whole. Dowethinkofmostactivitiesas teachingopportunitiesand experiences aswaysoflearning? One ofthe mostcrucial responsibilitiesofleadershipis creatingaculturethat rewardsthose wholiftnotjust ourstockprices butour aspirationsas well.” Ed Catmull, Creativity Inc. How?
- 10. Our TechnicalAnimation with Unity.
- 11. Game in a day.
- 12. Extensiontask.
- 14. Focused R&D.
- 15. Conferences.
- 16. Show & Tell Breakfasts.
- 17. Entire Company Hack Day.
- 18. What?Benefits. Projectworkcanbeinsular: stepbackfromclient workandplayagain! Less formalset-up–peopleaskquestions. Activities aredirectlyalignedto ourcompanystrategy. Teambonding. Impactsourefficiency & profitability. Costsless thanformaltrainingcourses. Enablesusto prioritiseinnovation. Letsus superfuse! Ourteam becomesupskilled,agile & motivated!
- 19. JulietTzabar CEO, Plug-inMedia +44 (0)7973 749 571 info@pluginmedia.net
Editor's Notes
- This is us. We were founded in 2003. Based in N Laine Team of design, dev, production/central business staff, split 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 Our output is digital entertainment for kids – more about that in a mo.
- We have a very broad skillset across multiple disciplines – it’s continually evolving. We’re not really a product-based company. Every project is different from the last.
- * Our company is founded on the premise that … kids expect their content on every device that they have access to. As you all know, right across the sector, there has been nothing short of revolution – especially around mobile. Both have led us to adapt our business model and business structure But of course that leads to internal flux and change How do we best arm our team to work in these circumstances?
- Interactive game HTML5 Owned by someone else Work for hire
- Own IP Animated Broadcast on TV Different business model
- I’m not a huge believer in management manuals – in fact this is one of the few I’ve committed to reading but I’ve been particularly inspired by this quote… by Ed Catmull founder of Pixar – his book Creativity Inc is a fascinating read and a brilliant manual for running a creative business. In the next few slides… How have we leveraged this philosophy to engage our staff in pivoting our business and train them for the new challenges that such a shift inevitably results in? Learning in the broadest possible sense. I asked my HODs to review the tranining needs in their depts; we talked individually to staff in appraisals; we invited them to browse course listings but ultimately this is what they wanted: Show and tell breakfasts Life drawing – semi regularly Internal training – tech team / what? Art team – what? Whole company – what? R&D time on projects
- What does this mean for the creative side of the business? Our creative director is a big believer in the fact that software skills can be taught relatively quickly but drawing and composition takes a lot longer to master. Everyone we hire has fantastic drawing skills – especially important when you look at the diverse art styles of the different projects we produce. The art team – although open to everyone – semi-regularly do life drawing at lunchtimes in new england house
- One of our artists was leaving the company – before he left we got him to do a character design workshop with the team. We first came up with a simple description of what we wanted our chr to be and decided on a gay gazelle who was a hairdresser, skinny and anxious :) We looked on line for some reference and brought that into our file. Then we talked about proportions and traits for our character, would he have a long body, or neck, what would he wear. What would his personality be like? All the while we did this, richie would be sketching little thumbnails. Once we had a silhouette we were happy with, we refined the look of our character and added details to bring out his personality - sideburns, goatee, cuffs etc.
- This was run by our technical artist, Matt. He is our bridge between tech and art in the business. We had been experimenting with different pipelines for our app developments – particularly around taking 2D assets into Unity via Maya. Matt spent a day with the team talking through the principles of animating in Unity. Everyone in the art team now animates directly in Unity for our app projects – which has meant a massive saving in our production pipeline and a more efficient workflow between art and dev. A business win.
- Around 4 years ago in 2011 we began to notice the industry slowing migrating towards HTML5 as game development tool. We worked with our ex-tech director – who came back and worked with the team to create an HTML5 game in a day. Until 2011 we were producing content exclusively in Flash – last year we made 11 games using HTML5 Gave us a portfolio piece Early engagement delivered competitive edge
- We picked it up again in 2013 A further hack day – this time exploring type script and socket servers to create a multiple experience where game sprites are controlled on individuals devices and played out on the big screen. We haven’t applied this yet – but we’d love to extend to one of our game concepts – so it feeds into creative development
- 2015 – tech team day This was around consolidating our unity working practices and improving internal pipelines Also served as an induction for a new member of staff.
- 3 days of dedicated R&D for our technical director in order to explore a new tech for us HAXE – and rapidly come up with a platformer. A portfolio piece.
- Conferences as training – particularly for producers. CMC I am on committee Dom regularly speaks Our producers produce sessions & attend the conference. Means that they are undertaking bus dev for the company – meeting new people, understanding the context of the industry that they work in – come out from their projects for 3 days.
- Across the entire company we have done the following: Show and tell breakfasts… where each member of team talks about something they would like to over the course of an hour and a bacon sandwich We learnt: improv; I brought my kids in; script-wrting; ukuele playing; mobile predictions and watercolour painting.