Qubo is about to unveil a second set of user-generated short films.
The TV and online entertainment service for children and families will begin presenting the works on the Qubo channel, as well its broadcast blocks on NBC, Ion Television and Spanish-language broadcaster, Telemundo.
Thousands of young animators from across the country logged on to qubo.com to create short animated films using a storytelling Web application called Zimmer Twins, which won the International Interactive Emmy Award in 2007.
All told, Qubo has selected 14 films to be to be converted into fully animated mini-movies for national broadcast. Qubo producers have remastered each film, converting it to high-resolution video with broadcast quality color, music and sound effects. The network has also enlisted character actors to record the dialogue and narration written by the animators in their text bubble scripts.
This marks the second run for "QuboPics," which premiered last winter, from December 2008 through February, when nearly 25,000 children created nearly 50,000 animated films. At that time, Qubo selected 12 user-generated animated shorts to be re-mastered and broadcast on the network and its various broadcast blocks.
Since that first round of QuboPic Zimmer Twins films, the number of animated entries and users has grown exponentially. An additional 66,000 Zimmer Twins films had been created by the time the second round of 14 animated films were selected. Traffic to qubo.com continues to grow and there are currently nearly 170,000 original animated films on Qubo's site posted by almost 80,000 registered users.
"We were thrilled with the response to our first round of QuboPic premieres and can't think of a better way to honor and thank our viewers than by launching a second effort, "said Qubo president and general manager Rick Rodriguez in a statement. "We are proud to showcase the creativity of these talented children on our air. The Zimmer Twins helps reinforce Qubo's mission of engaging children's minds while promoting reading and literacy."
