Studio Liddell

Our character development team were asked by CBBC to help them develop a ground breaking application that sits on the CBBC website. We were asked to create a series of Bugbear characters that children could personalise online by changing the colours, features and body shape. Children are then invited to talk about issues that mean something to them, be it holidays, their pets or things they like, through to more pressing issues such as bullying, politics or anything they want to get off their chest.

Our tech team devised a CMS system that allows the BBC to create the final video files in-house, this was important as they wanted to screen the voice submissions to protect the children.

Our innovative production pipeline marries the characters the children configure to the voices they record, which in turn allows the Bugbears to speak with accurate lip synch and gestures utilising the kids voices. This gives the children the ownership of their very own Bugbear character, and more importantly the anonymity to talk about issues they are facing without reprisals or embarrassment.

Their peers can then watch videos of previously created Bugbears and interact by clicking on one of three options "I feel the same" "Respect" or "Hug". This important part of the site means that childern facing sensitive issues feel like they have support and that they are not on their own.

The Bugbears site continues to grow in success and as way of recognition we were lucky enough to pick up a Royal Television Society, and the Big Chip 2010 awards for Innovation for the work that we did on the site.