Printed from www.digitalmediafx.com VeggieTales: What's
the Big Idea?
This story starts, as many do, with a couple of guys sitting around and talking. The men, college friends Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki talked about fulfilling a need they saw for cutting-edge stories. In particular they were interested in bringing the stories of the Bible and the Christian values that they held out from the shadows of the entertainment world. Vischer believed that there was a way to give kids a good message in a story that at the same time entertained and excited them. While he set about to create a company with a foot in faith, he is quick to state though that his goal was not to create a Christian media company, but rather "a media company with a Christian worldview." It's just this sort
of positioning that has helped the company to achieve the status that
it has. Big Idea is not the first company to set about creating Christian
themed animation programs; series like Storyteller's Café, Amazing
Bible Stories and Davey and Goliath had come and gone. They faded into
quick obscurity thanks either to their heavy handedness or low production
With these goals and a computer stationed in a spare room in his house, Vischer set about creating. Finally in December of 1993 he had Where's God When I'm S-Scared, not only was this the first VeggieTales story but it was also the first full-length, 3D computer animated children's video to be produced in North America. Two years later there would be three other videos in the series and the sales of these four shows would reach over 200,000 tapes. They would continue to release videos at a rate of nearly one every six months for the rest of the decade. With their success, Vischer proved his instincts right, he also began to believe though that there was room to grow. In numerous interviews,
Vischer has talked about his desire to "challenge" Disney for
the lion's share of the family entertainment market. It is a statement
often made with a simple, matter of fact brashness. He believes that Disney,
in expanding and diversifying, left a group of families This expansion includes a trip to the silver screen. With 25 million videos sold, merchandise on the shelves and a live stage show touring the country the time was ever so right to take these vegetables to the next level. Jonah is an "update" of sorts of the biblical story of Jonah and the Whale. It is co-written and co-directed by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki. Ameake Owens (formerly of the WB's animation team) acts as the producer while Vischer, Nawrocki, Kurt Heinecke and David Mullen wrote the score. Vischer's hands-on involvement in every project Big Idea creates sets him apart from most studio CEO's. Many executives claim to be involved in the production aspect of filmmaking but few are as multi-talented and interactive as Vischer. Consider that on top of everything else, Vischer is the voice of Bob while Larry's voice is done by Nawrocki. Big Idea has never left Chicago, although the team has grown since those early days. They have now nearly 200 employees and all of them worked overtime on the production of Jonah. Big Idea is a Mac platform house while Alias/Wavefront's Maya 3D software program was the major tool utilized in the creative of the characters. Maya is actually a recent addition to the Big Idea family. Up until 1999, all of the work for the video series was done using SoftImage. It is mostlikely due to the large range of abilities within Maya and the plans of the company that brought that switch about.
It is important to note that Big Idea is more than vegetables. They have worked off of their success with the VeggieTales to create a number of other Christian themed animated programs. And it seems that everything they have created to this point has had the magic touch applied to it. Not only are Big Idea videos a consistent crowd pleaser, they've also done well to win over the critics. Awards Won by
Big Idea Big Idea will continue to attempt to rack up awards and commercial success with their creations as they strive to complete their 20 year plan which ends with them being among the top five family media entertainment brands in the business. In this climate, if they stay close to their mission statement: "To markedly enhance the moral and spiritual fabric of society through creative media," they may be able to achieve their goal and more. -- Noell Wolfgram Evans is a freelance writer who lives in Columbus, Ohio. He has written for the Internet, print and had several plays produced. He enjoys the study of animation and laughs over cartoons with his wife and daughter. > Return
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