The Zimmer Twins
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| The Zimmer Twins | |
|---|---|
| Format | Animated television series |
| Created by | Jason Krogh Aaron Leighton |
| Starring | Lauren Menzo & Jorah Dawson Ben Head & Louis Grise Daniel Davies |
| Country of origin | Canada, USA, Australia |
| Language(s) | English, French |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Jason Krogh (Interactive) Anne-Sophie Breiger (Broadcast) |
| Running time | 2 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Teletoon Qubo |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The Zimmer Twins is a Canadian children's website and broadcast animation project. The project was created by producer Jason Krogh and artist Aaron Leighton and is produced through Lost the Plot Productions Inc.
Originally developed with a Canadian animation network, TELETOON, it has since launched versions in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and qubo in the United States.
The Zimmer Twins is known for its unique format which combines online participation and broadcast delivery. Children are invited to create and share 1-minute animated episodes using a story editor and library of animation. The audience creates endings to short, professionally produced story-starters. Kids tell their stories by choosing actions, characters, props and backgrounds. They can also add their own dialog and on-screen text. New clips are occasionally added.
A selection of the user-generated episodes is produced into broadcast shorts and air on Teletoon. Les Jumeaux Zimmer is the French-language version of the show and website.
The original Zimmer Twins website launched on March 14, 2005. A total of 60 broadcast spots (30 English and 30 French) were produced and broadcast in the 2005/2006 season. By the end of the first season over 100,000 user-created episodes were created by over 50,000 registered members. A major revision of the site was launched July 1, 2006. A total of 120 broadcast episodes were broadcast in the 2006/2007 season and 32 more were broadcast in 2008.
As of July 2011, the website has 191 634 users. The site's population is passes 200 000 on November 5, 2011, with a total of 200 032 users.
The series may also air on CBBC in the UK.
| Name | Synopsis |
|---|---|
| Edgar Zimmer | The younger twin and Eva's brother. He is clumsy,out-of-date and unintelligent. He loves food and is good friends with 13. He has a superhero persona "Super Action Boy" |
| Eva Zimmer | Edgar's older twin sister. Eva is intelligent,mature,and kind. She is annoyed by girls in her class who think she is a witch. She is talented in karate and other martial arts. |
| 13 Zimmer | 13 is the twin's cat, with lime green eyes and a straight-line mouth. He can talk. He dislikes baths and is very fond of fish. 13 is anthropomorphic as he can do many things humans can, like playing the guitar or holding objects with his hands. He has an alter ego,Captain Furball. On some occasions,he seems to be antagonistic towards Eva. |
| Mme Psycho | Mme is the local fortune teller. On the site, many people make her the twins' mother. |
| Wizard | Wizard is a warlock/wizard who's spells often backfire on Edgar. On the site, many people make him the twins' father or grandfather. |
| Delivery Boy | Delivery Boy is a friend of the twins' who often delivers the infamous "mystery boxes". It is unknown if he has physicic powers or not. On the site, many people make him the twins' classmate/father. |
| Alien | Alien is an alien,who is sometimes antagonistic towards the twins. He is from planet Zimbiru. |
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[edit] Golden Idol Awards
In 2008, on QUBO in the United States, the online audience voted to select the three most popular user-generated movies. The winners’ movies were incorporated into a half-hour awards show special which aired on September 26, 2008 in English and September 20, 2008 in French. As an add-on, an Australian Zimmer Twins was produced from 2007–2008, starring James Arnold as Edgar, Alisa Koverick as Eva, and Luke as 13.
[edit] Awards
- Webby Award Nomination, Youth Website (2006)
- Banff World Television Festival Nomination, Interactive Television (2006)
- Horizon Interactive Awards Silver, Education (2006)
- HOW Design Annual Outstanding Achievement (2007)
- The Alliance for Children and Television Awards of Excellent, Best Website or Original New-Platform Content Tied Into a Children’s Program (2007)
- South by Southwest Interactive Awards Nomination, Education (2007)
- International Interactive Emmy Awards Winner Cannes, (2007)
| Role | Crew/Cast |
|---|---|
| Producer - Television | Anne-Sophie Brieger |
| Creative Lead | Aaron Leighton |
| Interactive Designer | Luke Lutman |
| Server Programmer | James Walker Ashok Modi |
| Flash Programmer | John Park |
| Lead Animator | Les Solis |
| Animator | Lou Solis |
| Wordsmith | Mireille Messier |
| Audio and Video Editor | Kyle Sim |
| Voice of Eva Zimmer | Lauren Menzo & Jorah Dawson |
| Voice of Edgar Zimmer | Ben Head & Louis Grise |
| Voice of 13 | Daniel Davies |
[edit] Replacing
The French and .ca versions were shut down because the site moderators didn't want to handle 3 sites at a time,and wanted more popularity for the .com version.
[edit] Updates
On March 29, 2010, a major update of the site took place. The .com site is now offering VIP memberships. For $3.95 per month, or $19.95 for six-months, VIPs can write their own comments, access exclusive animation clips to create their movies, make customizable profile pages, and review movies by other members. Recently in the summer of 2011 there was a discount to the six-month membership, which you could get by typing in a password.
Starting on October 2010, new clips and backgrounds were slowly added to the movie maker. "Cries", "uses Computer", the "computer screen", some new characters ("Mme Psycho", "Wizard", and "Delivery Boy"), and new backgrounds were made exclusively for VIP members. The most recent clip is 'Photographs', and the most recent character is 'Alien'.
[edit] 2012 SOPA and PIPA protests
On January 19, 2012, several Zimmer Twins users decided to make movies and comments to protest against the USA government bills of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), despite the website being Canadian. The protests are ongoing and will not cause major rioting.
[edit] References
http://www.zimmertwins.com/extras/edgar
http://www.zimmertwins.com/extras/eva
