Behind the Idea: Xtranormal

You’ll know Dave Dye’s work from the recent Smooth Radio album cover campaigns.  He’s no stranger to the challenge of keeping kids entertained, with 5 of them to keep occupied.  He’s chosen xtranormal.com, the text-to-movie service that aims to bring filmmaking to the masses and, he says, “the only site with an ‘x’ in the name I’d recommend for the kids.”

The company behind the site believes that anyone can make films, and they’ve made it possible with the simplest of equipment – a keyboard.  It launched last year but is starting to get some serious mainstream attention these days and Dye’s convinced that it’s great for kids of any age.

“A mouse saying ‘I just did a poo’ made 4 year-old Louis’ eyes light up,’ says Dye.  “Ten year-old Olivia giggled as one office worker told another her teacher was over 150 years old.  Harry and Charlie roared as superhero-type characters said…well, not very appropriate 12/13 year old boys stuff.”
 
Visitors to the site get started by choosing from seven different worlds, including the cuddly creatures in Pawz, Superzeroz for action fans, and Robotz for the sci-fi inclined.


“And that is all there is to it, as Bruce Forsyth used to say in his pre-rug days,’ adds Dye.  “Once you’ve got over the excitement of seeing characters say the gibberish you’ve typed in, you can make them move and gesture along to the dialogue, simply by dragging an icon into the text.”

Filling multiple roles from the comfort of your home, you are completely in control and set the scene, write the script, and direct the action. There are thousands of films up on the site with an opinionated web audience judging the quality – which can vary dramatically, of course.

Dye feels there are several ways to judge a good website.  “You could assess its functionality, graphics, or whether its navigation feels intuitive,’ he says.  “Or you could simply count the amount of people you’ve told about it.  Cooliris was the last one to get me phoning around, xtranormal.com is the latest.”

With a career spanning back to the eighties, Dave Dye’s won 5 D&AD Pencils and his work has appeared in the Annuals every year since 1993. He’s commissioning editor at Dye Holloway Murray, the ad agency he co-founded in 2007.

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