Ben Abernathy (BA): That’s a good question. I had been at DC for ten and a half years, and when they shuttered WildStorm, it evolved into DC Digital. It was all very exciting, and I was working for amazing people. But I had the opportunity to see a lot of purveyors of the “next generation” of the reading experience, and it was always interesting seeing what the next stage was. When I met the Madefire guys and saw what the direction they were going with the technology, it seemed like the right opportunity. It’s the right people with the right philosophy, and it seemed like the right time to take a leap of faith. It was a good opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something that I firmly believe is the next generation of storytelling on mobile devices, and I couldn’t pass it up. And I can’t lie, from a family standpoint; living in the Bay Area was a lot more appealing than living in Los Angeles. From a business, creative, and personal side, it all made sense. I’m very pleased with everything, so far. BA: In a basic sense, what we’re striving to do, and what Madefire set out to do from day one, is to create a much more immersive, interactive reading experience. On the one hand, we’ve got this DNA of comics and graphic storytelling, and a significant lineup of creators from the print comic realm. Then, when taking into account the capabilities of mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad, we try to maximize the graphic novel content while adding limited motion and sound. We’ve really designed a more controlled reading approach rather than a passive “motion comic” experience. We really wanted to break people from that mentality of “It’s either comic books or it’s motion comics.” Actually, it’s neither! We call them “motion books.” It’s a reading experience first and foremost, that just happens to have carefully curated elements that accentuate the reading experience. It’s a fine line to walk. Every single build of every book we release, we look at very carefully. We don’t want any page to have too much motion or have anything that takes you out of the reading experience. If it does, we rein it back in. Every frame of every book is very carefully thought out. BA: The person who does the build is basically the one who has to compile all of the hard assets; the layers, the motion, the cinematic pans, etc. Then, with the script in hand, as well as any notes from the creators, they use our software to go in and “build” each sequence. We have a library of sounds, as well as ones that we’ve commissioned, and the builder will take a first pass at assembling the motion book. We’ll usually give some notes in concert with the creators, and then they go through and solidify everything and add the sound effects and music. Basically, the builder is the person who is taking all the pieces and putting the motion book together. One of the long term goals with our software is to allow the creators to do all of this stuff themselves, at some point! BA: People have signed up on the site for when we go public with it, which should be the first half of next year. Right now, we have an exclusive group of creators who are helping us test it out. Some of our creators do their builds themselves, like Kinman Chan, who did the art and the build on Treatment: Tokyo. When the time comes and we do release it, it’ll be a browser based tool. It’s very intuitive and user-friendly. Which isn’t to say that it’s easy to use! BA: Well, we only just launched our iPad/iPhone app in June, so we’re still trying to perfect what the app is capable of on iOS right now. There have certainly been conversations about other platforms, but that’s a little further down the line. We’re more focused on what we have in-hand, right now. BA: Well, much like expanding to other platforms, it’s something we’ve certainly talked about. If it were to happen, it probably wouldn’t be in the form of a periodical, though. We’d be more interested in something along the lines of trade paperback or hardcover. BA: It’s interesting! Once a month we open up our studio and invite local businesses, programmers, game folks, to come by for some drinks and pizza and things. It’s fun. We have a big, open atmosphere in the office, where all of us are working side by side. It’s very different, especially coming from a more corporate atmosphere. There are no offices or cubicles; it’s just a big, open creative space, which is awesome and fun. It can be a little distracting at times, too! But it’s a really creative atmosphere. BA: Just give us a try! It’s a free download and all of our content is free. The only investment we’re asking you to make, really, is time! If you don’t like one of the titles or the episodes, you can easily delete it off of your iPad or your phone. We think we’re providing some great content, and there’s a little something for everybody. The Madefire app as well as all of their books can be downloaded FREE over at madefire.com
