Animation and interactive entertainment company Unbound Studios
recently took home the gold. The Gold Broadcast Design Award for
Educational Websites, that is. Unbound won for Sesame Street's MUSIC
ZONE Website, which combines animation, interactivity and structured
learning of music for a pre-school audience. Using the charm and
humor of the Muppets, Unbound designed and worked closely with
educators to fashion an engaging site that combined Macromedia's
Flash and Director programs with Beatnik audio to create operas and
sing-a-longs. In 2001, Unbound Studios was responsible for launching
the SesameStreet.com Website as well as creating the series of
interactive games that populate it. "SesameStreet.com turned out so
well, that the follow up to it had to be even better," explained Bill
Janczewski, creative director and CEO of Unbound. "The site is so
simple to operate, but was such a technical challenge, that at times
it seemed impossible. The result is one of the most advanced sites of
its kind in the world. It may be a 'one-of-a-kind' site at the
moment." Using the Muppet characters, Unbound was able to fashion
quirky and fun exercises that feel very much like the television
show. For instance, you can construct an entire opera by simply
pulling characters onto a stage and then watch the scenario play out.
Unbound has previously won Gold BDA Awards in 2001 for Disney's ROLIE
POLIE OLIE (Interactive Media Programming) and the BLUE'S CLUES
screensaver for Nickelodeon (Interactive).