In preparation for an upcoming presentation of my Band of Bugs ideas, I’ve been expanding on the subject and the world in which the story takes place. Adding colour and character into the scheme of things. To summarise “Band of Bugs” children’s TV show that incorporates the world’s music, culture, and insects into on fun and educational show! We have our main protagonists: Charlie the cricket, Steve the stick insect, Franklin the blue bottle fly, and Yvonne the Luna moth caterpillar. Buggy friends and band mates playing bluegrass music in sunny Mississippi!

I’ve kept the insects in the imaginary world very true to life, all native to the countries and counties they’re shown in. Adding some educational touches there would also be facts about each new bug and instrument introduced in the different episodes. Like a simplified fact sheet. The “Chirpin’ critters” live in a grassy valley where they practice in their “Rock Studio” everyday (everyday being a new episode).

Introducing a new character – Martin the Monarch butterfly. Martin is a world traveller and pilot who tells the band exciting stories about his trips and the multiple genres of music he has witnessed on his travels. Martin offers to take our critters to play at multiple gigs around the world where they get the chance to listen, learn, and play the different music of the world. I’ve chosen the Monarch butterfly as the “aeroplane” because of its well known migrational patterns, being the one of the only butterfly’s to migrate, travelling over 2,000 miles every year down from the USA to the south of Mexico.

In every episode the critters would hop on Martin’s back (their own personal “aeroplane”) to visit the place Martin has told them about in the episode. New friends (insects) would be introduced as well as new instruments and facts about them! I’ve drawn some examples of different bands just to cement it visually.

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As the episode come to a close they would fly back to their “Rock Studio” and sing a song covering what they learned that day. So to recap – every episode would contain:

• Facts about insects (new ones introduced in each episode)
• Facts about instruments (new ones introduced in each episode)
• Facts about the culture of that country or county?
• Brand new songs every episode
• Showing insects aren’t to be feared
• Lessons about friendship and teamwork
• Features interactivity – Characters ask the viewer “Would you like to hear a song?” “Did you enjoy the song?” etc.
• Always portray insects native to the area
• Optional: Possibly show live action clips of the insects in real life?

Trying to construct a Children’s TV show targeting ages 2-5 that is both unique and interesting is proving hard. Something simple yet captivating that I would also happily show my own future children. My mind draws blanks. Maybe I’ll try and glean some inspiration from a book series I read when I was younger, editing it to a appeal to a younger audience?

Could be an easy one, I just felt it was taking too much from the book instead of inventing something completely new myself. Another idea was more of a true to life situation, following a family on holiday driving around the UK in their tiny motor home learning along the way. A day to day educational show teaching lessons about friendship and family, also teaching day to day skills; cooking with mum, fishing with dad, etc. maybe add a geographical learning aspect to it? Here is a few sketchy bits visualising the idea.

My final idea popped up in conversation with a friend about stick bugs, and seemed to have the most appeal out of the other ideas I had previously. Like a light was switched on! Band of Bugs came to me in a vision! hah! The premise of the show is a “band” group of bugs that play music and travel the world learning about all genres and styles of music and culture! Some sketchy bits of done of some ideas for main characters, Steve the stick insect being the first and foremost inspiration.

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Following the same theme as last week, we’ve been tasked with brainstorming alternative ways in which production companies merchandise their pre-school TV shows, finding ways to bring in revenue alongside their weekly broadcasts. The billion dollar industry is more than plush toys and action figures, as technology has advanced and everything’s gotten “bigger and better” so has the merchandise.

Some examples include – Hot Wheels, (which I personally didn’t even know was a show!) the program basically being a commercial for its top seller: Toy cars, sold in everywhere in the world. Nickelodeon Jr., CBeebies BBC, Disney, Hit Entertainment(licenser for Thomas the Tank Engine, Fireman Sam, and Bob the Builder), and Entertainment One(Peppa Pig, Ben & Hollys Little Kingdom) all have branched out on the internet, each having their own website full of online games and mini games. Physical merchandise ranging from clothing, stationary, and furniture to colouring books, board games and action figures.

Thinking much bigger Disney, Thomas the Tank Engine, Lego, and Peppa Pig all have their own Theme Parks making billions of dollars each year not only on entry and rides, but also on hundreds of licensed items sold in the parks both for children and adults. The possibilities are endless, anything and everything can be branded in one way or another!

In our first session back at University, we were asked to start researching into the psychology behind television programs aimed specifically towards the preschool age group. After watching quite a few preschool programs (shout out to Curious George!) I’ve come to notice a few blaring similarities across the board. I’d say about 80-85% of preschool shows have Anthropomorphism (the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities.) in characters throughout; very simplistic art style using triangles, blocks, circles, squares, shapes you could recognise from just a simple glance; Bright (happy?) colours that really stand out on screen; strong emphasis on happiness, reinforced with songs about happiness; questions aimed at the watcher, making it interactive; contain catchy songs; are cut out animation; magic characters and/or make-believe worlds; Exploring and learning being the main themes; strong friendship bond between two or more main characters. Most of the top rated TV programs seem to be mostly educational, teaching lessons about day to day life, family, friendships, or just how things work. According to studies preschool children enjoy/prefer interactive TV like Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Blues Clues, etc.. where hosts speak directly to the viewer/camera. Studies also show that in general preschoolers focus on the visual aspects of TV and don’t always follow the non-visual parts of the story (depending on the individual and age), which would explain the need for simple shapes and bright colours. Though most of the TV shows were simple cut out animation a few different styles caught my eye, namely Max & Ruby which reminded me of Peter Rabbit illustrations. Sarah & Duck which looked like a cross between south park/salad fingers but cute somehow? Some mix animation with live action ex. Blues Clues; Puppets are popular as well ex. Sesame Street, It’s a Big Big World, Teletubbies, Bear in Big Blue House etc; live action full-stop ex. Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood (Kindest man ever). Summing it up, appealing to the target audience, takes all these attributes and portrays them one episode at a time. Simple lovable, recognisable characters, paired with bright colours catch attention; repetitive lively songs make it easy for children to remember; open worlds to explore and learn about greatly appeal to children’s minds (they soak up information like a sponge), and a strong friendship between characters encourages real life behaviour. Funnily enough studies have shown most TV discourage children’s brain activity with exceptions to Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton