The film, the book, the app

I want need an iPad, ‘cos…

It’s not often that a film precedes a book, but it happened with the Academy Award winning animated short film for all bibliophiles – ‘The fantastic flying books of Mr Morris Lessmore’. The story follows reader and writer Morris Lessmore and his custodianship of a magical library of flying books. It was created using miniatures, computer CG & stop-motion animation, and traditional hand-drawn techniques.

Wonderful quirky work with books

 I first saw this on YouTube, and now the actual book has been published as a hardcover children’s picture book ‘The fantastic flying books of Mr Morris Lessmore’ by William Joyce.

There is also an iTunes app by Moonbot Studios (Moonbot is the storytelling and animation collective co-founded by Joyce) to accompany the book/film, which as iTunes states “blurs the line between picture books and animated film”.

From the app which lets you draw, play piano & more

 ‘The fantastic flying books of Morris Lessmore’ is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favour. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative power of stories and how they can positively affect our lives.

The real book

William Joyce began working on the story in 1999, as a tribute to the late Bill Morris the soft-spoken, dry-witted pioneer of library promotions. The hurricane Katrina devastated Joyce’s home state and interrupted the story’s progress. Joyce saw firsthand the curative power of stories when he visited displaced children reading donated books in the shelters.

Setting the scene - stop-motion miniature

And even better, the story has also been released as an augmented reality app by Moonbot Studios, the IMAG•N•O•TRON, which brings the pages of the book to life!

It starts with a real or digital book! Once you have your copy of ‘The fantastic flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore’,  users can view the picture book through the IMAG•N•O•TRON app using an iPad 2/3 or iPhone 4+ camera, you get swept up in a storm, Humpty Dumpty befriends you and you get a sneak peek into a part of Lessmore’s world not shown in the book or movie.  Check it out on this Vimeo video -

See the IMAG•N•O•TRON in action! from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.

To download the IMAG•N•O•TRON app

Integrating such innovative and exciting technology with books is awesome and awe-inspiring – what's next?

I believe it says something profound that a short film and app are about the preciousness of the paper book.