Our own Mike Cecchini sits down with Ben Wolstenholme, founder at Madefire.
Ben Wolstenholme (BW):Its all very natural.
A brand is a story, just like anything else.
I do get very excited about all of that.
But the chance to develop my own stories and fiction has always been a goal of mine.
So Madefire is a very important creative endeavor for me.
I specialized in film and graphic design.
Of course, we got to talking about how the print industry was suffering a little.
So I started talking about a move to digital devices.
Eugene had such a great history with mobile tech and just seemed like the right fit.
We were working on various parts of the experience in the prototype phase, like translatable words, hotlinks.
We quickly realized that we wanted everything to be reading, not watching.
That almost was the biggest breakthrough.
But mostly, you lose the engagement with the reader.
How does that character sound?
How does he move?
How does he really feel?
When you start playing all that out the reader just becomes a watcher.
So, once we set those limits, some of the elements almost started to design themselves.
We really were looking for what grammar would be appropriate for reading on devices.
Thats when we got to experiment with what would be possible.
I think the whole of Madefire has been constantly oscillating between technology and story.
Some people find that difficult to process.
Are we a technology business or are we storytellers?
But thats the whole point.
Were trying to put it all together and make something completely new.
The tool and the stories sharpen each other.
Its like the covers that can move a little.
We want to retain integrity and not do anything cheap or gratuitous.
We want people to realize that the books can do something that print cant.
I said to Dave Gibbons, Well, thats a gimmick, isnt it?
And his response was Comics ARE gimmicks!
It still has to be entertainment and we want to have some fun with it.
But all of the scale in coming years will come from other parties using the tools.
Thats always been the bigger goal for us; to let this grow beyond our material.
Youll see that start happening in the first half of next year.
Thats when things should get really interesting!
But I wanted him to be more visceral and primordial.
I started thinking about ape/human characters and my wife pointed out that Mono is Spanish for monkey.
They can have the strength of about ten or twelve men when they get going!
So we have a joint story credit and Liam is writing the scripts and then I draw it.
But I guess thats the whole idea, isnt it?
We want this tool to be for a new wave of storytellers.
Its been a nice reception.
BW:Ive always followed comics, graphic novels, any kind of visual storytelling, really.
Ive always felt that the amount of talent in the industry is overlooked and undervalued.
Comics seem like theyre getting stranded a little bit between things like film, TV and video games.
I love print, but its only one part of the equation, now.
BW:Its a little early for that!
Id be really excited if he could grow into something more widely available.
Comics and graphic novels are obviously such incredible melting pots of ideas that can transfer smoothly to other media.
I think Mono is one that would.
I think Captain Stone is one.
I think Treatment is one.
Were interested in this, of course.
You only have to look at the cinema and see that theres a lot of potential there.
The problem is, there isnt a lot of intellectual property making that jump.
Where are the new myths of the 21stcentury going to come from?
Thats one of our big goals.
Wed like Madefire to help the new myths of the 21stcentury happen.
you’re able to only watch Avengers so many times, you know.
I dont want to get ahead of ourselves, but you do have to have an elaborate plan.
If we can keep doing it well, we hope that people get excited about it!
I should say that Im just going to stay focused on what Im doing with Mono for now.
Its been a nice ride so far!
you could download the Madefire app here.
http://www.madefire.com/madefire-app/
Mono: The Old Curiosity Shop can be read here.
