Screen Ireland has announced that JAM Media, Little Moon Animation and Turnip + Duck will benefit from a US$431,000 development fund for projects combining storytelling with technology. 

The Animation Innovation and Immersive Development Fund is being split between 10 companies total, although only three with kids projects were selected.

Belfast’s JAM Media (Nova Jones, Zig & Zag) plans to build a mocap system for creating a cartoon ASL interpreter using real-time rendering through Unreal Engine. The goal is to make watching TV a more fun and inclusive experience for kids who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.  

Turnip + Duck’s project is a collaboration with nonprofit org Angel Eyes and healthcare data company Wolffsohn Research. The Dublin-based studio is focused on developing best practices for animating with vision-impaired audiences in mind, and it will use preschool series Maddie + Triggs (pictured) as a case study. 

Finally, Dublin’s Little Moon Animation (Fia’s Fairies) is building a virtual puppetry pipeline that will make it faster and cheaper to produce puppet-led content. 

Studios receiving Screen Ireland funding for older-skewing projects include Dublin’s Wiggleywoo (The Day Henry Met), which is expanding Deco Records, its music label for animated characters; and Boyle-based Studio Meala (The Bean, The Reindeer Feeder), which is developing a proof-of-concept pitch for a YA-skewing animated feature titled Queen Maeve, based on a well-known Irish myth. 

Since the fund launched in 2021, Screen Ireland has invested in 30 projects, including several focused on VR, AR and app development. Companies can apply for a maximum amount of roughly US$53,000.