The Zimmer Twins

Infobox Television
show_name = The Zimmer Twins


caption = "From left to right: Eva Zimmer, 13, and Edgar Zimmer."
format = Animated television series
creator = Jason Krogh
Aaron Leighton
producer = Jason Krogh (Interactive)
Anne-Sophie Breiger (Broadcast)
country = Canada,USA,Australia
network = Teletoon Boomerang TV Channel Kids WB! [The WB] [2005]
language = English, French
runtime = 2 minutes
starring =
website = http://www.zimmertwins.com/

"The Zimmer Twins" is a Canadian children's website and broadcast animation project. The project was created by producer Jason Krogh and artist Aaron Leighton and is produced through Lost the Plot Productions Inc.

Originally developed with a Canadian animation network, Teletoon, it has since launched versions in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and qubo in the United States.

"The Zimmer Twins" is known for its unique format which combines online participation and broadcast delivery. Children are invited to create and share 1-minute animated episodes using a story editor and library of animation. The audience creates endings to short, professionally-produced "story-starters". Kids tell their stories by choosing actions, characters, props and settings. They can also add their own dialog and on-screen text.

A selection of the user-generated episodes are produced into broadcast shorts and air on Teletoon. There is a French-language version of the show and website under the name "Les Jumeaux Zimmer".

The original Zimmer Twins website launched on March 14th, 2005. A total of 60 broadcast spots (30 English and 30 French) were produced and broadcast in the 2005/2006 season. By the end of the first season over 100,000 user-created episodes were created by over 50,000 registered members. A major revision of the site was launched July 1st, 2006. A total of 120 broadcast episodes were broadcast in the 2006/2007 season and a further 32 episodes were broadcast in 2008.

Regular Characters

*Eva Zimmer: The twin sister of Edgar. She is often portrayed as smart to boot, and likes to annoy Edgar. Eva also has a bad temper and gets angry easily. She can be a bit of a snob at times. Eva is also talented at martial arts. Eva is prone to exploding when she gets over angry.
*Edgar Zimmer: Eva's not-to-so smart twin brother. A running-gag is that whenever Edgar gets upset, he explodes. Edgar's is also a part-time superhero known as 'Super Action Boy'.
*13: The family cat. He can talk, and has psychic powers. 13 hosts his own exercise show, 13's super cool exercise show, and apparently enjoys a girl cat named 7. Sometimes known as his alter ego Super Kitty!

Golden Idol Awards

In 2008 the online audience voted to select the three most popular user-generated movies. The winner's movies were incorporated into a half-hour awards show special which aired on September 26th, 2009 in English and September 20th, 2008 in French.

The Zimmer Twins Rating System and Crowd Pleasers

On "The Zimmer Twins" website, kids can watch an assortment of other movies. They can rate a movie by clicking on how many paws they thought the movie was out of 1, which means bad, to 5, which means almost perfect. They can also comment on movies to tell them how good movies are, or to tell them what to improve. If a movie has three or more ratings, the rating is averaged out and displayed on the movie. 4 or 5 out of 5 paws signifies a crowd pleaser. This means that it's an excellent movie. Every day, four of these movies are shown on display.

Must-Sees

A Must-see is a movie chosen by the site editor that they think kids will enjoy. Kids have no control if their movies are must-sees. Every Must-see is eligible to be a telepick.

Flagging

If a kid sees an innapropriate movie, they have the option to flag it. In order to flag, they must click the flag button on the bottom of the screen and tell the site editors why the movie is innapropriate and they'll look into it.

Collabo-writing

Collabo-writing is when a kid edits another kid's movie and makes it their own. There is no control over kids collabo-writing other kids movies.

Awards

Webby Award Nomination, Youth Website (2006)

Banff World Television Festival Nomination, Interactive Television (2006)

Horizon Interactive Awards Silver, Education (2006)

HOW Design Annual Outstanding Achievement (2007)

The Alliance for Children and Television Awards of Excellent, Best Website or Original New-Platform Content Tied Into a Children’s Program (2007)

South by Southwest Interactive Awards Nomination, Education (2007)

International Interactive Emmy Awards WinnerCannes, (2007)

Credits

Jason Krogh: Producer - Interactive
Anne-Sophie Brieger: Producer - Television
Aaron Leighton: Creative Lead
Luke Lutman: Interactive Designer
James Walker: Server Programmer
Ashok Modi: Server Programmer
John Park: Flash Programmer
Les Solis: Lead Animator
Lou Solis: Animator
Mireille Messier: Wordsmith
Kyle Sim: Audio and Video Editor
Lauren Menzo: Voice of Eva Zimmer

External links

* [http://www.zimmertwins.com/ The Zimmer Twins]
* [http://www.jumeauxzimmer.com/ Les Jumeaux Zimmer] (French)
* [http://www.zincroe.com Zinc Roe Design]
* [http://www.aaronleighton.com Aaron Leighton]