Creating, filming and marketing Naturally Ours has been an exciting process filled with many positive and heart warming encounters! We were able to thrive on our storytelling roots reviving the quirky science loving gal that is such a part of Erica Hargreave. Through exploring Canada’s parks, we captured imagery and interviews that remind us of what it means to be Canadian. As it’s never long before Erica makes friends, she was joined by the scientists, naturalists, historians & artists whose work is inspired by Canada’s magnificent spaces. We have outlined a web series case study for our first season, which was filmed entirely on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.

Just one of many stunning views seen while on Salt Spring Island

In filming Season 1 of Naturally Ours, we were debating whether to distribute it as a broadcast half-hour series or a web series, as the pilot content shot on Salt Spring Island could be cut beautifully into either, and with the release of the series trailer, we were asked for both from the audience and broadcasters. Our digital audience wanted to see a web series, and without pitching the broadcasters, we were asked for a broadcast half hour series from a 4K Network in the US and paid subscription network in Canada.

We also had interest in the series from an interactive and immersive storytelling fellowship in Norway, that shortlisted the Series Creator and Host, Erica Hargreave, for the fellowship. Finally in the Autumn of 2017, we decided to follow our instincts and release the pilot content for Naturally Ours as Season 1 of the web series, Naturally Salt Spring. By sharing Naturally Salt Spring as a web series, we create greater flexibility in use and sharing with our various partners in the Series.

What the Audience is Saying…

Series Timeline to Date

Winter 2017

• Released the trailer for Naturally Ours.
• Approached by a 4K network in the USA for the first season of the Series.

Spring 2017

• Shortlisted as a part of an Interactive and Immersive Storytelling Fellowship in Norway.

Autumn 2017 

Beautiful Artwork by Briony Penn

• First run of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, featured on Vidme.
• Premiered Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, in 4K on YouTube.
• #NaturallySaltSpring / #NaturallyOurs social media campaign around #SaltSpringIsland.
• Niche Community Building Campaign around the launch of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring.
• Invited to submit to the Vancouver Web Fest and Fearless.
• Full Naturally Salt Spring documentary featured as a part of the launch of Fearless
• Full Naturally Salt Spring documentary was the Most Watched Title on Fearless in December and Erica Hargreave named as the Most Valuable Creator.

Winter 2018

• Began the e-newsletter and blogging campaign around Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, and full Naturally Salt Spring documentary.
• Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, an Official Selection of the Vancouver Web Fest, and nominee for Best Documentary Series and Best of BC.
• Full Naturally Salt Spring documentary an Official Selection of the Vancouver Web Fest, and nominee for Best Pilot (under 30-minutes) and Best Cinematography.
• Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, an Official Selection of die Seriale Festival in Germany.
• Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, launched on Stareable, and on the same day submitted, Stareable sent word they’d be featuring the Series that week.

Tiered Release

To maximize exposure and reach around Season 1 of Naturally Ours, the full Salt Spring Island documentary, to our partners and to Salt Spring Island itself, and to be cognoscente of our own resources, we have approached the release of the content from this series in a tiered approach, as outlined below.

October – December, 2017

• Release of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, on Vidme and YouTube.
• #NaturallySaltSpring / #NaturallyOurs social media campaign around #SaltSpringIsland.
• Niche Community Building Campaign around the launch of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring.

Some of the Characters at Ruckle Farm

December 2017

• Release of the full Salt Spring Island Documentary on Fearless.

January – April, 2018

• E-newsletter and blogging campaign around Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, and the full Naturally Salt Spring documentary.

March 2018

• Release of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, on Stareable.

April 2018

• First film festival screenings of both Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, and the full Naturally Salt Spring documentary at the Vancouver Web Fest.

June 2018

• First European film festival screening of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, at die Seriale in Germany.

Wool Art Snowy Owls by Aki Otsu, a featured artist on Naturally Ours.

Hashtag Campaign Around Salt Spring Island

During the October – December launch of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, on Vidme and YouTube, we simultaneously ran a social media #hashtag campaign around Salt Spring Island, using the hashtags #NaturallySaltSpring, #NaturallyOurs and #SaltSpringIsland. While we utilized these hashtags on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest, the platforms that we tracked the data on were Instagram and Twitter. A few key data points include:

• #NaturallyOurs / #NaturallySaltSpring Launch Campaign Impressions on Twitter – 12,629,662
• #NaturallyOurs / #NaturallySaltSpring Launch Campaign Impressions on Instagram – 528,519
• The Impressions to the #SaltSpringIsland hashtag doubled on Twitter.
• This sparked the now on-going use of the #SaltSpringIsland hashtag on Instagram.

Niche Audience Building

Over the years our company, Ahimsa Media, has been met with a great deal of success in building storyworlds and engaged audiences around Films, TV Series, and Digital Storytelling Projects by identifying which niche communities the project will resonate with, and finding and engaging them online, both around our project and their own content.

This is exactly what Erica Hargreave and Lori Yearwood did around the release of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, in the Autumn of 2017, and continue to do. While the stats around niche community engagement are cumbersome to gather, we can tell you that to date we have been engaging in:

“We are all indigenous to somewhere” Fred Roland

• 30 Facebook Groups
• 34 Subreddits
• 13 LinkedIn Groups
• 23 Google+ Communities
• 4 Forums

We have also compiled a list of a number of other niche communities to engage in, when time permits. These niche communities are targeting individuals interested in nature, parks, the arts, farming, homesteading, outdoor living, hiking, travel in British Columbia and Canada, the Gulf Islands, documentaries, First Nations, and travel in general. In a number of these communities, we became the ‘go to’ people to talk about Salt Spring Island, including in one of the Salt Spring subreddits, which we have to admit, gave us a chuckle.

Featured and Festivals

We have been fortunate to have had much to celebrate with Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring. Below is a timeline to date of a few of our celebrations:

October – December, 2017

• Entire Season 1 release of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, was featured on Vidme.

December 2017

• Fearless featured the full Naturally Salt Spring documentary as a part of their launch.
• The full Naturally Salt Spring documentary was the Most Watched Title in December on Fearless.
• Erica Hargreave named the Most Valuable Creator in December on Fearless.

January 2018

• Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, and the full Naturally Salt Spring documentary were named as Official Selections of the Vancouver Web Fest.
• Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, was named a Vancouver Web Fest nominee for Best Documentary Series and Best of BC.
• The full Naturally Salt Spring documentary was named a Vancouver Web Fest nominee for Best Pilot (under 30-minutes) and Best Cinematography.

March 2018

• Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, was named as an Official Selection of die Seriale in Germany.
• Stareable featured Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, as a Staff Pick in it’s first week on Stareable.

Some of Our Numbers to Date (March 6th, 2018)

• 93,873 video views on YouTube & Vidme
• 827 video and blog comments
• #NaturallyOurs / #NaturallySaltSpring Launch Campaign Impressions on Twitter – 12,629,662
• #NaturallyOurs / #NaturallySaltSpring Launch Campaign Impressions on Instagram – 528,519
• Doubled the Impressions to the #SaltSpringIsland hashtag on Twitter.
• Sparked the use of the #SaltSpringIsland hashtag on Instagram.

Thanks for Tuning In!

To inquire further about Naturally Ours or to become a partner in future seasons, contact Erica at: erica@ahimsamedia.com / 604-785-3602

We, at Ahimsa Media, have so much respect for the patience and attention to detail required of stop motion storytelling! I recently had the opportunity to view an educational display of props and characters used by Laika Studios in some of their very popular feature films including, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Coraline, and their most recent release, Kubo and the Two Strings. With it taking approximately 5 years to complete an animated feature of this genre, you can imagine the journey involved, and the effort to keep the story fresh and engaging for those working on it.

Coraline’s house from the movie Coraline. This is the actual model used during production, as are all the others shared here.

A scene from ParaNorman. Look closely at the details of all the tiny props. Each one is made by Laika team specialists. We were shown a video of a tiny lamp being made using real glass blowing techniques and very steady hands!

This is a working set from Kubo and the Two Strings, notice the lights which add authenticity and shadows. A stop motion film has more depth to it, because there actually is depth with the characters being in real constructed rooms.

Laika has mastered the blend of technology with the age old technique of stop motion by utilizing 3D printing to create replaceable character heads with expressions more realistic than has ever been done before. A main character, such as Norman may have a face made up of over 78 individual pieces, with thousands of those needed to produce different looks. The protagonist from Kubo for example, has 66,000 face pieces for a total of 48 million different possible facial expressions. You may be starting to see why it takes so long to complete storytelling on a project like this. Just the 3D printing alone takes years to complete, with it taking so many hours for each piece.

A few of the removable character facial pieces from Kubo and the Two Strings depicting different expressions.

24 facial expressions are needed per second of filming, with an equal number of photos! No video is ever taken, an entire movie is made up of over 5 thousand images alone. Laika does also masterfully blend CGI elements to make wires disappear or add rooftops to buildings that had to be open, plus some necessary special effect needs that come up.

This boat from Kubo and the Two Strings has over 200,000 hand glued paper leaves on it. Not sure why the security guard is so sheepishly hiding behind it!

Knowing how long it takes to complete one of these storytelling projects has us wondering how many stories are in the works right now that we can look forward to in the next 5 years! Can’t wait to enjoy them with our enlightened knowledge of the craft.

Our own Lori Yearwood answered a call from actor Adrian Paul and next thing she new she was putting on her educator cap, technology cape and flying down to LA Talk Radio to do a one hour radio show for Adrian’s charity The Peace Fund! Ok, she calmly accepted the offer to converse with Adrian on the topic of technology as it relates to education today, and being that she works out of our LA office, she drove 10 min to meet him for his Peace Fund Radio Show.

Ready To Jump Into Action

Adrian, best known for his role as Duncan McCloud on the Highlander Series, founded The Peace Fund to focus on small, under-funded and hard-working charities who are determined to make a positive difference to the lives of children living in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Every Wednesday he hosts the Peace Fund Radio show discussing relevant current topics with expert guests and featured heroes who are making a great difference.

On air

The content of Lori’s show flowed like a great conversation discussing whether technology in our school system is beneficial or detrimental to our students.  Listen to a recorded archive here:

How might you have chimed in with your thoughts on some of these topics?

• Teachers’ abilities to implement technology
• Technology being used as a bandaid solution for underperforming schools rather than hiring more teachers
• Should all schools receive equal technological resources?
• Effects of technology use at home
• Students losing creativity and the ability to solve problems on their own
• The continuing pattern of grand educational movements that always dwindle out and disappoint

Please feel free to comment below with your own thoughts and experiences, we’d love to keep the conversation going.

We’ve all said it many times when trying to get through a difficult situation; “What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.” We have all been able to call on inner strength in different moments, but what if there was something challenging in your life bigger than just a moment?  What would your inner strength be capable of developing then, and where would it take you?  Most importantly, what great stories would you have to share as a result?

Photo Courtesy of BK

Realwheels Theatre is exploring this in a community storytelling project, #SuperVoices.  They are inviting storytellers who self-identify as having some form of disability to share with them in written, pictorial or video form, their superpower.  Everyone is invited to engage and benefit from the inspirations that are so often sparked by stories so bold and honest. Being that this is a digital project, they are hoping that even those with limited mobility will be able to participate.

In some cases a superpower is an exceptional talent that emerges, as in the case of Stephen Wiltshire, who is known as the human camera.  In the video below you can see Stephen fly over Rome and then draw everything he saw down to the exact number of windows on buildings.

In other cases, superpowers are a new sense of intuition or knowledge that becomes heightened as self awareness blossoms into new capabilities.  One of the #SuperVoices participants, @freeandclear1, is able to smell toxic chemicals and avoid them as a result of migraines.  One of the most powerful stories shared so far in this campaign is by Lynnthargic, who wrote a very poetic blog on all that she is now able to see. It is simply titled, Superpowers.

If you would like to share your superpower, please do so with the #SuperVoices hashtag on Twitter and Instagram, or by posting your story on the WheelVoices Facebook page or G+ Community. You may also email it to Realwheels directly at: realwheelstheatre@gmail.com. Tell your story using your own preferred technique; photos, videos or written word.

We always enjoy working with the Vancouver Theatre Company, Realwheels, and one of their latest quests has been particularly fun for us.  A short while ago we launched a campaign with them to find out the different things that make people happy. This was done in collaboration with OneStory, the video interview App.  Realwheels was curious to know how different people define their identity regardless of physicality by showcasing the universal concept of happiness and obstacles.

OneStory has proven to be the perfect place to collect people’s thoughts.  You can see what is there so far by visiting the OneStory site.  The different ideas of happiness are simple and inspiring, and everyone’s honesty with regards to obstacles is sincere and refreshing.  Here I am getting in on the action:

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We’d like to know your story and have you add your voice to this project.  Interview your friends while you’re at it.  After all, someone has to hold your iPhone to interview you, why not turn it around on them? There are two questions we’d like you to answer, that will then be stitched together to form a seamless spot.

1. What is your name and what makes you happy?

2. Is there an obstacle to that happiness?

To do this you simply need to download the OneStory App for free on your iPhone or iPad.  Once you open the App you will see different categories of interviews.  Feel free to give a listen, people have some really interesting things to say! Our topic is found within the Featured interview topics, as well as within the Health related topics.

When you are ready to record your interview click on the red record button with an image of a camera on it in the top right corner of the screen.  Scroll down and select ‘What Makes You Happy?’ Press Next in the top right corner and then enter the name of the person who will be speaking.  Press Next again and then press the button that says ‘Record Answer’  when you are ready to answer the first prompt.

Share your story through your feeds using #WheelVoices and enjoy being a part of the Realwheels community where everyone has a story and everyone has a voice.