Technical Director Interview, Screenings, Awards & More

Greetings & News from The Great Tit is a Bird (TGTIAB)

Episode 1 is up and running, thanks to support from the NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship program and from these awards!

• Wave Farm / NYSCA Media Artists Assistance Fund
• Women’s Fund for Media – NYC Mayor’s Office for Media and Entertainment & NY Foundation for the Arts
• NYU Office of Global Inclusion – Anti-Racism Grant
• Peace Studio Artist’s Fellowship
• BRIC Arts Media “B Artistic” Award

TGTIAB films are screening at the Toronto Nollywood International Film Festival, Serbest International Film Festival, Baltimore Next Media Festival, and Goa Short Film Festival. We’re currently working to bring to the film to an NYC community screening in the coming months.

TGTIAB welcomed environmental illustrator Latasha, 3D artist Junshen, 2D artist Keyana, social media intern Zaharah, and performers Kate + Mercy! They’re contributing to the short film “Demo Day” (coming in 2024), TGTIAB’s new comic book, and the TGTIAB TikTok. The team also found time (see photo above) to march on the WGA Strike picket line, accept a B Artistic award from BRIC, and celebrate TGTIAB’s participation in the “Together We Will” Pride Exhibit at Washington Park. Very grateful for our new members’ amazing work, and grateful as always for the work of original team members, who continued to pitch in on TGTIAB as they went on to do even more great things. 

Help Wanted: We’re currently looking for help with creative coding (MEL scripting), 3D rendering R&D, and grassroots fundraising. If this is you or someone you know, please see our Expression of Interest form!

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Behind the Scenes

By Susan Osiche in Nairobi, Kenya
Susan is TGTIAB’s Story Supervisor. She is also Founder and Executive Director at Inua Kike, an NGO working to empower women and girls in Nairobi’s urban slums and rural areas.

A Tidbit from the show 

‘’If we all wore helmets connected to these gadgets will it mass electrocute us?’’

🦜In the Real World🌍

Today we talk with Joseph Beer, the show’s Technical Director. Joseph also recently directed TGTIAB’s first XR film.

“My name is Joseph Beer and I am from Queens, New York. I also work as the Technical Director for The Great Tit is a Bird. It’s a story that is about a young girl, from a fictional world called Mayaaka based on real-world Nairobi Kenya, who basically reflects on life, her experiences as she witnessed so much wrongs in the world, and she just wants to figure out where she stands. I am the animation pipeline manager, so I basically work with the data that comes in the production of this audio drama where we use regular iPhones to capture the data from actors which are then imported and used for our podcast where I basically automate the process and try to make it as seamless as possible. 

“I would say some of the things that I have learned from The Great Tit is a Bird–I guess the importance of storytelling as far as I know–is making sure voices are heard, everyone’s story definitely counts. I would say just on a more technical side of things, I learned to work with a 3D vector model to transfer captured data from iPhones into these fancy animation programs and created a beautiful audio drama.

“I like it when Renella loses her mind, like when she goes crazy with all the voices in her head, so much so many things going on. I, like her, I can definitely relate to that and how we get overwhelmed and you really have to you know, as I think like the way the story is told and where she reflects on what’s going on, that’s a very important thing that everybody needs to do a lot: reflect on life as we actively live it. I guess with the story my favorite part is that you know Renella is just a regular person, that goes on an amazing journey and discovers so much and that is really inspiring. In the sense that it could be each and every one of us out there creating our own story and embarking on an amazing journey. My call to action would be to watch the audio drama, like our videos, and definitely follow us, because we will have a lot more interesting and exciting content.” 

💗Inua Kike Reflections 💗

Many girls in our community due lack of knowledge get themselves into things that they do not understand at all. This is due to lack of poverty, child marriage and gender-based violence. When girls have access to education and life skills necessary to navigate and adapt to an ever-changing world. The education of girls not only helps them achieve their individual potential, but also helps to break intergenerational cycles of poverty and disadvantage.

Please check us out on TikTok and Instagram @thegreattitisabird! 

🤹❤️🧡💚ENJOY LISTENING TO THE GREAT TIT IS A BIRD! 🦜🐦🥳💜🌍💚🧡❤️🥳🥳

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