In a world that speaks in 140 character tweets and ubiquitous texting abbreviations, Tellagami tries to revive the art of telling a good story. It is an amusing app designed for iOS that turns you into a raconteur the teller of a “gami” or a story.
It’s a tool that helps you tell a story, narrate an experience, or share an insight; you can even tell a joke or send a unique personalized greeting to someone. Tellagami is a spinoff of Xtranormal, a digital entertainment company that produces do-it-yourself animation software for the Web and desktop, which turns your words into an animated movie. (If you can type, you can make movies). However, Tellagami is a simpler interface with fewer features.
You select a character, the background you want, and even the clothing you want it to wear. Once the character is set up, you either speak or type to get the character to start mouthing the words. You can also pick the expressions on the animated character’s face: happy, sad, angry, surprised, silly, scared, etc.. The goal is to make it funny, raise a few laughs.
You can see the type of character in the screenshot above from iTunes. I couldn’t get a screenshot from my iPad2 where I downloaded the app (user challenges).
You have the option to preview it before sharing it via social networking sites or email. You can post it on Facebook; even MMS it to someone. The amusement potential is immediately obvious. A teen could tell the story of an incident in school; you could tell a pictorial story of a recent holiday; or, you could create a tutorial, make lists, create a diary, or just update your status in an interesting format.
This software has obvious uses for small businesses and makers too.
What I like:
- It allows you to ‘speak’ in your own voice to your customers, so you can share or advertise your idea, product, or service.
- I like the samples at the Tellagami Youtube channel which has some amusing advertisements for Dentyne gum.
- Loads of potential uses for vlogs and blogs. You can make it as formal or informal as you like – even dress up as smart (virtually) as you like.
What I’d like to see:
- An Android app is essential. I imagine it is in development. iOS always comes first due to the install base and app ecosystem. My Galaxy S3 from Ting mobile is itching to try it out.
Ultimately you can tell the story – gami – of your business in a way that helps grow it. Easy sharing of your story means that you could put the word out there without much investment.
Have you seen or used Xtranormal? If you have, then you’ll immediately get what Tellagami is all about.
What tools are you using to create video or animation in an affordable and easy manner?
Very cool find TJ. I too will have to wait for an Android app before I can take it for a test drive.
Storytelling has been lost, but this app can help! It is so important to tell a story, especially when trying to sell something. It’s great that someone has brought this to light!