New York Times Bestselling Author Cornelia Funke Teams with Mirada Studios
Creates Groundbreaking Literary iPad App for MirrorWorld Book Series
MirrorWorld IPAD APP LAUNCHES ON ITUNES STORE APRIL 17, 2013
LOS ANGELES: April 17, 2013 – Renowned fantasy author Cornelia Funke and Mirada Studios are unveiling a new form of storytelling with MirrorWorld, a first-of-its-kind interactive “living storybook,” which releases April 17, 2013 as a standalone iPad app exclusively at the iTunes App Store ($5.99). Download the MirrorWorld App at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mirrorworld-by-cornelia-funke/id599748726
A free preview story, “One for the Other,” is also available at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/one-for-other/id602837110?mt=8
The internationally acclaimed author has traditionally used words on the page to create the elaborate worlds in her more than 20 fantasy and adventure books, but in 2012 Cornelia Funke tapped into a new dimension with Mirada Studios, bringing the fairytale-inspired world of her Reckless and Fearless novels to life, visually and experientially, through an iPad app.
Audiences can now immerse themselves in Funke’s otherworldly settings – accessing alternate realities with the touch of their fingers, traversing rolling storyscapes via scrolling, exploring environments with gyroscope-rooted POVs, and studying her fantastical, intricately rendered creatures up close, in 2D, 3D, and breathtaking animated illustrations. This is the first time the exquisite aesthetic and textural details and beings from Funke’s books have been manifested and portrayed exactly as the author envisioned them.
“As I am also an illustrator, I see my story worlds quite clearly,” says Cornelia Funke, “but book illustration is not a visual tool that’s used nowadays as extensively as it was in the 19th century. When I met director Mathew Cullen and was introduced to the magic of Mirada, I saw the opportunity to fill that void – to bring my stories to life, visually, and to show my readers these worlds as I see them in my head. The wizards at Mirada create by bringing old crafts and very modern technology together. Working with them opened new horizons for my storytelling.”
To produce the MirrorWorld app, Mirada Studios (a multi-platform storytelling company formed in December 2010 by directors Guillermo del Toro and Mathew Cullen, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, and executive producer Javier Jimenez) drew inspiration from countless story and art forms – including cinema, graphic novels, shadow play, sculpture, oral tradition, tapestry, songbooks, and dreams – to craft numerous original state-of-the-art techniques that play out in live-action, animation, illustrations, parallax, and organic interactivity – never skimping on story, always elevating the narrative and lyrical aspects of the experiences.
The studio’s visual artists and storytellers worked one-on-one with Funke over the past year to provide both her devotees and new audiences a rich and rewarding journey through the realms she created in Reckless and Fearless– expanding on these worlds and characters without ever being redundant to these previous works. All of the stories created for MirrorWorld are new. There are hours of original narrative, archival, atmospheric, and ephemeral content – scored by the consummate Icelandic film composer Atli Örvarsson – in 16 short stories and experiences, all navigable at the reader’s own pace and in whichever order he or she wishes to explore them. There is also the option to experience the tales in visual/interactive form, read them as illustrated ebooks, and/or listen to them with audio narration.
“This is exhilarating territory, partnering with Cornelia,” says Mirada’s Mathew Cullen. “Working with authors, helping them to add new dimensions to their stories, and to reach broader audiences – it goes beyond conventional digital publishing. We’re extrapolating with Cornelia, building out the vision she has in her mind. MirrorWorld is the first release on a new Mirada-Funke label that will usher Cornelia's literature into a digital realm - a lot of great things to come.”
MirrorWorld (iPad app)
Author: Cornelia Funke
Director: Mathew Cullen
Creative Director: David Fowler
Digital Creative Supervisor: Andrew Cochrane
Music Composed by: Atli Örvarsson
Art Director: Mark S. Brinn
Producers: Andrew Merkin, Andrin Mele-Shadwick
Price: $5.99
Release Date: April 17, 2013
FEARLESS: MirrorWorld Novel #2 (hardcover book)
By Cornelia Funke
Publisher: Little, Brown
Price: $19.99
Available Now
RECKLESS: MirrorWorld Novel #1 (paperback book)
By Cornelia Funke
Publisher: Little, Brown
Price: $8.99
Available now
About Cornelia Funke
Cornelia Funke is one of the world’s most successful children’s and young adult authors of our time. Her books, which range from picture books and stories for early readers to novels for older readers, have been translated into 37 languages and published in 43 countries and have worldwide sales of over 20 million copies. Her most popular works are Dragon Rider, The Thief Lord, the Inkworld trilogy and, most recently, MirrorWorld, her fantasy series for all ages, which includes Reckless, Fearless and a MirrorWorld interactive app, which she produced in partnership with Mirada Studios. She lives in Los Angeles, California. www.corneliafunke.com
About Mirada
Mirada is a studio designed for storytellers. Founded by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, and Motion Theory co-founders Javier Jimenez and director Mathew Cullen, Mirada is equal parts design studio, visual effects & animation facility, creative & technology incubator, development and production company. Mirada opened in December 2010 with narrative tradition at its heart and technological innovation as its engine. www.mirada.com.
To receive a free download code to review the MirrorWorld app or for further information, please contact:
Megan Beatie
Goldberg McDuffie Communications
(818) 678-6288
-or-
Caroline Gomez
Director of Marketing | Mirada
(424) 216-7470
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