CRACK BREAKERS — IMMERSIVE KIDS ANIMATION
Across the country,
‘rifts’ open
Three children travel through ten regions in a five-minute immersive warm-up animation, using full-body movements with viewers to calm the rift creatures.
CONCEPT
They are not frightening.
They are hurt and lonely.
One day, ‘rifts’ begin opening across the country. The creatures emerging from them look frightening, but they are actually hurt and lonely. Three children—Ha-ru, So-yun, and Jun-pyo—travel across the country with their guardian Nana, borrowing the viewer’s power as a hero to calm the rift creatures.
Children move their bodies in front of the TV. “Block! Strike! Roll!” — When they copy the moves, the on-screen gauge fills and the rift creature calms down. Each episode adds a new move, building toward a full routine in the final episode.
IMMERSIVE WARM-UP
When children copy the moves on screen,
the story responds
An immersive warm-up is a video format that gets children moving instead of only watching the screen. When they copy a move, the screen responds immediately, and that response moves the story forward. The child becomes a participant rather than a viewer.
The term did not come from academia. It developed on YouTube, so it has no fixed definition yet. Sing-along content is already an established industry, while movement-based content is only beginning to grow.
Current warm-up videos have movements and rewards but no story or characters. Children’s animation has characters, but children only sit and watch.
Teumbreakers sits between the two. It combines repetition that encourages children to follow along with a story that keeps them watching.
Part of the sequence from Episode 1, ‘Teeth on the Cliff’ (Taejongdae, Busan).
HOW IT WORKS
The child is part of the party
The characters do not look into the camera to address the child. They face the same direction and look at the same enemy. The composition resembles party members standing side by side in an RPG.
- 01
A rift opens
A rift appears in the region, and a rift creature emerges.
- 02
A move appears
One pose that can be copied within three seconds appears on screen.
- 03
The screen responds
When the viewer copies it, the screen responds immediately.
- 04
The story moves forward
The rift creature calms down, and the story moves to the next scene.
The story continues whether the child follows along or not. This rule keeps children who cannot copy a move from feeling embarrassed.
Call the child
Show the pose
CHARACTERS
Four travelers
Leader · action-oriented
Kang Ha-ru
A brave, decisive leader. He steps forward first when a crisis arises.
“I’ll go first!”
Analysis · observation
Kim So-yun
A smart, observant problem-solver. She finds clues and opens a path forward.
“Wait, something’s strange about that.”
Empathy · reflection
Park Jun-pyo
A timid recorder who captures each moment. His drawing skills help the group find a path.
“It’s all right~”
Guidance · wisdom
Nana
A former photographer who traveled the world and now serves as a guide. She leads the adventure and shares her wisdom.
“Oh, that sounds fun!”
GESTURE SYSTEM
Cumulative move system
Each episode adds one new move. In the final episode, all nine moves are connected to complete the full routine.
ROAD TRIP
A road trip across the country
The group travels through ten regions and encounters a rift creature unique to each place.
CRAFT SESSION
What the child makes
appears in the next episode
Each episode ends with time for the child to make an item used in the next episode. When the shield they made appears on screen the following week, they have a reason to wait for the next episode. The same format can also be used for craft classes at libraries or cultural spaces.
PRODUCTION
AI pipeline production
Produced using RCG’s in-house AI animation pipeline.