Jacqueline Fogg has had a rich and varied career: Montessori teacher, filmmaker, award-winning TV series creator and writer, U.S. government contractor and business owner.
Now, add to that A.I. animation auteur.
Two cartoon series, created wholly by Fogg using artificial intelligence applications, will soon debut on her YouTube channel in weekly episodes running approximately 15 minutes apiece.
Having reached a point in life where a contemporary might understandably feel justified to retire, Fogg is not one to pronounce her many achievements sufficient to stop learning, creating and blazing a trail into the future. And she is not intimidated by the brave new world of A.I., which, to many — and not just those who came of age in an analog world — remains inscrutable.
“I think what happens to people when they retire or they get close to retirement and they’ve been successful in life and done a lot, is they kind of just stop,” Fogg said. “And I just won’t do that.”
One series was actually conceived during Fogg’s years working in South Africa, a time in which she produced children’s television programming in the African languages of Tswana and Zulu. The other is brand new.
Neither might have gotten past the conceptual stage had it not been for two individuals who appeared on the scene at crucial moments: an A.I. mentor who has been guiding Fogg through the use of the technology and a woman Fogg met at the link in Nocatee who made a critical suggestion on how best to deliver the programs to her audience.
One series, under the working title of “The Travels of Tembi,” follows the exploits of an anthropomorphic hippopotamus who takes children on a tour of the many nations of the African continent. The main character travels with a couple of meerkat sidekicks. There’s music and dancing as this trio explores the history and culture, music and dance, the flora and fauna and the natural features of each location. Tembi will also travel to other countries singing and dancing the entire time. “It’s a joy to be alive” is her motto.
The intended audience is children in preschool.
The other series, which Fogg envisioned while living in Africa but never made, lay dormant until the means arrived to create and deliver it to an audience. Now, its time has come.
Like the other series, “The Truffles” is full of music and singing. Fogg describes it as “quirky and fun.”
This audience would be a bit older than that of the other show.
Before the advent of A.I., creating these cartoons would have required a tremendous investment of time and labor — even if limiting the animation to eight images per second of run time and rendering them on a computer rather than using the traditional ink-and-paint method.
Beyond that, voice actors would have to be engaged to speak and sing, and music would have to be written and performed.
But Fogg’s mentor, based in Washington, D.C., and who works remotely with a group of seniors exploring the world of A.I., helps her to navigate the various apps necessary to accomplish all of these tasks — by herself and without a large talent pool at her disposal.
“I wouldn’t be able to do all this without my adviser,” she said.
Fogg makes all the essential decisions regarding each character’s appearance and the style of all visual elements, including backgrounds, and the apps respond to her instructions. A.I. even records her singing the songs and speaking the lines and alters her voice as needed, adding instrumentation.
All of this is critical to her ability to copyright her work. A.I. is not the creator. It is the equivalent of the artist’s medium, the involvement of the recording studio.
“I’m actually creating it,” Fogg said. “I’m telling it what to do all the time. That’s why it doesn’t own the copyright. It’s not creating it; I’m making it. It’s following directions. This is the tool. You can’t say, ‘The paint owns the copyright.’ You’re telling the paint what to do. I look at it like choreography, or directing a film.”
Fogg is learning how to use the A.I. animation tools and is taking online courses.
But creating a cartoon does not mean anyone will see it. There has to be a means to deliver it to the public.
And that’s where a chance encounter at the link provided a solution.
The link is a unique facility in Nocatee that serves professionals and the community at large in a variety of ways that defy facile definition. It maintains a connected ecosystem where innovators, businesses and changemakers thrive.
Fogg joined the link and began to attend its Collisions & Coffee meetups as well as its Circle of Creation events, which focus on helping women entrepreneurs.
“I have met some really good people,” she said. “But it’s more the things that are said. I was telling someone about what I am doing with the animation and everything, and she said, ‘Just do it yourself. Get your own YouTube channel. You can do it yourself.’” Fogg noted that when she sees her again, she will be thanking her; the woman is an employee of St. Johns County.
So, Fogg created the channel where her cartoons will soon appear.
In the meantime, she has an abundance of TV shows already produced that she can post there. Already, she has posted episodes from the award-winning “Montessori in Your Home” series that she created in the 1990s. “Montessori in Your Home” was her first production. It went on to be written up in the New York Times and win awards. She intends to add some of the content she made while living in Africa; those in other languages, such as Zulu, will include subtitles.
At this time, Fogg is seeking an investor/partner to assist with merchandising and development. She has ideas for toys and clothing to be sold online. She can be reached at jacqui@cumbriacontracting.com.
For those wanting to see her content, go to her YouTube channel: Early Learning Activities for children. The URL is: https://www.youtube.com/@MontessoriInYourHomeActivities.
