Turning your TV Time into Quality Time
September 19, 2008 Issue #9b
Christine L. Pollock, Editor Ranny Levy, Publisher
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Christine L. Pollock, Editor |
Ranny Levy, Publisher Granny Ranny's Addenda |
Entertainment Insider News
Join us October 4 in celebrating our Award-winners for 2008 at our KIDS FIRST! Best Day and Awards Celebration. We are premiering three new films for tween / teen audiences - "Soccer Mom," "Adventures of Food Boy," and "Roxy Hunters: Myth of the Mermaid" - with appearances by Emily Osment, Brittany Curran, Aria Wallace, Kay Panabaker and Mallory Lewis, daughter of beloved children’s entertainer Shari Lewis, with her puppet, Lamb Chop. KIDS FIRST! Best takes place at the spectacular Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 5220 Lankershim, Hollywood, CA. For tickets and more details, go here.
Emily Osment from "Soccer Mom"
What to Expect of KIDS FIRST! Best
As we prepare for the KIDS FIRST! Best Awards, it’s thrilling to see how many producers meet, and even exceed, criteria for KIDS FIRST! All-Star Assets in appeal, production value, personal competence, social value and educational value. The following are several examples, among many, of KIDS FIRST! Best award nominees who are willing to share their filming experiences:
Appeal: Rachel Loshak, producer of Gustafer Yellowgold’s Wide Wild World, says: We wanted to produce material for children that wasn’t condescending towards them, that encourages them to think creatively and explore their own worlds a little differently. It was also very important to us that the material be inspiring to adults as well.
Production Value: College student Hsin-I Tseng produced Dear Fatty using stop-motion, cut out and 2D computer animation to create the fantasy world of this little girl's imagination. Tseng says: I finally decided to photograph my hamster and use those photographs for digital cutouts so that I could get all the actions that I wanted.
Personal Competence: Jenny Mackenzie, producer of Kick Like A Girl” says: While I was in film school, I was coaching my youngest daughter Lizzie's soccer team, the Mighty Cheetahs, for their 3rd year… The film is based on the true story… The fall of 2005 was the Cheetah's first season playing in the boys' division.
Social Value: Lauren Greenfield, producer of Kids + Money, says: From rich to poor, Pacific Palisades to East L.A., kids address how they are shaped by a culture of consumerism. The inspiration for this film came from my observations, over the course of years of documentary photography, about the ways young people are affected by consumerism.
Educational Value: College student Jarrad Kritzstein produced Camp Woz: The Admirable Lunacy of Philathropy. Kritzsteing says: Not exploiting the young men and making sure that all of the information was appropriately shared with the world (was challenging). During the filming process I’ve learned to not only observe, but to really GET INVOLVED in all aspects of the filmmaking process
Longer interviews with these producers will be showing up on the KIDS FIRST! News blog over the next few months. Click your RSS add button while on the news blog page to receive regular updates.
Plugged In Parents/Educators
Releasing Septemeber 30 - Soccer Mom!
Becca loves to play soccer but is stuck on a team that can't seem to win. When a famous soccer star Lorenzo agrees to coach Becca's team no one is more excited than her! When her mom causes an accident that leaves the soccer star in the hospital she decides to masquerade as Lorenzo and coach Becca's team herself! Hilarity ensues as Wendy must keep up her charade and not let her daughter find out who their coach really is!
I don’t know about you, but my family has a penchant for soccer films. Sometimes the storylines seem very similar, but this is not the case in “Soccer Mom.” While my family laughed over the situations Becca’s mom gets herself into, I couldn’t help sitting back and analyzing a bit. What impressed me most was how this movie subtly pushed through stereotypes and made the characters real. One example of this is the rich, spoiled girl named Tiffany, played by actress Cassie Scerbo.
At first, Tiffany first comes across as the beautiful rich girl who sets out to make Becca’s life miserable. However, as the story progresses, we see the pressures Tiffany face and see the human side of her.
When first learning about the part, Scerbo was “so excited.” She found it a treat to merge her passion for acting with her love of soccer. The tough part of the job was being mean. Anyone who meets Scerbo instantly sees that she is incredibly sweet and kind. Scerbo found that she really had to rely on tips from acting coaches to step out of the box and get into character. This was especially difficult because she is a big fan of Emily Osment (Becca). “She’s such a sweet girl,” Scerbo.exclaims.
Scerbo does a brilliant job portraying a change in Tiffany as Tiffany comes to terms with who she really is and how she deals with the pressures. We discover she is not the stereotypical spoiled mean girl we originally thought. The new film Scerbo is working on (“Bleachers“) breaks stereotypes, also. When asked if Scerbo deliberately looks for this type of film, she responded that it’s not particularly deliberate, but perhaps it’s a new trend in film. “A good one.” According to her, (breaking stereotypes) is a “good lesson for girls our age,…don’t judge book by its cover.”
Blogs: Up-to-Date News from our President, VP and Jury Manager
Granny
Ranny's Addenda
I am so excited about our upcoming KIDS FIRST! Best Day and Awards Celebration, Saturday, October 9th at the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles. Beginning at 10 a.m. and continuing until 5:30 p.m, we are premiering three new films designed for a tween/teen audience, plus announcing the first, second and third place winners in 30 plus different categories. Plus, we have an awesome group of talent scheduled to appear: Emily Osment from "Soccer Mom," Brittany Curran from "The Adventures of Food Boy," Aria Wallace from "Roxy Hunter: Myth of the Mermaid" and Kay Panabaker from "Moondance Alexander" "Prince and the Pauper." Plus, last year's Palmer-vision award recipient and ventroloquist, Mallory Lewis will be there to enterain along with her puppet Lamb Chop. Here's a summary of our schedule:
10:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.
Welcome and presentation of KIDS FIRST! Best Awards
10:50 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Premiere screening of "Adventures of Food Boy," starring Lucas Grabeel. Brittany Curran,and Kunal Sharmaare scheduled to appear.
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Premiere screening of the new film, "Soccer Mom" starring Emily Osment who is scheduled to appear.
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Continuing presentation of KIDS FIRST! Best Awards
3:00 - 4:30
Premiere screening of the new film, "Roxy Hunter: Myth of the Mermaid" starring Aria Wallace who is scheduled to appear.
4:30 - 5:30
Continuing presentation of KIDS FIRST! Best Awards
For more details and tickets go here.
National Student/Parent Mock Election Oct 30
Get Involved in the Voting Process! Play "Road to the Capital" It is five days before the national election and all of the media are ... Read More
KIDS FIRST! Jury Blog
And the Winner Is...
Our 9th Annual KIDS FIRST! Best Day and Awards Celebration is less than a month away. As always, students are winning lots of awards! ... - Read More!
ABOUT CQCM AND KIDS FIRST!
The Coalition for Quality Children's Media is a national, nonprofit organization founded in 1991 whose mission is to teach children critical viewing skills and to increase the visibility and availability of quality children's media. ... More.
