KIDS FIRST! News

As we enter a new year, we at KIDS FIRST! are excited to announce a new board member who is joining our team. Actress Kay Panabaker (“Fame,” “Nancy Drew,” “Moondance Alexander,” “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” among others) has an intense interest in children and media.

CP: Please gives me a non-wikipedia view of how you see yourself and your goals.

KP: I see myself as a person who goes to the beat of my own drum. While most 18-year-olds are trying to appear more mature, I’m trying to hold onto my youth and innocence. Education, family, and hard work are often underrated in the media, but I hope that throughout my lifetime, I am able to impress upon people the significance of both of these in the lives of children. I hope to continue to work in jobs that I love and share that love with others.

CP: What made you want to be part of the KIDS FIRST! organization?

KP: As a 17-year-old UCLA graduate, education is clearly very important to me. Current pop culture has de-emphasized the value of education and family. The KIDS FIRST! organization has worked hard to celebrate children’s media that is both entertaining and instills good values in the audience. I think that with more support, they can create a safer and more child-friendly environment in the media. I continue to babysit, and I’m always looking for new movies and books to share with my charges that will encourage them to do great things in their lives.

CP: What do you feel you bring to board meetings and general function for KIDS FIRST!?

KP: I feel that my youth brings a new perspective to KIDS FIRST! adults who, while having more worldly experience, have to work harder in order to understand children trends and interests. I am constantly hanging out with kids and consider myself a big kid, so I think my experiences will help KIDS FIRST! I hope my familiarity with children and the things that they are interested in will help KIDS FIRST! find great children’s media.

CP: What was your impression of the board member you first met?

KP: While I haven’t met the rest of board, I have met Ranny Levy, and she has been so nice to me. We first met when she presented me with a KIDS FIRST! Film Award and I was immediately taken with how caring and kind she is. She is so very passionate about her cause, and I hope that I am able to help her in her endeavor to better the lives of children through media.

CP: Please tell us about an experience with children’s media that had a great impact on your life.

KP: I’ve always been a big of the Disney animated films. They are always so witty and funny and enjoyable for people of all ages. As a kid, and even as a teenager, I have looked at those films to help me figure myself out and investigate the world around me. I appreciate any book or movie that transports kids from their own lives to some other world.

CP: Do you plan to continue acting, pursue a teaching career? Both? Neither?

KP: I would like to continue acting as long as possible. The business is so finicky, however, that teaching is one of my backup plans. If I stop working as an actress, either by choice or lack of jobs, I will get my teaching credentials and hopefully teach elementary school. I actually just took and passed the CBEST, which allows me to substitute teach in California. I might try that and see how it goes.

CP: What changes would you like to see in children’s media in the future?

KP: I would love to see children’s media revert back to educational and family values. With the constant bombardment of media that has no value beyond entertainment, I want to see kid-safe media options that aren’t going to jeopardize their morals and their values. Adults need to understand that even the simplest things can have the biggest impact on children’s lives.

CP: Where you see KIDS FIRST!, as an organization, headed in the the future?

KP: I see KIDS FIRST! as becoming the measurement by which media judges its positive impact on children.

1.Martino’s journey from art school in Ohio to Monty Python to “Ice Age” to “Horton Hears a Who.”Martino was bitten by the animation bug in animation class in college while studying to be a designer. He realized that he could move an audience with moving graphics and he enjoyed making people laugh. In the early 1980’s, he worked for television stations doing animations for the Super Bowl, NFL  and ESPN. He found himself moving along with technology and its leaps and bounds. Back in the 80’s he would never have dreamed of feature films with characters like today. One of Martino’s favorite parts of his job is that he is lucky to work with talented people A highlight of his career was sitting with Terry Giliam at studio and story-boarding. Martino thinks Giliam is “one of most creative guys out there.” He had a huge influence of Martino. For instance,  Martino was inspired by stories on how Martino made “Brazil” and how they used clacking in “Holy Grail” as a necessity since the film budget didn’t include horses. Working on a variety of film from “Holy Grail” to”Ice Age” and  “Robots,” where he was art director, Martino gained the experience necessary for co-directing “Horton Hears a Who” along with Jimmy Hayward.2. Goals for the filmMartino had three major goals for this film. First, they wanted to adapt the book by a beloved, respected author, and remain true to the work in storytelling while expanding what was between the pages.The second film goal was the animation. They wanted to create flexibility and movement. The character development team challenge. As a team they worked together to create the perfect tools for animators to move characters around mixing creativity with technology, making the animation fluid.Thirdly, they wanted to keep true to the style. Dr. Seuss was production designer in Steve’s opinion. They promised Audrey Geisel, the widow of Ted Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) that they would stay true to the style. According to Martino, one of best moments in the project was when he had lunch with Geisel after the project was complete and they and saw it in a special showing in a theatre. Martino laughs about how his hands were clenched on seat throughout the film, as if her were in a dentist chair, wondering how she would react. Before the credits even rolled, she stood up and applauded and commented that they took the story and lifted it to a new place.  Martino expresses that it was the pinnacle of the filmmaking experience to sit with Audrey and have her applaud what they had done.3. Animating “Horton Hears a Who”Hayward and Martino both sat down to talk about the book and discovered that they agreed on how it should be portrayed. They discussed what they imagined as they read the book when they were kids. Martino also factored in ideas he developed as he read to his own kids, who are now 14- and 11-years-old.  Hayward and Martino wanted to depict a sense of imagination  — not like this world. They felt the story needed to be more exaggerated and imaginative than our world and came to the conclusion that to depict this, they would create a unique two-dimensional animation style.Computers like to keep things on model and perfect form, and for this project the creators wanted to push character distortion –heads squashed or arms 3 times a natural length. The art team jumped on this challenge and embraced it although it was difficult.The animation project was huge. They had a special fur team whose entire job was to groom the fur digitally. This task encompassed the Who’s and the plants. There were very complex scenes, which pushed technical boundaries such as the field of flowers near the end of the film which had ½ billion clovers. The animators managed to fill space and even have clovers blowing in wind. In order to do this they had to intelligently render clovers based on the camera angle through some technologicalingenuity. Each individual frame for this scene took two to three days. Due to the complexity of the  scene, it took months to render.4.ResultsMartino  firmly believes the film became what it is because of the talent of the people working on it. The cast, in his opinion, was phenomenal and the recording sessions took the movie to a place he never would have conceived of as the actors improvised and all the talented people contributed with their expertise.Three years on a film is a long time to be working on one project. Especially when you are a parent with two children. In fact, his two daughters are in the movie as Who voices, and they were also part of the focus group. Martino loved the great story and great theme by Dr Seuss — no prejudice. He found that this was a great investment of time and life, stating that it was “so nice to work on a project where you can bring your family to the film without hiding your head in shame.”

“Ribert & Robert” is taking off! Since our interview with actor James Bondy, the duo has continued to capture children’s hearts with its simple stories with gentle morals and appealing graphics. Mike DeVitto, President and CEO of Deos Animation Studios, tells us what inspired the series and also shares the secret behind the cost-effective production process behind it.CP: Please tell me a bit about your background including what inspired you to start Deos Animation Studios.MD: I have a technology background in system design and software development. When my daughter Jennifer was growing up I was disappointed in what the media offered her. I was determined to take the technology and knowledge I had to build entertainment and educational programs that would be beneficial to children.CP: What are your goals with the productions you work with?MD: Our main goal and driving force is to teach children everywhere to love to learn and learn to love and follow their heart in everything thing they do.CP: Please tell me about your SAM methods and how you think this is revolutionizing/will revolutionize the industry.MD: I had a dream to do children’s entertainment and when I found out how much it would cost I knew we would have to come up with an alternative method. That’s when my team and I dug deep into our system development background and we found SAM. SAM allows us to do high quality at a lower cost and faster speed. I think that’s what helped us win our awards with “Ribert & Robert.”CP: Please tell me a bit about your journey with “Ribert & Robert,” including where you think this is all going.MD: I’ve always thought that the media platform for TV was not being used well for children. There was never enough value being provided to parents and children. My idea for “Ribert & Robert” actually came the night of 9/11. On that day, I saw my daughter Jennifer cry and I hadn’t seen her cry in a very long time. I couldn’t help but ask myself that day what how world events are impacting our children. That night I went to bed and I had a dream about R&R.I envisioned Robert as a human and was a nice person but constantly made mistakes. Ribert I imaged to have a heart of gold and innocent like a child. The overall message behind “Ribert & Robert” is for children to listen to their heart and to follow it. That’s what “Ribert & Robert” is trying to convey.The next day I wrote a script and took it to public television but quickly realized that I didn’t have the money to make my dream a reality and that’s when I developed SAM and put together my assembly line.Anyone who’s watched the show knows that we’ve always called the children “Power Pals.” That’s really my dream – to build a worldwide organization of “Power Pals” on the Internet. The idea is to use our technology to develop the first fully immerse virtual world for children on the World Wide Web and use our TV program to get kids to go there.CP: What is the most important message you would like to get out to/could offer independent producers?

MD: Start with something you believe in and stay focused.

The race is on again for famous contenders Wally the Tortoise and Murray the Hare when UNSTABLE FABLES: TORTOISE VS. HARE, dashes onto DVD for the first time September 9 from The Weinstein Company and  Genius Products. Created by the revered Jim Henson Company, Prana Animation Studios and Flame Ventures, the second CGI animated film in the irreverent and delightful “Unstable Fables” collection, TORTOISE VS. HARE is a fun, modern retelling of the classic Tortoise and the Hare story.Clever and quick-witted, UNSTABLE FABLES: TORTOISE VS. HARE boasts edgy humor that appeals to adults and children alike. It’s been 15 years since the illustrious race between Walter the Tortoise (Glover) and Murray the Hare (Leno) but the passing of time hasn’t tempered their bitter rivalry.  When they hear about the upcoming Mt. Impossible Nature Adventure Race, they can’t resist the opportunity to challenge each other to a rematch! This time they enlist their children to be their teammates, but the kids don’t share their parents’ competitive nature. When Walter and Murray get separated from their kids, the two dads must team up to find them and learn there are far more important matters than winning a race!Sure to be a family-favorite with the humor and heart that The Jim Henson Company is known for, UNSTABLE FABLES: TORTOISE VS. HARE features a celebrity cast including the voice talent of Emmy Award® winner* Jay Leno (Ice Age 2), Danny Glover (Dreamgirls), Vivica A. Fox (Ella Enchanted), Keke Palmer (Jump In!, Akeelah And The Bee) and three-time winner of  Kid’s Choice Award for Best Actor, Drake Bell (Superhero Movie, “Drake and Josh”).According to Lisa Henson, co-chief executive officer of The Jim Henson Company, the creators of Unstable Fables goal was to create a bookshelf series of unique versions of fairy tales. They endeavored to portray loose adaptations of the stories, showing the characters in modern ways. Above all, the tales were made to get audiences laughing and, based on the group of children I watched the film with, the creators met their goal.“Why did they decide to use animation instead of your trademark puppetry?” I asked Henson. The answer is that the Henson company  is taking interest in 3-D animation and perhaps 2-D animation in the future.Henson has two children ages ten and eight who are already quite media savvy. She shares KIDS FIRST! values and the goal of providing quality entertainment for the kids. She also educates her children so they are media savvy and are informed viewers. Like many parents, Henson is concerned about what her kids watch, and she creates films such as TORTOISE VS. HARE with this criteria in mind. The Unstable Fables have a pro-family feel and use humor to engage children as well as adults. Her own children approved the film, especially since it starred some of their favorite actors (Keke Plamer and Drake Bell).As a producer, Henson was surprised at how well kids reacted to TV stars. According to her research, kids are much more likely to enjoy a film because of its TV stars than a film starring the voice of a movie star. In this series of Unstable Fables, they used stars kids could identify for the kids’ voices and stars parents enjoy for the adult voices to create all-age appeal.TORTOISE VS. HARE started out with a storyline very different from the final product. It didn’t have kids, and there was a lot more intrigue. Henson pointed out that when they began producing, they quickly realized that the series needed children in the stories. Families are a main focus with parents and children together. She also points out that she loves the new character designs, “Howard Baker did a really great job of developing an unstable way of finding characters—upbeat; cute, but not over-cute; modern—especially the tortoise with its jewel-encrusted shell.If you want a good laugh from a great story with superb visuals, check out TORTOISE VS. HARE, now on your store shelves. Fans of the series will also be pleased to know that the next Unstable Fable, GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS hits the shelves later this year. What will the three bears do when Goldilocks moves in with them in a reality TV situation similar to “The Simple Life”?

Our family has a new favorite film. “Nim’s Island” captured our attention, treated our eyes and pulled at our hearts as we watched it. Now our kids want to show it to their grandparents. Families attending the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival have the opportunity to bask the magic of the film, too. Here’s the inside scoop on the film from directors Mark Levin & Jennifer Flackett:

CP:  What is the story behind getting this classic tale up on the movie screen?

ML & JF: The book “Nim’s Island” was shared with us by Walden Media, Fox and the film’s producer Paula Mazur. We were inspired by the character of Nim, an adventurous and heroic young girl. She at once reminded us of our own daughter, and seemed like the kind of hero that young girls don’t get to see in movies these days. We spent several months working on the script, trying to imagine what the life of a girl who grew up only on a deserted island must be like. Jodie Foster discovered the script and decided that she would like to play the role of Alexandra Rover, which was one of the great days of our lives when we heard that. Abigail Breslin was the first girl we met for the role of Nim and, once we met her, we knew we shouldn’t bother to continue looking. She has a very sincere and winning everygirl quality which we felt was perfect for the role of Nim. We didn’t want Nim to be too Tarzan-like but very real and identifiable. The final piece of the puzzle came together when we lit upon the idea of casting Gerard Butler as both the father and the great adventure hero Alex Rover. Until that time, we had thought we were going to cast the roles separately, but Gerry inspired us to use one actor for both, enhancing the storybook quality of the movie.

CP:  What were some of the more difficult aspects of filming this particular movie?

ML & JF: There is an old saying in the film business that you shouldn’t work with children or animals, and on this movie we worked with both. Certainly, when the child is Abigail Breslin, it’s not a problem at all  The animals were a slightly different story. The sea lions (there were two) were quite experienced, on loan from Sea World. They did a variety of tricks and became easily bonded with Abigail. The pelicans (also on loan from Sea World) were a slightly different story. Pelicans are less trainable than sea lions and, if you get to close to them, they might peck at you dangerously. We spent a lot of time and energy trying to get the pelican and the actors into the same frame together. In “Nim’s Island”, there were also many giant storms which is always a challenging aspect for a film crew, having to create wind and rain and lightning and roll cameras through the whole thing.

CP:  The cinematography is amazing, and the mix of mediums added a lot to the story, how did you come up with the mix?

ML & JF: Our cinematographer was Stuart Dryburgh, a highly talented fellow who had shot movies like “The Piano” and “Bridget Jones’ Diary”, two very different movies that we admired. When we first considered the look of the movie, we discussed “enhanced realism” — making it feel real, but slightly better than real at the same time, which seemed appropriate because Nim lives so much in her imagination. The opening of the movie is created entirely out of paper, which was created by a special team from our art department. It took dozens of weeks to designed and create and puppet the cut-outs for each of the shots in the beginning of the movie. We wanted it to feel handmade and slightly childlike, like a kid who grew up only on books might imagine a story.

CP:  Please tell me an anecdote regarding something that happened on set that was ether funny or inspiring or both.

ML & JF: When we started making “Nim’s Island,” Abigail confessed that she was a bit concerned about all the climbing and swimming and running she would have to do. She had never done a role with so much physicality before. She asked “What if when I’m running, I fall down.”  We said, “If you fall down, just get up and keep running because that’s the most important thing about Nim. She keeps going.”

CP:  What does it mean to you to have your title featured in the KIDS FIRST! film festival?

ML & JF: It’s great to have a festival dedicated to quality movies for kids which has always been very important to us. From the first movie that we wrote “Madeline,” through “Little Manhattan”, through “Nim’s Island,” we’ve tried to make films that reminded us of the films that entertained and inspired us when we were young. It’s a pleasure to have “Nim’s Island” included in KIDS FIRST!