KIDS FIRST! News

Producer Ove Sander treats audiences with a heartfelt story that is sure to bring a smile to the faces of anyone who watches it. The short-film “Paul’s Grandpa” is the story of a small boy who wants to have a grandpa and he makes his wish come true.In this article, Sanders gives us his thoughts on the film and what it means to him to be part of the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival:I came up with this idea because I have been fascinated by the power of imagination and fantasy that kids use when they play and the way they interact with us adults. Sometimes we manage to play along but sometimes we cannot or do not want to share their vision. I believe that this imagination can make a lot of things happen. That’s what the film is about.Currently, I am working as a filmmaker – specializing in camerawork. Before I started studying film at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, Germany, I had worked as a freelance camera-assistant on various projects. By working for very experienced DOPs during that time, I learned what it means to tell stories and emotions through images. “Paul’s Grandpa” has been the first fiction that I have both directed and also worked as DOP on. That’s why this project is so important to me.People usually say that working with children and animals is most challenging – well, for “Paul’s Grandpa,” the “grandpa” was especially unpredictable because it was very fragile. We had a total of three different “grandpas” that were used in the different scenes. The head was especially difficult to work with when we did close-ups. We had four operators using remote controls to control small motors inside the character. For all the scenes with the “grandpa” and Paul the timing of the movements was critical. All scenes were shot in real-time, and no computer generated images were used.The film reaches a wide audience. Recently we were awarded “best short” by a children’s jury at a festival – they especially liked that no computer animation was used in our film – we were all very proud about that. In this film I think that I have learned that a simple and clear story is most important for the film – especially in a short film. It has little dialogue and story is told clearly with powerful images. I believe that the way that we did the film tricks, not using aiming at perfect illusion but rather using simple but charming techniques, leaves more room for the audience’s imagination and can be more authentic.I was very excited to be able to have “Pauls Grandpa” as part of KIDS FIRST! Film Festival. As part of a traveling festival, the film has the opportunity to reach audiences in different parts of the country. I am especially proud that the last children’s film that I worked on as a DOP (Tanzmause – Dancing Darlings) has already been part of the festival and was nominated Best Short in 2006. It’s great to be back.You can see a clip of “Paul’s Grandpa (aka Paul’s Opa) online at http://www.kidsfirst.org/detail/207400.html.

Jennifer Sherman has supervised as well as animated on productions such as “Jacob Two Two,” “Max and Ruby,” “Yummi-Land,” “Futz” and “Peep and the Big Wide World” for 9 Story Entertainment since March 2003.Since graduating from Sheridan College in 1988, she has been involved in the animation industry in Toronto on many levels. Jennifer has animated on a number of television commercials, televisions series, and also worked on a feature film for companies such as Lightbox Studios, The Animation House, Calibre and Nelvana. The transition from classical animation to digital computer animation was a natural progression for Jennifer in 2002.CP: Looking at your background, it seems that you have covered a multitude of styles in animation. What do you feel is your strongest area and what do you enjoy doing the most?JS: What I feel is my strongest area is character driven scenes. I love it when a character makes you feel the way they feel and have you believe in them. There’s something powerful in a subtle head turn or gesture that makes you forget it’s not real. When I watch really well done animation, I love to get lost in the character and the story.CP: What brought you to 9 Story Entertainment?JS: A colleague of mine recommended I apply for a position as an animator. At the time I had no idea how Flash animation was done but he said, “Animation is animation no matter what the format is, it’s simply a different tool.” True enough.CP: Jacob Two Two is very different from Peep and the Big Wide World, which you also worked on. What steps do you take to capture the magic of Jacob?JS: Jacob is geared to a bit older audience than Peep so this allows us to explore a broader range of issues that older kids deal with. There are so many different personalities in the show that each character brings a familiarity with it. Growing up even today, I’m sure lots of kids have to deal with a group of bullies, an annoying older sibling, geeky friends or a science teacher that’s just plain weird. It’s a show that is rewarding to be able to really act out all these different characters. The voice actors really help drive the characters in this show. As an animator you are given the sound track and a roughly timed storyboard to work with. When the sound track is inspiring the animators, imagination can take over and this can really add to the scene.CP: Please give me an interesting anecdote of something behind the scenes in the Jacob Two Two production.JS: There were times when I was attempting to explain how a scene should play out and I would find myself acting out the line for the animator to “get” what I was meaning. It’s pretty goofy to see a grown woman acting out something Greedy Guts would say and do like sobbing at the thought of having his doughnuts taken away.Jacob’s character is a really nice reminder that it’s okay to mess up and not always be perfect at everything you do. The important thing is that he’s always willing to try. That’s something I believe we can all relate to.CP: In your opinion, how has Jacob Two Two benefited from its affiliation with qubo?JS: It’s great that qubo has been able to take a quality show like Jacob Two Two and bring it to a new and larger audience to experience and enjoy.CP: Is there anything you would like to add?JS: I believe all animators are actors inside with the ability to be anyone or anything they create. The only limitation in animation is your imagination, so stretch those imagination muscles kids and dream big!

Author Martin Baynton and animator Richard Taylor take us behind the scene’s in qubo’s hit series “Jane and the Dragon.”

Watching “Jane and the Dragon” on qubo with my kids has been one of my favorite Saturday morning activities for the last year or two. Not only is the storyline captivating, but I love the breaking of stereotypes as Jane trains to become a knight in her medieval world. She and her comrades deal with issues kids today relate to such as honesty and friendship. And, to my mothering heart’s delight, negative behaviors in the show are discussed at the end of the show with suggestions of how one should have acted in that situation.

“Jane and the Dragon” is a CGI animated series based on the much-loved books by Martin Baynton. In addition to the fabulous storyline, viewers are treated to stunning animation filled with rich color and texture. The visuals are so breath-taking that it isn’t much of a shock to discover that it was done by Weta, the company that also worked on the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Chronicles of Narnia.”

CP: Martin, please give a brief summary of your background, including how you went from Electroencephalography to writing children’s books.MB: My parents always encouraged me to write and to draw from an early age. I remember that all my best marks at school were for my story writing and anything to do with art. At secondary school I also discovered the joy of science, and so I had a very balanced education, but in the end my love of storytelling won out, and I left my job at Barts Hospital in London only a year after qualifying. I have never regretted the decision as it meant I could work from home and be a full time writer and a full time dad with the privilege of being able to spend every day with my two children as they grew up.CP: Where did you get the idea for “Jane and the Dragon” and how did it evolve into a TV  show?MB: The idea for the original books was because I wanted to write a story about a girl who wanted to follow her dreams despite the expectations of her family and friends. And then a young girl told me how she hated fairy stories because the girls were wimps; they waited around for a prince to come to their rescue with a wedding ring. So the idea for Jane sprang from those two themes originally. And to my great delight the books have remained in print for twenty years so I would talk about Jane to two generations of readers, mums and their daughter. Often that talk would be about making Jane as a cool TV show. I have to be honest and say I’m not a big fan of much of kids TV, like many parents I had to search to find things I would want my own children to see, so when I finally decided to bite the bullet and step into the role of TV producer and adapt Jane, I wanted to make a show that would meet all my own aspirations for what great drama could and should be for children. That’s when I went down to visit Richard at weta after being blown away by the extraordinary work he had done making the first of the “Lord Of The Rings” trilogy. We both had exactly the same ideas about making children’s TV, it was a wonderful experience from the first day to be surrounded by a team with so much commitment to quality and to storytelling.CP: Richard, please give a brief summary of your background including how you got into animation.RT: I come from a small rural community in New Zealand. I always wanted to make things with my hands, creating and inventing fantasy worlds. My wife Tania and I established a film and TV effects facility in New Zealand with two friends and we began servicing the creative industries with our technical and creative services. We have established a company called Weta, in Wellington, New Zealand and we have been integrally involved in a number of major feature films including – “The Lord of the Rings,” “King Kong”, and “The Chronicles of Narnia.” For our work Weta has received 6 Oscars and 5 Baftas.I have always had a great passion for children’s television, probably stemming from my childhood days watching shows such as the “Thunderbirds,” “Captain Scarlet” and “Space 1999.” Therefore, when we finished creating LOTR we felt the time was right to realize this dream and begin building our own Children’s Television Production facility at Weta. Our fortuitous meeting with Martin, the skills of our producer Andrew Smith and our creative partnership have further reinforced our desire to make the best animated children’s television we can.CP: One aspect that really stands out in your show is the deep colors and beautiful, rich texture in the animation. Please talk a bit about the animation and how you do it.RT: We wanted to help raise the bar, that’s the honest truth of it. Children should be able to watch a world that is every bit as rich, and colorful and beautiful as the best that is on offer in adult TV. Our designers started by analyzing the way Martin had illustrated his original books. We wanted a picture book style and aesthetic that would feel as if the book had opened and the characters had come to like. It meant creating a whole new way of producing CGI animation, which tends to have a rather flat and plastic look much of the time. The result is a tribute to our CG supervisor Trevor Brymer and the wonderful design and modeling team we have here who approached this with the same delight and enthusiasm as they would for a major feature film.CP: Please share an amusing/interesting anecdote from the filmmaking process.RT: We had a wonderful group of designers working on Jane, many of them being the same exceptionally talented people that had designed “Lord of the Rings.” In fact these people ultimately completed more pieces of design for “Jane and the Dragon” than we did for the whole of the three film trilogy of LOTR. Regardless though, we were struggling with some of the subtle design sensibilities of the Jane world and especially the female characters. That was, until we had the great fortune of hiring an immensely talented woman called Rebecca Tisch who at the age of 17 joined our team and became instrumental in capturing the unique and quirky characters that inhabit Jane’s world. We where so enamored by Rebecca’s contribution that we dedicated a character to her, and Pepper the cook is modeled after this wonderfully talented young New Zealander.CP: What is one of the greatest lessons you have learned in story writing and filmmaking that you would like to pass along to other producers and writers?RT/MB: The heart of it all is story. You can’t save a bad story with pretty pictures or clever effects. Audiences young or old want to engage with the characters and the journey those characters are on. If the characters aren’t engaging or sympathetic everything else is just empty packaging.CP: What, in your opinion, is the unique edge that makes “Jane and the Dragon” a series that kids and their parents should watch over others?RT/MB: I think it’s the fact that there is a full half hour of real storytelling with layers of complexity that mirror the real world. Jane and her friends face the same real challenges that all young people face, and there are no simple right or wrong answers. Jane always does her best with the best of intentions and sometimes her enthusiasm lacks mature judgment and she gets herself and others into hot water. But she always learns and she always does her best. I think that is the key to Jane and the reason that we get such wonderful emails from teachers, grandparent and the kids themselves – it’s because Jane is a true “warts and all” heroine with a big heart.CP: Is there anything you would like to add that hasn’t been addressed about “Jane and the Dragon?”RT/MB: One of the things we set out to do and are very proud to have achieved is that whole families chose to watch Jane together. With so many TVs in some homes, and so much choice there is a trend away from sharing time as a whole family. We are thrilled at the number of emails from families who tell us that Jane is a show they all look forward to watching together. It’s like sharing a book with your children, they love to know that something they enjoy is not just approved of, but is enjoyed by Mum and Dad, and that they can talk about it together as a family with the same common references. Do you remember when Jane did such and such? Sharing time and sharing stories is a way of sharing common truths and common values across the whole family. We are all immensely proud of how Jane is achieving that.

Filming is a different sort of ride for race-car champion Norman Hunter. Inspired by his three children, Hunter stepped behind the camera. It’s paying off, too. Hunter’s film, “Her Best Move,” made its debut on screens such as the KIDS FIRST! film festival, and now is picked up for distribution by some major companies and will soon be seen around the world.He shares some of his ride with us below. For more information, check out the film’s website.CP: Could you please give me an idea of why you chose to write a story like this and tell me how it came about?NH: I was shopping my “racing” script in Hollywood (I was a racing driver out of college) and the head of a studio told me that the film was too ambitious for a first-time director and that I should write something I could direct. I was coaching my kids in soccer and a story came to me as the seasons progressed. I always find myself drifting off into the imaginary world – probably because of all the books I read as a kid.CP: Why did you have soccer as a focal sport as opposed to other sports or interests?NH: I played soccer in high school – and I think there is a reason it is know as “the beautiful game.” Although you might not know it by how it is sometimes played today – just you-tube Maradona to see some terrific soccer. And it seems to be the universal family sport as kids grow up, equally accessible to both genders. With 2 daughters and a son, I am way into equal opportunities for girls/women.CP: We are starting to see more intact families in film, while in the past, they tended to be more split. Your film merges the past and present by having a split and reconciliation. Why did you decided to approach it that way?NH: Having been married for almost 25 years, I know enough about the pressures of life to realize that the “perfect” marriage isn’t necessarily the “Leave It To Beaver” model – that people need space and that a relationship can have a natural ebb and flow that doesn’t threaten to destroy it. I actually failed to communicate properly why Gil was spending so much time at work – he had a major fear of failing in his job and resorted to living at his office, but, as is often the case in low-budget (and first-time) films, it got a little lost in the shuffle.CP: Please give me an anecdote from filming that inspired you or made you laugh.NH: Daryl Sabara is enormously talented – like the rest of our cast – and while filming the Cold Stone scenes, his spontaneous ad-libbed lines cracked me up so much I actually fell out of my director’s chair. Unfortunately, most of the stuff was too out-of-character to make the final cut, but it stayed in a long time, it was so good.Another time, Scott Patterson’s character “Gil” was watching a little kids’ soccer game and reflecting on his history with his daughter. You might not know if from watching Gilmore Girls, but Scott has some really deep acting chops. After a particular take, brilliantly nuanced by Scott, I asked for another to really get the character’s state of mind. Scott happily complied, but by his look I know he thought we had already nailed it. Looking at the dailies, my second take was much too obvious – Scott’s original take brought all the emotion you could want from that scene. He is such a talented guy – I learned a lot about acting & performance from him.CP: What projects are you working on now?NH: I have a slate of 8 films – I am just finishing a re-write of my script “In A Heartbeat” , a romance/drama/sports/comedy about a racing driver, a widow and her 10 year old daughter. I also have a girls volleyball movie, a couple of music-themed stories – more sports and flying!CP: Why did you send your film in to the KIDS FIRST! film festival?CP: I long for the days when movies were funny-clever, not funny-raunchy. I also like stories that have heart and some sort of message, particularly those that can be enjoyed by all age groups. Think of Remember The Titans, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Sleepless In Seattle, Mrs. Doubtfire, A League of Their Own, etc, not to mention the classics of the forties. Kids First seems to recognize that films can be entertaining and meaningful while not relying on vulgarity or violence – it just takes imagination!CP: How has KIDS FIRST! helped you?NH: We’ve played in over 30 film festivals, with Kids First instrumental in placing a number of those. It’s nice having the Kids First! “seal of approval” – it’s a way for people to understand what kind of film it is.CP: Is there anything you would like to add?NH: Thanks for providing both the opportunity and the sensibilities that the American public wants. While NOTHING substitutes for good parenting, I think movies can provide role models for kids that we can applaud, so that is my goal.

Rann and Gina Watumull knew there was a lot of talent where they lived in Hawaii so back in 2002, they co-founded Hawaii Film Partners. Together, with Discovery Kids and a stellar cast and crew, they brought the world into the world of “Flight 29 Down.”Starring Corbin Bleu, Hallee Hirsh, Johnny Pacar and Lauren Storm, “Flight 29 Down” is full of adventure and ingenuity as students on a school trip are stranded on a deserted island when their plane crashes in a storm. Personalities clash, physical endurance levels reach their limit, and friendships form as teenage plane crash survivors learn how to survive on an island – physically, mentally, and socially. The series delivers crisp cinematography, engaging characters, and realistic survival tips keeping viewers of all ages captivated and wanting to watch more.Rann Watumull, one of the Executive Producers for this series, gives us some background information on the series, demonstrating in part why it is so successful:CP: As a parent I really appreciated the way you took lessons the kids are learning, and putting it on their level (like the democratic process and relationships). What were your goals for the viewers beyond pure entertainment?RM: One of the goals for the show was in addition to providing great entertainment was also to provide a show that included valuable life lessons that the kids would teach themselves. That is why the scripts were written to include the video diaries so we could see what the kids were thinking and feeling and learning as the events unfolded. The writer took extra precautions to ensure that the lessons never came across as preachy or contrived. The kids figured out the right and wrong attitudes and behaviors in a way that seemed real and plausible and often funny. Humor is a great way to reach kids and we have lots of humor in the show.CP: What were some of the more difficult elements in making this series, and how did you overcome them?RM: Perhaps one of the most difficult elements in making the series was the fact that this show was filmed entirely on location, outside, exposed to the elements, without the benefit of a sound stage. When it rained, we got rained on. When it was windy, we had lots of extra noise. We even had a tree crash down on the set right near to us when we experienced near hurricane conditions. In order to work around the weather challenges, the entire cast and crew had to be flexible and creative. For example. We had one very rainy day. Due to scheduling, we could not postpone the shooting. So our writer/director D.J. MacHale rewrote the script at lunch, we copied the scripts, got them to the actors and the afternoon scenes were changed to take place inside the plane that day. We also had a severe storm and a flood hit the set. If you remember the tent scene from the second episode of the first season, that was actually shot in a tent under a tent due to the rain. We also used canopies and other covers to provide some shelter to the actors during filming.CP: Please give me an amusing/interesting anecdote from the filmmaking process that readers can relate to and make them feel like they have a connection and inside scoop to the film.RM: The airplane for which the show is named, was a real plane. I purchased it from a company that had it at the Honolulu International Airport in storage for 10 years. In order to get the plane to the beach, we had to drain all the fluid so it would pose no environmental threat. We then had to cut the wings and tail off in order to transport it to the beach at 2am in the morning so there would be no traffic. We then had to re-assemble the aircraft on the beach in the morning. We had several funny incidents as planes would circle overhead that first day, thinking a real plane had actually crashed on the beach. That old plane has lots of character and we all love it.CP: Why did you choose to have Lex’s father be a widower rather than a divorcee as in the book?RM: My guess would be that it was a little more dramatic for Lex to deal the having lost his mother and being stuck on the island.CP: Can fans expect to see a reunion episode of this cast in this series or was that really the end?RM: Who knows what might happen. I always thought that a reunion showing how the kids would relate to each other and the real world would be a great new show. We will just have to see how it goes.CP: Is there anything you would like to add?RM: Yes, Thank you so much for your interest in the show. You will be pleased to know that all the actors on the set were wonderful people. Everyone developed such close relationships that at the last shot, there were many tears shed by the cast. It was like a high school graduation. Poor Allen Alvarado (Lex) was crying so hard that he made some of our hardened union workers cry also, Allen had spent three years in row filming this show and knew he was going to miss the cast and crew. I am already missing seeing all their smiling faces on the set this year. The kids, including Corbin, were all such great actors and people. They welcomed many visitors to the set including school children, other families, press etc. They would all spend time with the visitors and made everyone feel welcome.Also, you may have heard that about 6 months ago Allen Alvarado and his father were struck by a hit and run car while crossing the street in Los Angeles. Allen was thrown 30 feet in the air and nearly died. He was in a coma for a short time. Thanks to the doctors and prayers, Allen has now made just about a complete recovery. We are so grateful that this amazing little boy is fine and doing great.