Video animation camp spurs creativity
By: Robert Lachman 08/14/2003
For the second year in a row, the Town of Washington Recreation Commission teamed up with the Children's Media Project of Poughkeepsie (CMP) to offer a video animation camp that will teach kids how to make animated films.
Held at the Millbrook Firehouse, the one week intensive production course produced five animated films by 12 children that ran the gamut from Alien Vacations to Fruit Wars. And it was obvious that the children, ranging in age from 8 to 12-years-old, were having a great time.
According to CMP staff member Maureen Beck, the Children's Media Project sponsors workshops on animation, live action and media awareness.
"We're trying to make video accessible to the kids," said Beck. "The kids come in and conceive a story, make all the visuals and animate it."
The kids at the Animation Camp work on what Beck called "mixed media" animation, that is, using paint, cutouts and three-dimensional objects to tell a visual story.
The first day is spent brainstorming the story and doing the artwork. On the second day the children learn to animate and on the third day they start to create their story. On the fourth day they finish up animating and begin the editing process.
"We take them to the editing station," Beck said. "And, using G4 laptop computers and the I-movie program, they learn to put in sound effects, voice-overs and music on their films."
All of the music has to be their own. To accomplish this the children are encouraged to bring in whatever musical instruments they have at home, as well as using the native percussion instruments supplied by CMP.
"On the last day we do a premiere for the kids and their parents," said Beck. "Each of the children get to take copies of all five films home with them."
Some of the films were quite good. One group of kids had just finished animating "Alien Vacation," where aliens from another planet take a Las Vegas vacation. When the creatures return home at the end they used video-feedback to simulate the ship flying through space.
"For the ending all we did was point the camera at the monitor and zoom in," said nine-year-old Reed Whitmont of Rhinebeck. "This is a lot of fun."
Kate Dietrich of Millbrook was also there to help. She gives after- school, video workshop enrichment programs at Alden Place Elementary and Dutchess Day School and feels it is an excellent program.
"The children learn a lot," Dietrich said. "They have to work together in a cooperative effort and they have a lot of creativity. They come in with incredible ideas and it's great to see them bring those ideas to life."
©Millbrook Round Table 2003
August 25, 2003
August 22, 2003
Helping students find the auteur within
David Bernstein NYT
Monday, August 18, 2003
CHICAGO Like any good filmmaker, Savannah Keller can succinctly pitch her animated short film "The Dino Fight": "There is a herbivore minding his own business, and a T-Rex comes by and tries to annoy it. Then they get in a big fight, and the herbivore beats up the T-Rex, and the T-Rex loses and the herbivore wins."
Although she is just 10 years old and lives far from Hollywood in Livonia, Michigan, Savannah has all the right tinsel for a future in the business. In April, she won the top prize at her first film festival, an online contest for children ages 8 to 14. But before Savannah joins the Martin Scorseses and Penny Marshalls of the world, she has to finish elementary school. Toward that end, she also uses digital video technology for book reports and other assignments.
With relatively inexpensive digital video cameras, more powerful personal computers and sophisticated video editing software, more and more young students are making movies. A growing number of elementary, middle and high schools are offering digital video instruction, and various private trade programs, workshops and film festivals have been created specifically for this younger generation of auteurs.
In Chicago, Carlo Trovato, an English teacher and film instructor at Von Steuben High School on the city's North Side, said that interest in filmmaking had swelled since the school added digital media production to its curriculum about four years ago.
Last year, the school purchased five Apple eMac desktop computers and Final Cut Pro editing software for its media lab. The lab also includes six Sony Hi8 digital video cameras, two Casablanca video-editing systems and one digital projector.
Student demand for the course has surprised even Trovato; he said 200 students typically signed up for the 30 spots in each class. Two years ago the school added a second film class. And a film festival, now in its fourth year, attracts more entries each year. Trovato said that only seven students submitted work in the festival's first year; last year, there were more than 60.
Supporters of digital video in the classroom contend that in addition to developing talent, the technology opens more avenues for learning beyond traditional textbook-based instruction.
"The best schools are transforming themselves into 'digital age' schools," said Milton Chen, executive director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, www.glef.org, founded by the creator of the "Star Wars" films. "Kids these days are born digital, and school systems have to keep pace with them."
Besides mastering new technologies, Chen said, digital media training helps students improve their basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills, encourages collaboration and engages students who have lost interest in traditional schooling.
All that is really needed is a digital camcorder, now widely available for less than $1,000, and a PC with digital video capabilities. Basic click-and-drag video editing software is now standard on most new computers (iMovie, preinstalled on Macintosh computers, or Windows Movie Maker by Microsoft). Other editing applications like Final Cut Pro 4 by Apple, Avid Xpress DV and Pinnacle Edition Pro are far more powerful. But they are also more expensive, typically costing up to $1,000, and more cumbersome for novices.
One new product designed with young moviemakers, especially preteenagers, and their teachers in mind is the Digital Blue Digital Movie Creator from Prime Entertainment, www.playdigitalblue.com. The camera (priced around $100) records on memory chips, not tape, and has enough capacity for about four minutes of recording away from a PC.
For longer recordings, users can hook up the camera to a computer with a USB cable and capture as much video as their hard drives can store.
Savannah used the Digital Movie Creator's stop-motion animation feature, included with Digital Blue's editing software, to make her dinosaurs come to life. She added other special effects and included subtitles and voiceovers. She said it took her nearly four hours to shoot, edit and animate her two-minute movie.
This autumn, Prime Entertainment plans to release Tableaux, a line of multimedia products intended for the educational market. In addition to the digital camera and software, Tableaux will offer educators access to an online database with more than 500 digital camera presentation projects that meet state educational standards in language arts, reading and math.
Not all educators are enthusiastic about multimedia technology, said Steven Goodman, author of "Teaching Youth Media" and director of the Educational Video Center, a nonprofit media arts group in New York.
"There are principals and superintendents who don't want it because they see video as frivolous and nonintellectual," Goodman said. With a growing emphasis on student testing, he said, incorporating digital learning into school curriculums can be a tough sell. Outside the classroom, young moviemakers are flocking to trade schools, workshops and entering film festivals. Cable television has jumped on the bandwagon; the HBO Family channel's "30 by 30: Kid Flicks," a daily half-hour series featuring movies made by children, is in its fourth season and going strong, said Dolores Morris, a vice president at the channel. She said the program received more than 200 submissions per season.
Nicole Dreiske, the director of children's programs at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, the oldest and largest for children, estimated that 20 percent more digital films were submitted this year in the "child produced" category (ages 6 to 13) of the festival, to be held in late October. But Dreiske cautioned that quantity should not be confused with quality.
"We still receive way too many films of someone's slumber party," she said.
The New York Times
David Bernstein NYT
Monday, August 18, 2003
CHICAGO Like any good filmmaker, Savannah Keller can succinctly pitch her animated short film "The Dino Fight": "There is a herbivore minding his own business, and a T-Rex comes by and tries to annoy it. Then they get in a big fight, and the herbivore beats up the T-Rex, and the T-Rex loses and the herbivore wins."
Although she is just 10 years old and lives far from Hollywood in Livonia, Michigan, Savannah has all the right tinsel for a future in the business. In April, she won the top prize at her first film festival, an online contest for children ages 8 to 14. But before Savannah joins the Martin Scorseses and Penny Marshalls of the world, she has to finish elementary school. Toward that end, she also uses digital video technology for book reports and other assignments.
With relatively inexpensive digital video cameras, more powerful personal computers and sophisticated video editing software, more and more young students are making movies. A growing number of elementary, middle and high schools are offering digital video instruction, and various private trade programs, workshops and film festivals have been created specifically for this younger generation of auteurs.
In Chicago, Carlo Trovato, an English teacher and film instructor at Von Steuben High School on the city's North Side, said that interest in filmmaking had swelled since the school added digital media production to its curriculum about four years ago.
Last year, the school purchased five Apple eMac desktop computers and Final Cut Pro editing software for its media lab. The lab also includes six Sony Hi8 digital video cameras, two Casablanca video-editing systems and one digital projector.
Student demand for the course has surprised even Trovato; he said 200 students typically signed up for the 30 spots in each class. Two years ago the school added a second film class. And a film festival, now in its fourth year, attracts more entries each year. Trovato said that only seven students submitted work in the festival's first year; last year, there were more than 60.
Supporters of digital video in the classroom contend that in addition to developing talent, the technology opens more avenues for learning beyond traditional textbook-based instruction.
"The best schools are transforming themselves into 'digital age' schools," said Milton Chen, executive director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, www.glef.org, founded by the creator of the "Star Wars" films. "Kids these days are born digital, and school systems have to keep pace with them."
Besides mastering new technologies, Chen said, digital media training helps students improve their basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills, encourages collaboration and engages students who have lost interest in traditional schooling.
All that is really needed is a digital camcorder, now widely available for less than $1,000, and a PC with digital video capabilities. Basic click-and-drag video editing software is now standard on most new computers (iMovie, preinstalled on Macintosh computers, or Windows Movie Maker by Microsoft). Other editing applications like Final Cut Pro 4 by Apple, Avid Xpress DV and Pinnacle Edition Pro are far more powerful. But they are also more expensive, typically costing up to $1,000, and more cumbersome for novices.
One new product designed with young moviemakers, especially preteenagers, and their teachers in mind is the Digital Blue Digital Movie Creator from Prime Entertainment, www.playdigitalblue.com. The camera (priced around $100) records on memory chips, not tape, and has enough capacity for about four minutes of recording away from a PC.
For longer recordings, users can hook up the camera to a computer with a USB cable and capture as much video as their hard drives can store.
Savannah used the Digital Movie Creator's stop-motion animation feature, included with Digital Blue's editing software, to make her dinosaurs come to life. She added other special effects and included subtitles and voiceovers. She said it took her nearly four hours to shoot, edit and animate her two-minute movie.
This autumn, Prime Entertainment plans to release Tableaux, a line of multimedia products intended for the educational market. In addition to the digital camera and software, Tableaux will offer educators access to an online database with more than 500 digital camera presentation projects that meet state educational standards in language arts, reading and math.
Not all educators are enthusiastic about multimedia technology, said Steven Goodman, author of "Teaching Youth Media" and director of the Educational Video Center, a nonprofit media arts group in New York.
"There are principals and superintendents who don't want it because they see video as frivolous and nonintellectual," Goodman said. With a growing emphasis on student testing, he said, incorporating digital learning into school curriculums can be a tough sell. Outside the classroom, young moviemakers are flocking to trade schools, workshops and entering film festivals. Cable television has jumped on the bandwagon; the HBO Family channel's "30 by 30: Kid Flicks," a daily half-hour series featuring movies made by children, is in its fourth season and going strong, said Dolores Morris, a vice president at the channel. She said the program received more than 200 submissions per season.
Nicole Dreiske, the director of children's programs at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, the oldest and largest for children, estimated that 20 percent more digital films were submitted this year in the "child produced" category (ages 6 to 13) of the festival, to be held in late October. But Dreiske cautioned that quantity should not be confused with quality.
"We still receive way too many films of someone's slumber party," she said.
The New York Times
Mini Newspapers Woo Younger U.S. Readers
Reuters
Sunday, August 17, 2003; 7:41 AM
By Marisa Navarro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For years, the U.S. newspaper industry has watched as younger readers drift away to television and the Internet. Now a clutch of quick-read tabloids are trying to draw that demographic back into the newspaper habit.
The Washington Post launched Express, a free news daily, earlier this month, to join similar offerings in cities such as Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Express Publisher Christopher Ma says the aim, in part, is to reach 18- to 34-year-olds -- a group that is hard to attract but keenly sought by advertisers.
Short items and features culled from various news services make up the content of the 20-page Express, along with ads plugging subscriptions to the parent newspaper.
"Naturally, I think there's the opportunity to reach younger potential readers," Ma told Reuters.
The Chicago Tribune, part of the Tribune Company and the Chicago Sun-Times, owned by Hollinger Inc. , launched rival mini-papers last year that cost 25 cents.
The idea is not entirely new, nor is it American.
Swedish-controlled Metro International SA , which publishes in 16 countries, launched giveaways in Philadelphia in 2000 and Boston a year later.
Media analyst John Morton says free news dailies are a "bold but necessary" move to curb the decade-long slump in weekday circulation that dropped to 55 million in 2002 from 60 million in 1992, according to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).
Reading newspapers is a habit acquired from the family, Morton says. If the industry can't get young adults to buy newspapers now, then future generations will be even less inclined to do so.
Only 17 percent of weekday newspaper subscribers are 18- to 34-year-olds, while 41 percent of 35- to 54-year-olds sign up for newspaper delivery, according to a 2000 NAA study.
Metro says the under-35 group make up 50 percent of its readers.
"For young people, information is seen as a free benefit. You can watch television; you can go on the Internet," said Metro Chief Operating Officer Jens Torpe. "We are reinventing newspapers for the next generation."
Torpe declined comment on whether Metro planned to expand but said: "There are still a huge number of cities in the U.S. where we think a metro or a free morning paper would fit perfectly."
But not everyone thinks mixing news briefs with a feature on religious surfers, as the Express did recently, is the path to salvation for newspapers.
Rem Rieder, senior vice president of American Journalism Review said newspapers need to attract young readers, but called the new dailies "lighter than light beer."
"If you look at journalism from a standpoint of helping to inform citizens in a democracy and all the reasons there's a First Amendment (guaranteeing free speech) -- it certainly doesn't do a hell of a lot for that," Rieder said.
© 2003 Reuters
Reuters
Sunday, August 17, 2003; 7:41 AM
By Marisa Navarro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For years, the U.S. newspaper industry has watched as younger readers drift away to television and the Internet. Now a clutch of quick-read tabloids are trying to draw that demographic back into the newspaper habit.
The Washington Post launched Express, a free news daily, earlier this month, to join similar offerings in cities such as Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Express Publisher Christopher Ma says the aim, in part, is to reach 18- to 34-year-olds -- a group that is hard to attract but keenly sought by advertisers.
Short items and features culled from various news services make up the content of the 20-page Express, along with ads plugging subscriptions to the parent newspaper.
"Naturally, I think there's the opportunity to reach younger potential readers," Ma told Reuters.
The Chicago Tribune, part of the Tribune Company and the Chicago Sun-Times, owned by Hollinger Inc. , launched rival mini-papers last year that cost 25 cents.
The idea is not entirely new, nor is it American.
Swedish-controlled Metro International SA , which publishes in 16 countries, launched giveaways in Philadelphia in 2000 and Boston a year later.
Media analyst John Morton says free news dailies are a "bold but necessary" move to curb the decade-long slump in weekday circulation that dropped to 55 million in 2002 from 60 million in 1992, according to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).
Reading newspapers is a habit acquired from the family, Morton says. If the industry can't get young adults to buy newspapers now, then future generations will be even less inclined to do so.
Only 17 percent of weekday newspaper subscribers are 18- to 34-year-olds, while 41 percent of 35- to 54-year-olds sign up for newspaper delivery, according to a 2000 NAA study.
Metro says the under-35 group make up 50 percent of its readers.
"For young people, information is seen as a free benefit. You can watch television; you can go on the Internet," said Metro Chief Operating Officer Jens Torpe. "We are reinventing newspapers for the next generation."
Torpe declined comment on whether Metro planned to expand but said: "There are still a huge number of cities in the U.S. where we think a metro or a free morning paper would fit perfectly."
But not everyone thinks mixing news briefs with a feature on religious surfers, as the Express did recently, is the path to salvation for newspapers.
Rem Rieder, senior vice president of American Journalism Review said newspapers need to attract young readers, but called the new dailies "lighter than light beer."
"If you look at journalism from a standpoint of helping to inform citizens in a democracy and all the reasons there's a First Amendment (guaranteeing free speech) -- it certainly doesn't do a hell of a lot for that," Rieder said.
© 2003 Reuters
August 13, 2003
Center for Media Research - Daily Brief: "Reading Not Teens First Choice, By Far
Emarketer reports that Harris Interactive and Teenage Research Unlimited surveyed 2,618 people between the ages of 13 and 24 in June for Yahoo! and Carat and found that respondents spend twice as much time per week watching TV as reading books or magazines for pleasure.
Time Spent with Various Media Among Teenagers and Young Adults in the US, June 2003
hours/week
Online (excluding email)16.7
Watching TV13.6
Listening to the radio12.0
Talking on the phone7.7
Reading books and mags (not scholastic)6.0
Source: HarrisInteractive and Teenage Research Unlimited, July 2003
The survey determined that the main reason cited among respondents for spending so much time online was the quality of 'control' the Internet affords users. Users can personalize and manage their experience online more so than with any other form of media.
As for the types of Web sites teenagers are spending time with, comScore Media Metrix determined at the end of 2002 that teens between the ages of 12 and 17 spend an average of 26.6 minutes each day with instant messaging (IM) applications, 24.4 minutes per day with game sites and a whopping 41.5 minutes per day on sites with some sort of corporate presence.
eMarketer projects that by the end of this year, roughly 17% of US Internet users will be between the ages of nine and 17 and about 29% will be between the ages of 18 and 34. "
Emarketer reports that Harris Interactive and Teenage Research Unlimited surveyed 2,618 people between the ages of 13 and 24 in June for Yahoo! and Carat and found that respondents spend twice as much time per week watching TV as reading books or magazines for pleasure.
Time Spent with Various Media Among Teenagers and Young Adults in the US, June 2003
hours/week
Online (excluding email)16.7
Watching TV13.6
Listening to the radio12.0
Talking on the phone7.7
Reading books and mags (not scholastic)6.0
Source: HarrisInteractive and Teenage Research Unlimited, July 2003
The survey determined that the main reason cited among respondents for spending so much time online was the quality of 'control' the Internet affords users. Users can personalize and manage their experience online more so than with any other form of media.
As for the types of Web sites teenagers are spending time with, comScore Media Metrix determined at the end of 2002 that teens between the ages of 12 and 17 spend an average of 26.6 minutes each day with instant messaging (IM) applications, 24.4 minutes per day with game sites and a whopping 41.5 minutes per day on sites with some sort of corporate presence.
eMarketer projects that by the end of this year, roughly 17% of US Internet users will be between the ages of nine and 17 and about 29% will be between the ages of 18 and 34. "
August 12, 2003
Youth from Kosovo and Macedonia attend reconciliation camp
Aug 08, 2003
Young people from Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia met recently in the Macedonian city of Ohrid for a nine-day summer camp aimed at fostering reconciliation.
Thirty young activists of the multi-ethnic Youth Network, from Kosovo's Peje/Pec municipality, attended the Youth Reconciliation Initiative summer camp, where they joined a similar multiethnic group from Kumanovo, Macedonia.
The camp, sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), consisted of training sessions focused on topics chosen by the network. These included communication skills, youth-oriented media, conflict analysis, team-building and intercultural learning, and understanding of inter-ethnic dialogue. In addition, a documentary film and a newsletter were produced during the nine days.
"Besides the importance of communication between young people from the communities living in Peje/Pec, the project envisages training in specific areas which have an impact on reconciliation," said Veton Mujaj, head of the non-governmental organization, Syri i Vizionit, a founding member of the network.
Alastair Butchart Livingston, the acting head of the OSCE Office in Peje/Pec, stated that getting young people involved in a real, concrete dialogue can help to foster the spirit of reconciliation throughout society.
For more information, contact Sven Lindholm, acting spokesman, Press and Public Information Section, OSCE Mission in Kosovo. Belgrade Street 32, 38000, Serbia and Montenegro Pristina. Telephone +377 44 500 254 (mobile), +381 38 500 162. Fax +381 38 500 188. E-mail press@omik.org.
Aug 08, 2003
Young people from Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia met recently in the Macedonian city of Ohrid for a nine-day summer camp aimed at fostering reconciliation.
Thirty young activists of the multi-ethnic Youth Network, from Kosovo's Peje/Pec municipality, attended the Youth Reconciliation Initiative summer camp, where they joined a similar multiethnic group from Kumanovo, Macedonia.
The camp, sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), consisted of training sessions focused on topics chosen by the network. These included communication skills, youth-oriented media, conflict analysis, team-building and intercultural learning, and understanding of inter-ethnic dialogue. In addition, a documentary film and a newsletter were produced during the nine days.
"Besides the importance of communication between young people from the communities living in Peje/Pec, the project envisages training in specific areas which have an impact on reconciliation," said Veton Mujaj, head of the non-governmental organization, Syri i Vizionit, a founding member of the network.
Alastair Butchart Livingston, the acting head of the OSCE Office in Peje/Pec, stated that getting young people involved in a real, concrete dialogue can help to foster the spirit of reconciliation throughout society.
For more information, contact Sven Lindholm, acting spokesman, Press and Public Information Section, OSCE Mission in Kosovo. Belgrade Street 32, 38000, Serbia and Montenegro Pristina. Telephone +377 44 500 254 (mobile), +381 38 500 162. Fax +381 38 500 188. E-mail press@omik.org.
News in brief: Regional Journalism in the UK on the Internet. www.HoldTheFrontPage.co.uk: "News in brief
By Holdthefrontpage staff
A gang of youths descended on the offices of the Gloucester Citizen - angry over a story that had appeared in the paper.
Up to 50 youngsters demanded a meeting with reporters, upset they had been cast in the stereotypical roles of troublemakers in the town. Their spontaneous visit resulted in a front page splash to answer fears of wary locals and reassure shoppers they only gathered in shopping malls to meet their friends."
By Holdthefrontpage staff
A gang of youths descended on the offices of the Gloucester Citizen - angry over a story that had appeared in the paper.
Up to 50 youngsters demanded a meeting with reporters, upset they had been cast in the stereotypical roles of troublemakers in the town. Their spontaneous visit resulted in a front page splash to answer fears of wary locals and reassure shoppers they only gathered in shopping malls to meet their friends."
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