NOT for children

As a producer/director of children's tv shows, working at a public service company and often sitting in either end of the pitching process i.e. giving or recieveing a pitch depending on the situation... I must say I find this clip hilarious.

http://dauid.com/video/qt/barnen.mov

NOTE: you have to understand swedish to get the point. It's mostly dialouge anyway. AND you have to have a good stomach and not be sensitive to adult material, too. :-)

I'm pretty convinced that the guy behind this clip has had his share of experiences trying to sell his ideas to public service companies... (he is actually a accomplished animator!)

The title of the clip is "för barnen" ("for the children" in english)
Don't say I didn't warn ya.

Some pictures from my regular job directing children...

I just wanted to share some pictures with you to show you were I come from, professionally speaking...
These are some photos from the most recent tv-show I have worked on, "BUUS-fredag", it's a kid's magazine about fantasies, dreams, play and stories... The kid's in the show tell their stories and then these stories are acted out in small live action segments. The show is scripted, but the kids have a lot of influence on the content, which is an important point, really. It makes the show come alive..

"Directing a scene... Granny doesn't hear too well anymore. Her grandchildren have already tried to get her to notice them by shouting and waving - witn no success. Now they will try to get her attention making their balloons explode in her face."

"Sometime's you have to double as an actor too. This businessman has had some financial problems lately and has been forced to live in a box for the last two weeks. The dog in the foreground is about to lift his leg and pee on him."

"This is a love scene... the girl on the bench would like to approach the boy in the blue and green shirt and talk to him - but she's shy... :-)"
 
If you are browsing from somewhere in Finland you can watch the latest episodes of the show at http://areena.yle.fi/   , look for "BUUS-fredag" or "BUUklubben". But I'm sorry to say that the videofeed isn't available abroad. Sorry, guys.



Now I'm off on a long vacation to study at Animation Mentor. No television work for 18 months. It's really a shameless luxury I have here, to be able to study full time - and I am going to enjoy it to the fullest.

And it's nice to know that the tv-show is in very good hands with all my trusted and super capable co-workers. I'm so excited to see how they continue developing the show in my abscence. It's going to be great! :-)

Working with kids

This is a photo taken in a very normal day of my life... trying to get 7-year old kids to perform in front of the camera. It's fun but it's challenging. :-)



I have been working with kid's television here in Finland for almost 20 years now... (two more years to go and then I will celebrate!). The last ten years or so I have mainly done different "by children, with children, for children" types of programmes. And I can tell you; You learn a lot about directing, in general, working with children! You see, you REALLY have to work hard on issues as motivating and inspiring your actors as well as finding the simple and clear ways to describe and communicate what you want from them. Good lessons for any director in any type of production!

And of course it's hard sometimes. It's difficult! It's very, very demanding on so many levels... but at the same time it is enormously rewarding too, because you get so much love BACK from your young fellow workers. I love it.


Here is a clip I found on youtube with a little piece from a show called "oppåner å hitådit" that I was involved with a couple of years ago...
(It's in swedish - but I think you know the joke about the two tomatoes going across the street..?)