Blooper Reel from Eureka Child's English DVD Series

Last Day of DVD Shoot: June 25th, 2010

Eureka Child DVD Series Behind the Scenes

Eureka Child English DVD Shoot Behind the Scenes from Kirsten Anderson on Vimeo.

A quick update from the production. Four more days of shooting...lots of bloopers coming soon! :) Stay tuned.

DVD Update #12 Shooting Begins

Success with a steep learning curve...

We are two days into our 17 day shoot and still mostly on schedule. We were able to cover a script a day plus deal with all the first time trouble-shooting kinks of setting up sets in poorly lit, echoing rooms, teaching kids lines on the spot and fixing/finding props at the last minute. We're all exhausted but in two days I feel like I personally have just attended film school and have learned an enormous amount about how to make the next few weeks much smoother. When we aren't filming, I'll be spending my time simplifying and organizing the scripts better to make sure the shoot days are smoother. When we are filming I'll prep people better for the entire day so we can move faster as a team.

Day 1 Set: Kids painting props for the school annual day

Day 2: Kids at school talking about the sounds they've learned that day.

Before each scene, the kids practice their lines with a coach.

Shooting in 100-104F weather is exhausting, especially since we are on location and do not have a cool AC studio space to use. This means we can't even have fans on when the camera is rolling. Snacks and lots of water breaks are essential!

A true experiential learning experience for everyone. We all pause to watch and listen to the last take to see what needs to change, mistakes we've made and what worked well. Digital cameras and instant playback are such a blessing when working with kids.

Production Team Meets Chennai Filmmaker R.S. Prasanna

The production team, a dynamic group of ten volunteers, interns and Aid India staff, met today to confirm roles and responsibilities and discuss the (slightly grueling) schedule. R.S. Prasanna, a Chennai filmmaker, was our chief guest and motivational speaker. He led a very helpful discussion on how to make a movie with little or no budget. That's us! We focused on trouble shooting especially in the areas of lighting, sound, direction and keeping the momentum going for 3 weeks, especially with the kids. So glad to have a resourceful and experienced filmmaker on call for this initiative.

Two of the child actors prepare a bingo game card using opposites vocabulary. The main focus of the 2 week rehearsal preparation has been to build up their confidence of English vocabulary, grammar, writing and reading that they have already learned through games, activities and one on one interaction with multiple teachers.

The phonetic sound letter props are almost finished. These will be used throughout all the segments to help reinforce the sounds being taught in each segment. Do you know what sound 'ie' and 'oo' make? Think 'tie, die, fried and ' and 'moon, spoon, stool, boot'

Today we took the letters outside and filmed the kids dancing around with each sound in various locations. Still lots more to do, but we got about 1/3 through the letters before the sun got too high in the sky and we were attracting too much attention to be productive.

Adam, our camera in charge, is spending his summer holiday volunteering for this production. Lucky us! He arrived less than a week ago and has already bonded with the kids--playing games, introducing kiwi to them for the first time and teaching them how to hackey sack. And has already spent several long hours in the sun filming on the streets of Chennai.
A great addition to the team!

Our Chennai-based interns are hard at work on their laptops checking scripts, sourcing last minute items, location scouting and working on story-boarding. These guys will be assistant directors as well as our main post-production editing crew. This production would not be possible without such a talented technical team!

DVD Update #11 Rehearsals

Day 1: All the teachers, volunteers and recently arrived interns meet the students

We've completed 1 full week of rehearsals and while we are trying desperately to stay on schedule, the kids are getting a little antsy. They want to get out there and get in front of the camera. But we've also had less than perfect attendance. This is in part due to last week's Cyclone Laila and 1 resulting fever. And this week both boys have had stomach problems and have been out for 1-2 days. Because of the background of the kids, it can be hard to track them down when they don't show up and while the parents have been supportive, they are not always communicative or responsive.

Due to attendance issues we decided to take on 1 more girl from Chennai. We first met her at the annual day of the school both boys attend. Their English teacher wrote a very cute drama for the kids to act out to show off their English talent. Our new actress played a teacher and played it very well. It was extremely hard to track her down considering it is summer holidays. However, it turns out her grandmother and uncle both work for a house (as domestic help and a construction worker) 1 block from our office. We were able to talk with the family and while they didn't seemed disinterested, said she could participate. We gave them a copy of the pilot episode in hopes that they realize what a great opportunity it will be for her.

We start each morning with some light yoga stretching. My goal is to get them to eventually do 5 minutes of meditation. Currently 30 seconds is a struggle. (Note: the boy on the left had to remove all his clothes because he walked in the cyclone to the office for rehearsals and was drenched)

Students spend 45 minutes reviewing vocabulary and practice speaking
English with each other and their teacher.

The students spend one hour reviewing phonics and doing reading related activities.

Before lunch students spend 15-20 minutes writing in their workbooks practicing words and sounds they have learned in reading class.

After lunch students work on their lines with on the volunteer English teachers.

Follow us on twitter: sistaKAA

It's official, you can now follow what's happening with the DVD production, rehearsals, and the shoot on twitter. Visit my twitter feed or follow us to get instant updates @sistaKAA