Merryhill students get inside look at movies

The animators for Disney and Warner Brothers had to start somewhere.

If Movies By Kids had been around in the early days of animation, young Chuck Jones and Walt Disney might have participated. Students from Merryhill schools in Summerlin and the southwest areas got their jump start into animation when California-based Movies By Kids sauntered into town in December.

The company, co-created 10 years ago by Greg Kindseth, teaches children ages 7 to 13 to write, produce and film their own live action, claymation and animated movies. It was the company's first visit outside the Los Angeles area.

The focus of the three-day camp was animation, using shapes and sets made of paper, similar to the style of "South Park." Construction paper, glue, digital video cameras and laptop computers were the tools of the trade.

"There is no blood or guns, but other than that they can create whatever they want," Kindseth said.

The future filmmakers created storyboards, provided the voice characterizations and chose the music and sound effects for their 30-second to one-minute movies. Each student had time to make two or three films.

"It's not as hard as you think it is," Kindseth said.

Mark Magda, 10, worked with drawing and filming animation at home. The stop animation he created -- "The Sky" and "Super Monkey" -- gave him a new perspective on a previous interest.

"It's awesome. I think it's cool," Magda said. "I never thought I could do it this way. In animation, you can do more than (live) action."

Amanda Gothard, 7, could hardly stand still she was so excited to show her mother her creation. She enjoyed the independence the program allowed. Her co-producer, Anissa Ho, 10, was impressed with the process.

"We got to film on our own," Gothard said.

"All I knew how to do was flip books," Ho added.

Kindseth said the program is about an introduction to the filmmaking process. Participants become repeat customers and film festival winners. An 8-year-old student from Southern California won the Backyard National Children's Film Festival with a movie she made during a workshop with Movies by Kids.

"He thought it was all drawing and flipping paper," said Chiara Brancaccio, whose son Lucas participated in the workshop. "This is a nice program. He's going to come back this summer. He wants to be an animator when he grows up."

Three sessions of weeklong claymation camps are scheduled for the summer. Enrollment in a Merryhill school is not required for participation.

"Now that they've done it, they know what they can do," Kindseth said. "They're excited about what they'll do in summer."


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